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I saw the show--Play Buffet-- Friday night. It was well-attended, although not sold out. Fun. As Sylvia said--"another hit." In my opinion, well worth seeing, especially at just $5, but not quite as good as last year's In Transit. That was an A+. This one is just a fun experience. Don't miss it!

Jewish Holidays All Year Round by Ilene Cooper. Illustrated by Elivia Savadier. Harry N. Abrams, 2002 (0-8109-0550-7) $18.95

I started out liking this book for its fresh and lively cover illustration of a multicultural Passover gathering, and I continued liking it for its fresh and lively text. The stories of the Jewish holidays have been retold so many times, it's a pleasure to hear them in a distinctive voice, as well as to see portrayals of less conventional Jewish families. In addition to the bright pen & ink and watercolor illustrations, the book also contains photographs of artwork from the Jewish Museum in New York City, offering many different expressions of Jewish life and art: four different menorahs, for example, range from a delicately wrought metal lamp from North Africa to a modern interpretation using eight small Statues of Liberty and the American flag.

The Jewish calendar has a number of holy days which are difficult to explain to children, like Yom Ha-Shoah, Holocaust Rememberance Day. Jewish Holidays All Year Round includes those emotionally charged holidays, but its descriptions are pretty minimal (also a little confused: "six million Jews and other people died during the Holocaust"), leaving parents or teachers to decide how much of the story to tell. A short bibliography of Holocaust fiction for children and young adults is included.

The least successful portion of this book is the activities contained in each chapter: most are recipes requiring a lot of adult help, and the illustrations of items like an elaborate mechanized purim noisemaker from Russia will not satisfy children making groggers out of empty coffee cans.

Overall, this is an excellent resource for Jewish families; it's enjoyable to read, and the range of illustrations from the joyfully simple to the intriguingly sophisticated gives it visual appeal for a wide age range. (4-12)

Taylor, Sydney. 1951. All Of A Kind Family.

Originally published in 1951, Sydney Taylor's novel, All of A Kind Family, is set in New York City around 1912. The family consists of a mom, a dad, and five "step and stair" daughters. (They range in age from twelve to four.) The book is about the adventures the five sisters have together. It's definitely not your typical book if you're judging it by modern standards. There is less plot, for one thing, but the charm--or part of the charm--is in the individual stories, the episodes. The fact that it is more a compilation of loosely connected stories masquerading as a novel isn't a problem in my opinion. (But I'm curious what modern children would make of it all???)

The book does have its charms. There's no doubt about that. And one of the things I do like about the book is the fact that it highlights so many different aspects of being Jewish. For example, I haven't come across too many fiction novels (or picture books for that matter) that show families celebrating Purim and Succos. (These aren't the only celebrations by any means.) It was just interesting to see these aspects of culture and religion interwoven with the typical and traditional threads of family life and social life--going to school, going to the library, going to the beach, going shopping, getting a new baby, etc.

Part of me is curious as to how modern readers would respond to this novel and others like it. Would it be considered too old fashioned? Too dated? Too boring? While I can appreciate it the novel as an adult, I'm not sure what I would have thought of it as a child.

For example, the chapter that is really "out there" for me is how the mother tricks the children into doing housework. The chapter is called "Dusting is Fun." And it doesn't matter if you're 8 or 9 or 29, you KNOW that that sentence is a lie and always will be a lie. The mother successfully tricks her five children into playing a game "find the buttons while you dust" to get them to do their least favorite chore each week. I don't buy it. It's not like finding a button is a great reward. It's not like they get to keep the button. It's not like they can trade the buttons for a penny or two to keep. They're just finding the same buttons over and over again each week and making it an-ever-so-fun game. I just don't buy it at all.

However, the rest of the chapters do work for me for the most part.

First sentence: "That slowpoke Sarah!" Henny cried. "She's making us late!" Mama's girls were going to the library, and Henny was impatient.

It is 189 pages.

Zusak, Markus. 2006. The Book Thief.

The Book Thief may just be the hardest book I've ever tried to review. It is beautiful. Though it can be ugly. It is intense. It is powerful. It is memorable. The first thing you should know about The Book Thief? It is narrated by Death. This is fitting in many ways since the setting is Nazi Germany during the Second World War. Death is the narrator, and he never lets you forget it. But there are many players--many characters--in the story that Death is relating to his audience all these years later. One of them is a girl, Liesel, and is known by Death as 'the book thief.' These thefts provide some structure to the text. (The structure is one of the odd things about the Book Thief. It isn't chronological. Death doesn't tell a story traditionally. He has his own way of jazzing it up, arranging it so it suits his needs and purposes.) The language, the style, is unique. I think it is written in such a way that you either really love it or you really don't. (It's written in such a way that you could almost open it to any page, and find a sentence or two or a whole paragraph that you want to just lift out and let resonate with you for a time.)

This is how it begins:

First the colors. Then the humans. That's usually how I see things. Or at least, how I try. Here is a small fact: you are going to die. I am in all truthfulness attempting to be cheerful about this whole topic, though most people find themselves hindered in believing me, no matter my protestations. Please, trust me. I most definitely can be cheerful. I can be amiable. Agreeable. Affable. And that's only the A's. Just don't ask me to be nice. Nice has nothing to do with me. (3)

It continues:

People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me, it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them. As I've been alluding to, my one saving grace is distraction. It keeps me sane. It helps me cope, considering the length of time I've been performing this job. The trouble is, who could ever replace me? Who could step in while I take a break in your stock-standard resort-style vacation destination, whether it be tropical or of the ski trip variety? The answer, of course, is nobody, which has prompted me to make a conscious, deliberate decision--to make distraction my vacation. Needless to say, I vacation in increments. In colors. Still it's possible that you might be asking, why does he even need a vacation? What does he need a distraction from? Which brings me to my next point. It's the leftover humans. The survivors. They're the ones I can't stand to look at, although on many occasions I still fail. I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them, but now and then, I witness the ones who are left behind, crumbling among the jigsaw puzzle of realization, despair, and surprise. They have punctured hearts. They have beaten lungs. Which in turn brings me to the subject I am telling you about tonight, or today, or whatever the hour and color. It's the story of one of those perpetual survivors--an expert at being left behind. It's just a small story really, about, among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fish fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. (4-5)

Before the story gets underway, he invites the reader along for the journey:

Yes, often, I am reminded of her, and in one of my vast array of pockets, I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt, an immense leap of an attempt--to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it. Here it is. One of a handful. The Book Thief. If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story. I'll show you something. (14-15)

There is depth, substance, to these words, to this story. The descriptions. The details. The powerful sway of the words whether they're describing the beauty of love and family and friendship or capturing the ugly heaviness of hate, anger, and death. It's not an easy story to read. It's full of emotions. It's full of words. It's a book that at it's very heart and soul captures humanity in all its depths--the good, the bad, the ugly. Here is a book that captures what it means to be human.
One of the most memorable passages for me (224-236), and I hope this isn't much of a spoiler--is the hand drawn--hand written--portion written by "Max" for Liesel. I find it so powerful in its simplicity. So hauntingly beautiful. There is a second story specially written for Liesel by Max, this second one is found on pps 445-450. This is how that one begins, "There was once a strange, small man. He decided three important details about his life: 1) He would part his hair from the opposite side to everyone else. 2) He would make himself a small, strange mustache. 3) He would one day rule the world." (445)

By Kirsty OUP-UK

A very Happy New Year to you all from OUP-UK. My maiden post for 2008 is the latest in the Very Short Introductions column. This month Joseph Dan, author of Kabbalah: A Very Short Introduction, has kindly answered some questions for me. Joseph Dan is a renowned expert on Kabbalah, and is the Gershom Scholem Professor of Kabbalah in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His many books include The Heart and the Fountain: Jewish Mystical Experiences, The Early Kabbalah, and The Teachings of Hasidism. He resides in Jerusalem and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is a visiting professor at the Harvard Divinity School.

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(Chicago - January 7, 2008) - Sarah Gershman and Kristina Swarner, author and illustrator of The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book, Sid Fleischman, author of The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, and Sonia Levitin, author of Strange Relations, are the 2008 winners of the prestigious Sydney Taylor Book Award.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award of the Association of Jewish Libraries honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Cleveland, Ohio this June at a special ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the award.

The Bedtime Sh'ma: Gershman and Swarner will receive the 2008 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Younger Readers Category for The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book, published by EKS Publishing. With accessible language, this book helps young children understand the meaning and concepts of the Sh'ma prayers. The stunning artwork matches the mood of the text, and the words of the prayer (in Hebrew, English, and transliteration) are beautifully integrated into double spread illustrations. "The soothing and soulful voice of Rabbi Julia Andelman on the included CD will lull the listener to sleep with sweet dreams," adds Kathy Bloomfield a member of the Award Committee. The book is recommended for children up to grade 2.

Fleischman will receive the 2008 The Entertainer and the Dybbukgold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Older Readers Category for The Entertainer and the Dybbuk, published by HarperCollins Children's Books. When the spirit of a 12-year old Jewish boy, murdered by the Nazis, possesses the body of an American GI traveling through Europe as a second-rate ventriloquist, the pair is able to unmask the Nazi responsible. "Fleischman's knowledge of ventriloquism and senses of humor and humanity craft an imaginative and haunting story, and although all the action takes place after the war, the sense of loss and tragedy echo through the book," comments Kathe Pinchuck, incoming Chair of the Award Committee. "Wry humor adds dimension to the characters and suspense accelerates the pace." The book is recommended for grades 6-8.

Strange Relations: Levitin will receive the 2008 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's Teen Readers Category for Strange Relations, published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Fifteen-year-old Marne decides to spend the summer with her Aunt Carole in Hawaii. But, Aunt Carole is now Aunt Chaya, married to a Chabad Rabbi with seven children. What Marne anticipates will be a relaxing summer of jogging on the beach, surfing, sun tanning, and shopping turns out to be a summer of exploration, spirituality, and growth. "Levitin skillfully writes from the perspective of a contemporary teenager and realistically deals with issues such as drinking, drugs, sexuality, and peer pressure," notes Rachel Kamin, Chair of the Award Committee. Levitin also won the 1987 Sydney Taylor Book Award for The Return and two honor awards for The Singing Mountain (1998) and Silver Days (1989).

Six Sydney Taylor Honor Books were named for 2008. For Younger Readers, Honor Books are: The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller with illustrations by Boris Kulikov (Simon & Schuster), Letter on the Wind by Sarah Lamstein with illustrations by Neil Waldman (Boyds Mills Press), and Light written and illustrated by Jane Breskin Zalben (Dutton Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group). For Older Readers, the Honor Books are: Holocaust: The Events and Their Impacton Real People by Angela Gluck Wood with consulting by Dan Stone (DK Publishing in association with USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education) and The Secret of Preist's Grotto by Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola (Kar-Ben). For Teen Readers, the Honor Book is Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler, translated from the German by Erik J. Macki (Front Street). It should be noted that The Castle on Hester Street won the Sydney Taylor Book Award when it was first published in 1982 by the Jewish Publication Society, and its Honor Award this year is due to Boris Kulikov's new illustrations.

In addition to the medal-winners, the Award Committee designated twenty-three Notable Books of Jewish Content for 2008: eleven in the Younger Readers Category, eight in the Older Readers Category, and four for Teens. Notable titles, and more information about the Sydney Taylor Book Award, may be found online at www.SydneyTaylorBookAward.org. A special video announcement of the awards can also be accessed at www.youtube.com/SydneyTaylorAward.

small AJL logo About the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Association of Jewish Libraries promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and leadership within Judaica librarianship. Visit our website at www.jewishlibraries.org.
For more information, please contact:

Rachel Kamin, Chair
Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee
Association of Jewish Libraries
847/376-2797
[email protected]

Kushner, Ellen. 2007. The Golden Dreydl.

File this review under better late than never. I had *every* intention in the world of reading and reviewing this one in time for Chanukah. Really. But it got buried in a box. By the time I remembered I needed to find it, it was the last day. I didn't get it read until Wednesday night. And I'm just now getting to the reviewing part.

Before it was a book, it was a musical performance. It is performed live, and there are also radio productions of it. And a CD.

"The Golden Dreydl" is an award-winning family entertainment featuring the music of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, as interpreted by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra, with original story and narration by Ellen Kushner. Together, they have created a brand-new retelling of an old tale: Sara is a little girl with a problem: she hates the annual family Chanukah party! But when a mysterious party guest gives her the gift of a golden dreydl, Sara is catapulted into a magical world of demons and fools, sorcerers and sages.

Knowing that it is a "Jewish" interpretation of The Nutcracker helps when you're reading the book. You know in some ways what to expect.

Sara is a young girl who is not excited about Chanukah. She'd much rather be celebrating just like her friends--with Christmas trees and such. But Sara is on her way to a Chanukah celebration she'll never forget. A most magical time is about to be had--at least for Sara. And it all starts with a gift that is not what it seems. A gift that comes to life. A golden dreydl.

I really enjoyed this one.

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. Have you hung your dreidels by the chimney with care?




A Confused Hanukkah by Jon Koons. Illustrated by S.D. Schindler. Dutton, 2004 (0-525-46969-9)$16.99

I'm thrilled to be seeing some children's literature backlash against the Christmasfication of Hanukkah in books like The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming. This "original folktale" makes similar points, with gentler irony and perhaps more accessibility to younger readers.

Set in the traditional Jewish town-of-fools, Chelm, the story begins with the villagers unable to remember how to celebrate Hanukkah while their Rabbi is away. A man named Yossel sets out for a nearby town "to find out what must be done," but naturally, being from Chelm, he goes the wrong way and winds up in the Big City, where he gets some very odd information about "the coming holiday." His fellow villagers are a bit surprised--"Trees? Fat men? I don't remember any of that!"--but conclude these must be the latest modern customs, so they proceed to chop down a tree, decorate it with matzo balls, wooden dreidels and shiny menorahs, and dress the fattest man in town in a fancy suit, calling him "Hanukkah Hershel."

Yet somehow, nothing seems right. "They had never seen Hanukkah Hershel before. And surely, if they had decorated a tree like this in the past, someone would have remembered. But Yossel had told them that other people did these things. And why shouldn't they celebrate the way others did? Still, now it seemed like this wasn't Hanukkah at all."

Luckily, just then the Rabbi arrives home, to tell them the story of Hanukkah and remind them of their true traditions. And "From that day forward it was said that the people of Chelm always remembered how to keep Hanukkah."

Koons doesn't hit us in the face with his point, leaving the silliness of the story to speak for itself about the ridiculousness of mixing up two things that have very little relationship to each other. I would like to have seen a note on the history of Chelm in Jewish folklore and humor, and it would also have strengthened the the book to say more about the significance of the Hanukkah customs--eating foods fried in oil in memory of the oil lamp, for example.

This should go over well at storytimes, especially with a reader who's good with dialogue, which is lively and plentiful. Pen & ink and watercolor illustrations in a slightly caricatured style highlight both the foolishness and the generally goodhearted nature of the people of Chelm, adding to the humor and warmth of the story. (4 & up)

Chanukah Lights Everywhere by Michael J. Rosen. Illustrated by Melissa Iwai. 2001; Voyager, 2006 (0-15-205675-0) $6.00 pb

On each of the eight nights of Chanukah, a little boy counts lights for the number of candles his family lights. On the first night, "the skinny moon beams like a proud candle flame against the dark sky." On the sixth night, he counts six other menorahs in windows during a walk. On the seventh night, he visits a friend who celebrates Christmas and counts seven lights burning in his windows. And on the eighth night, he finds "all seven stars in the Big Dipper, plus the famous North Star above us, as though God, too, were lighting his own menorah in the sky. Even when Chanukah is over, he sees lights that remind him of their menorah and "I think about Chanukah and about being Jewish in such a wide world of so many other lights."

A sincere, earnest book with sincere, earnest illustrations, Chanukah Lights Everywhere explores themes also seen in Rosen's previous books like Elijah's Angel: respect and appreciation amongst people of different religions. This time it comes across as more messagey than heartwarming, however. There are some playful moments, with lots of cats popping up--one peers out between the narrator's legs in a busy family scene--and the glow of bright lights amid sparkling blue skies in the many night illustrations is warm and satisfying.

A note of warning: Hanukkah comes really early this year! December 5th by my calendar, which may or may not have it right.

I haven't yet seen Lemony Snicket's new book, The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, but from what Evan tells me, it is both hysterically funny and a book whose time has more than come. Check it out.

And a few reviews of more traditional Hanukkah books. (Okay, there are some odd ones too.)

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming: A Christmas Story
by Lemony Snicket; illustrations by Lisa Brown

McSweeney's Books

What, a Lemony Snicket picture book? Oh please, pretty please, may I have one?

Or not. Shrug.

The publisher not being the usual sort to make the kidlit blogging circuit, I had no idea if a review copy would be forthcoming. It was.

And, joy of interfaith joys, the book is indeed wryly funny and lightly philosophical, and by this I mean that it gets its point across without bruising you with repeated beatings.

Its billing as a Christmas story should alert Jewish readers that the story isn't necessarily aimed at them; it's designed to give Christians a feel for being on the outside looking in. By now, many people will know that Snicket is the pseudonym for Daniel Handler, and his wife illustrated this stocking-stuffer-sized book about feeling left out, misunderstood and literally out in the cold.

"This story ends in someone's mouth, but it begins in a tiny village more or less covered in snow."

This is one of the better opening lines I've read, smartly setting up my expectations without giving too much away. There's only one house in the village that isn't all lit up for Christmas, and us grownups know why, of course. Inside that suspicious house, a potato pancake leaps from the frying pan out into the peppermint-scented night, where he meets various Christmas decorations.

If the hot oil starts his screaming, the unknowing and pat attitudes he gets about his signature holiday get him boiling mad. "I'm not hash browns!" he yells at one point. The explanations of Hanukkah are terse and hasty -- not likely to fill in blanks for "you're-basically-hash-browns" ignoramuses -- and at one point Handler mistakes the Talmud for the Torah (my husband does the same), but all comes out right at the end.

Handler, in the forlorn, wistful narrative voice that's signature Snicket, has some kind and thoughtful words for both faiths, followed immediately by the ending he promised, and which has grown funnier precisely because we know to anticipate it.

There's some wonderful legerdemain with a pine tree, and many pages of that screaming starch patty to induce fits of giggles. But is this really a kids' book?

If your Jewish child is old enough to feel his patience wearing thin at Christmas time, or if your Christian child wonders what's up with those pathetic dorks who don't put up blinking lights like normal people, then this might be one darkly humorous way to deepen that conversation.

Rating: *\*\*\

DeSaix, Deborah Durland and Karen Gray Ruelle. 2007. Hidden Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered From The Nazis in Le Chambon.

In Southern France, there was one place of refuge that Jews could find safety--relatively speaking in World War II--a place where the people had open hearts and minds. A place where "loving your neighbor" was actually applied daily. This mountain of refuge was Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Every village and farm on the mountain, every family, did their part in the rescuing of Jews. They provided food, shelter, schooling, and compassion for children and teens. Hidden Mountain is the story of some of those children and some of those rescuers. The authors recorded many interviews, spent countless hours talking with witnesses, gathering invaluable primary resources, creating an important legacy for us all. Much of the book is told through these oral histories, lightly edited, and the rest is thoroughly researched accounts/summaries that provide key background information. The book is well-researched; it's informative; it's interesting.

Prologue

Imagine having to leave your home suddenly, with only one small suitcase and no more. Imagine being told that you can't say goodbye to your friends, and that you have to leave behind your pets and all your treasured possessions. Imagine walking out of your home, not knowing if you'll ever see it again.
Now imagine that your parents are more frightened than you've ever seen them before. You've seen terrible things, and you're frightened too. Imagine that your parents are powerless to protect you or even themselves.
Maybe you and your family have to board a train, along with huge crowds of other people, and travel far away. Or maybe your family has been torn from you and you are all alone. You have no idea where to go or what will happen next.
Many children in Europe had just those experiences during World War II. Many of them died. But some children were lucky, and they found a safe place to hide while the war raged on around them. Several thousand children were sheltered in the little village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon and the surrounding area in southern France. In this book, we tell the true stories of some of these children. Each one came to Le Chambon on a different path from a different place. Each one found a safe haven among the inhabitants of the plateau. Each one has a different story.

At a traditional Jewish wedding ceremony, the bride and groom stand under a chupah, two cups of wine are poured and kiddush is recited over the first cup, the rings are exchanged, the ketubah is read, the seven blessings (Sheva Brachot) are recited over the second cup of wine and then a glass is placed on the floor, and the groom shatters it with his foot. This act serves as an expression of sadness at the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and identifies the couple with the spiritual and national destiny of the Jewish people.

Everyone knows the simcas and nacchus that a wedding brings! Two people that were made for each other are bound together, forever, until death do they part. They may come from different backgrounds, but in the end, they are made up of (more or less) the same thing (or things, in this case.....).

When Mary Shelley said "How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?", she was NOT talking about marriage. She was talking about Frankenstein.

Last week we posted a series of articles by Philip Davis, author of Bernard Malamud: A Writer’s Life. Today is the final piece in the installation. To see the previous posts click here. This post originally appeared on Moreover.

In the beginning dogs, it is written, were the first creatures domesticated by human beings. And when the humans saw the difference between themselves and the dogs, they knew more about what being human meant. (This is the true Gospel of Otherness.) Then the humans, being more than their dogs, began to domesticate other animals, to lie amongst them. And so in time what became pastoral agriculture was born. (more…)

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Lowry, Lois. 1989. Number the Stars.

Number the Stars is a Newbery winner. It is the story of a young girl, Annemarie, and her family. The book is set during World War II in Denmark, 1943 to be precise. Annemarie and Ellen are best friends. The two live together in the same apartment building. The two go to school together. The two do practically everything together. But all that is about to change, you see, Ellen and her family is Jewish. And while the soldiers--Nazis--have been occupying Denmark for over a year, their policies are about to change. There is danger in the air, and everyone--young and old--can feel it. This is the story of two girls, two friends, and two brave families. I always enjoy reading about the war and the holocaust from the danish perspective. For one thing, the resistance movement is strong, powerful. Denmark was a nation with people who cared, who took risks, who did the right thing, who saved lives. I think this book can be read and enjoyed by everyone--no matter your age--despite the fact that it is a "children's book."

I read this book for three reasons.

1) It is part of the Book Awards Challenge. It is a Newbery winner.
2) It is part of the Something About Me Challenge. It is on Booklogged's list. Booklogged writes, "I really like Lois Lowry, both as a person and an author. The other reason I chose this book is because my ancestor are from Denmark, which is the setting for this story." I like Lowry as well. This one along with The Giver and Gossamer make her a must-read in my opinion.
3) I haven't read it in nine years. But the first time I read it, I had a very emotional reaction to it. I was *inspired* to seek out other titles about the war and children--especially holocaust related titles. This book started a life-long interest in the subject. And I did want to share that.

One of the most difficult concepts for young children to understand is death - particularly death of a family member or pet. Tomie de Paola's Nana Upstairs, Nana Downstairs is a long-time favorite of mine. In fact, I read it to my own children many times when they were trying to grasp the concept of death. It can be disturbing for a child to participate in funeral rites for the first time. Their regular world is turned upside down while people gather together with food, tell stories, cry, and laugh. When there is a mix of faith traditions, the entire experience can be even more confusing.

In Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus' Name Amen, five-year-old Emily's grandfather dies. Their special relationship is symbolized by Grandpa's glasses' case which he was always misplacing and Emily was good at finding. When he dies, Emily's family decides to celebrate his life and remember him in two ways - the Christian way and the Jewish way. Emily finds great comfort in the different funeral rites, and the story celebrates both faith traditions of this blended family. This unique approach to remembering a loved one becomes an integral part of how Emily remembers her grandfather and provides the touching final lines of the story:

It wasn't the Christian way and it wasn't the Jewish way. It was just my way. My Kaddish for Grandpa in Jesus' name amen.



I highly recommend this book. ISBN 978-0-689-80185-3. Athenueum Books for Young Readers.

Toksvig, Sandi. 2007. Hitler's Canary. (Originally published in Great Britain in 2005)

Hitler's Canary is the story of a family and country at war. Denmark has been invaded by the Germans, and now the Danes have a great choice to make: to accomodate the Nazis and make the best of a bad situation, or to protest the Nazis and all they stand for by whatever means--large or small--and organize themselves into an underground resistance.

This is my story. It is my story of when the war came to Denmark in 1940. The Second World War. I can't give you the whole picture of what happened; just what I saw and what people told me. There are hundreds of personal stories from that time, but this is not one in which all Germans were bad and all Danes were good. It didn't work that way. There were just some good people and some bad people and it wasn't always easy to tell the difference. (14)

Our narrator, Bamse (Teddy), is a young boy when the war starts (probably 11 or 12). This story is about his family: his father, his mother, his older brother, his older sister. And it is also about his friends--his Jewish friends. This story covers the years 1940-1943. It is a powerful story about how people can be changed by fear. But it is also a story about hope and courage.

Hitler's Canary is based on some of the stories the author's father told her about his own childhood. Although other parts of the story are fictionalized.

I highly recommend Hitler's Canary.

note: This article first appeared at The Women’s Media Center.

by Joyce Antler

Jewish mothers have gotten a bad rap—for being overprotective, overfeeding, intrusive, manipulative, guilt inducing. The list is easily extended. It is almost impossible to remember that the Jewish mother idea, like other stereotypes attached to ethnicity and gender, is a creation of the media–celebrated, or rather, denigrated, in films, television, radio, fiction, drama, and on the nightclub stage. She is not real at all. (more…)

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Schorr, Melissa. 2006. Goy Crazy.

Every now and then, a YA romance comes along that sweeps me off my feet. That makes me happy. That makes me giddy almost. Goy Crazy has just joined the list. Rachel Lowenstein is a teen girl (15 or 16) who dreams of finding love. She knows that it's not likely to happen soon...not at her brother's bar mitzvah...not at her local high school...but she can't help wondering what it would be like to have a boyfriend. The book opens at her brother's bar mitzvah. We've got Rachel who has calculated the "average" age of men in the room to be thirty. (That's what happens when you average in the the over forty (or over fifty) crowd with the under fourteen crowd.) What is on her mind most of all is avoiding an awkward dance with the boy next door, Howard Goldstein, with whom she has a love-hate relationship. (Think Much Ado About Nothing.)

First line: "There is no way I'm dancing with Howard Goldstein." p. 1

But then she notices the rather cute busboy, Luke. The two share a few words together. But even though they only shared a few minutes conversation together, she can't help thinking there was a connection between them. A strong connection. She's convinced almost that Luke is her soul mate. Her destiny. The problem? He's not Jewish. He's Catholic. Irish Catholic. She feels that her parents wouldn't understand, couldn't understand this love match. (Not that it's a love match anywhere but in her imagination, but still...) So the story begins.

How does a Jewish girl go about getting a goy's attention? Does Luke appeal to her because he is off limits? Their relationship strictly forbidden? Is her desire more about rebelling against her overprotective parents? Or is Luke really just a wonderful guy she'd be crazy not to fall for?

With over-protective parents, best friends in crises, teen cliques, peer pressure, and the always there and sometimes insulting boy-next-door, GOY CRAZY has it all including Rachel's rewritten version of the Ten Commandments.

http://www.melissaschorr.com/currentnovelx.html

book, book, book has some interesting notes on her class's observance of Holocaust Memorial Day. My reading in this area is clearly out of date, but some more titles can be found in my bibliography here.

More passover titles here.




Passover! by Roni Schotter. Illustrated by Erin Eitter Kono. Little, Brown (2006 (0-316-93991-9) $12.99

When the first signs of Spring appear, Grandma and Grandpa arrive to celebrate Passover with their family, including toddler Moe and puppy Izzy. But what could be a likeable enough rhyming story about their family seder is sadly marred by a lack of attention to rhythm and scansion: "Our house looks 'Passover perfect--even Grandma says so. Everything is sparkly clean, even wiggly Moe!" "In the kitchen, Mama warms our favorite dish--Matzoh ball soup! Papa fixes gefilte fish." Some of the rhymes work--I like a throwaway line outside of the regular text, "That bone is not your own, Izzy!"--but too much of the text is uncomfortable to read. There's nothing special in the familiar, conventional images of the watercolor illustrations to compensate for the failings of the text, and even the extra page of information at the end is somewhat misleading, describing one set of seder customs as if it applied to all Jews, everywhere. (2-6)



Had Gadya illustrated by Seymour Chwast. Roaring Brook, 2005 (1-59643-033-8) $16.95; 2007 (978-1-59643-298-7) $7.95 pb

Starting with a goat being eaten by a cat and ending with God striking down the Angel of Death, the traditional cumulative song "Had Gadya" is a deliberately curious combination of whimsy and darkness. Both elements are seen in this picture book rendition. Acrylic paintings use chunky patches of color to create busy scenes full of people preparing for Passover; at the top of each spread, the characters of each verse are shown as they appear--first the goat, then the goat and the cat--to make it easy to keep track of the story. (Sometimes the characters glance curiously at each other above, as if puzzled by their odd behavior below.) The Angel of Death is a menacing blue figure; God is portrayed as a bolt of light from clouds. In the end, as the family we've seen in the pictures begins their Passover Seder, we see the father bringing home... the goat.

An afterward by Rabbi Michael Strassfeld discusses possible meanings the song and its darker images, which may help parents interpret it for troubled children. The sheet music, and verses in the original Aramaic are also included. (3-8)