The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Amazing Abe: How Abraham Cahan's Newspaper Gave a Voice to Jewish Immigrants by Norman H. Finkelstein, illustrated by Vesper Stamper Holiday House, 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jeanette Brod Buy at Bookshop.org We are a nation of immigrants, but we rarely consider the obstacles to Americanization faced by new arrivals to our country. Abraham Cahan’s gift to new immigrants was a passion to help them navigate their complicated and confusing relationship to a new home. In Amazing Abe: How Abraham Cahan’s Newspaper Gave a Voice to Jewish Immigrants , an award winning author and an award winning illustrator have given us a masterful biography about an important voice in American Jewish history whose legacy is probably more well known than his name. If your family was connected to the waves of immigration from Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, they probably read The Forverts in Yiddish. Despite their place of birth or national language, the Jews of those gen

Mighty Micah by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Steliyana Doneva Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Linda Elovitz Marshall Buy at Bookshop.org As Micah returns home from a Purim party, he recalls how powerful he’d felt when he whirled his gragger (Purim noisemaker). With it, he could “stand up to anyone – even that bad man Haman!” That night, while Micah is asleep, his gragger is carried off by a raccoon, then a fish, then a heron. Before school that morning, however, it is returned to the lawn in front of Micah’s home. In school, Micah shows the gragger to his teacher, Mrs. Mack, who tells the class how Brave Queen Esther saved her people from the evil Haman. Mrs. Mack adds that “everyone needs to feel powerful sometimes” and gives the gragger to the smallest girl in the class. Story and language are cute and clear, combining elements of a “lost mitten” folktale with an anti-bullying story and a tie-in to Purim. A rhyming refrain abo

Benjy's Messy Room by Barbara Diamond Goldin, illustrated by Rita Tan Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Jacqueline Jules Buy at Bookshop.org Benjy is a pack rat and his bedroom is littered with toys. This is not a good combination the day before Passover. His big sister, Naomi, warns him that their parents expect a clean room before the Passover hunt for breadcrumbs that night. Hoping for the fun of last year, when he was allowed to lead the hametz hunt with a candle, Benjy decides to tackle the big job of cleaning his room. When his little sister, Shira, interrupts his resolve with a plea to play, Benjy comes up with a game to practice for the hametz hunt. He hides balls of paper around his room for Shira to find. In the process, big brother and little sister clean up a messy bedroom just before dark. With colorful, expressive illustrations, Benjy’s Messy Room is a joyous story of preparing for Passover. Benjy teaches his

Matzah Man to the Rescue! by Eric A. Kimmel, illustrated by Charlie Fowkes Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Julie Ditton Buy at Bookshop.org “Never Fear, Matzah Man is here.” Eric Kimmel is one of the most prolific picture book authors around. With over 150 books to his credit, he has been delighting children for fifty years. Many of his books about Jewish holidays or topics, but most are folktale retellings. Now we have something completely different. Instead of a folktale, he has spun a modern Passover story based on pop culture superheroes. Kids might recognize Superman or Batman, but older family members will recognize Underdog as well. This wacky book has Matzah Man flying around the world to help save three different seders with missing symbols. Along the way, readers will learn about vegetarian alternatives to the shank bone, varieties of matzah, and the differences between Ashkenazi and Sephardic charoset. Matzah Man co

On All Other Nights: A Passover Celebration in 14 Stories edited by Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, & Naomi Milliner Amulet Books (imprint of Abrams), 2024 Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Lisa Trank Buy at Bookshop.org On All Other Nights: A Celebration of Passover in 14 Stories is exactly that - celebration of the many ways we celebrate, challenge, question, and find humor and deeper meanings in our shared traditions. The stories are organized as if we are sitting around the same Passover table (if only!), with each story representing a step of the seder and offering a brief lesson, as well as asking thought-provoking questions. I can imagine families supplementing (or even replacing) their Haggadot with this special collection. I know our family will. Written by a remarkable line-up of contemporary Jewish children's literature luminaries, each story presents a unique aspect about Passover. The entries are diverse, surprising, and universal. To name only a few of the gems - Mar

Too Many Golems by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Maya Shleifer Chronicle Books, 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Claire Freeland Buy at Bookshop.org The set-up for this appealing story about golems is that the Rabbi’s son, Abi, in his obliviousness, gets in trouble repeatedly. When he takes an old, tattered scroll from the synagogue basement, he innocently practices the words…sings the words…reads the words…and, fourth time being the charm, summons not one, but ten golems. So, what to do? He does what every well-taught rabbi’s son does: he welcomes the stranger(s). The golems tell him they are there to fight on his behalf. Abi asks them for help in his losing battle with Hebrew. The golems end up tutoring Abi weekly in Hebrew while throwing in some golem songs and stories as well. Years later, Abi’s Hebrew at his Bar Mitzvah is stellar. The golems are as proud as could be. Now that Abi doesn’t need them anymore, the golems slip away. Back matter addresses the origin of the golem le

Tyrannosaurs Tsuris: A Passover Story by Susan Tarcov, illustrated by Elissambura Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Claire Freeland Buy at Bookshop.org Susan Tarcov and Elissambura team up in this delightful Passover story set among the dinosaurs. All the dinosaurs are preparing their Passover seders, each one confronting tsuris, a Yiddush word for trouble. But no one’s tsuris is as great as that of Tyrannosaurus. None of the dinosaurs wants to come to his seder because they are afraid of him. At the end, the dinosaur community decides that together they are safe around Tyrannosaurus. They each solve their own sources of tsuris by pooling their resources for one grand seder. In so doing, they help Tyrannosaurus fulfill the mitzvah of having guests at the seder. A brief author's note reviews the basics of Passover.  The story does a wonderful job of defining tsuris, giving multiple examples. It recounts preparations for