Thematic Lists

The story begins with Yaffa Eliach, a spirited young girl who grows up in a vibrant, happy 800-year-old town in Poland, filled with family life and rich traditions. Yaffa's grandmother, who receives a gift of a camera from America, becomes the village photographer, and takes photos of all the family events: weddings, bar mitzvahs, and family gatherings. And on the Jewish New Year, the villagers send photos to their relatives overseas to wish them a "Gut Yontif"! But one dark day, the town is invaded. And quickly the once happy home to 5,000 Jewish people is uprooted. Yaffa survives the war and becomes a Professor of History and America's foremost Holocaust expert. And when President Jimmy Carter invites her to create an exhibit for the new National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, she travels around the world hunting down her grandmother's photos taken of people who fled from her beloved town, Eishyshok, along with their stories and memories. This breathtaking revival of the town's collective spirit, which is a permanent exhibit at The National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, will inspire all who read it

Sent to stay with her aunt in Prague and witness the humble life of an artist, Ilana Lopez-a biracial Jewish girl-finds herself torn between her dream of becoming a violinist and her immigrant parents' desire for her to pursue a more stable career. When she discovers a forgotten Jewish cemetery behind her aunt's cottage, she meets the ghost of a kindhearted boy named Benjamin, who died over a century ago. As Ilana restores Benjamin's grave, he introduces her to the enchanted side of Prague, where ghosts walk the streets and their kisses have warmth. But Benjamin isn't the only one interested in Ilana. Rudolph Wassermann, a man with no shadow, has become fascinated with her and the music she plays. He offers to share his magic, so Ilana can be with Benjamin and pursue her passion for violin. But after Ilana discovers the truth about Wassermann and how Benjamin became bound to the city, she resolves to save the boy she loves, even if it means losing him-forever. A love letter to Latin American and Jewish diasporas, based on the author's experiences working to maintain Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe. The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a tender and empowering read that you will devour in one sitting. Steeped in history and the experiences of immigrant families, especially Jewish families, each carefully-chosen word of this magical verse novel casts a spell.

Hannah Malfa-Adler is Jew ... ish. Not that she really thinks about it. She'd prefer to focus on her favorite pastime: baking delicious food! But when her best friend has a beyond-awesome Bat Mitzvah, Hannah starts to feel a little envious ... Despite her parents firm no, Hannah knows that if she can learn enough about her own faith, she can convince her friends that the party is still in motion

Thirteen-year-old Ari faces what it is to be a man while dealing with a cross-country move, his parents' separation, being bullied for his weight, and belatedly starting bar mitzvah preparations.

Imani is adopted, and she's ready to search for her birth parents. But when she discovers the diary her Jewish great-grandmother wrote chronicling her escape from Holocaust-era Europe, Imani begins to see family in a new way. Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift- to find her birth parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's black and almost everyone she knows is white. Then her mom's grandmother--Imani's great-grandma Anna--passes away, and Imani discovers an old journal among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was twelve and fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone, sent by her parents to seek refuge in Brooklyn, New York. Anna's diary records her journey to America and her new life with an adoptive family of her own. And as Imani reads the diary, she begins to see her family, and her place in it, in a whole new way.

Spoiler alert: This book is not about the Three Stooges. It's about Noah and Dash, two seventh graders who are best friends and comedy junkies. That is, they were best friends, until Dash's father died suddenly and Dash shut Noah out. Which Noah deserved, according to Noa, the girl who, annoyingly, shares both his name and his bar mitzvah day. Now Noah's confusion, frustration, and determination to get through to Dash are threatening to destroy more than just their friendship. But what choice does he have? As Noah sees it, sometimes you need to risk losing everything, even your sense of humor, to prove that gone doesn't have to mean "gone for good."

A 12-year-old boy is caught in the middle of cultures, friends, and growing up Chinese Jewish American in this hilariously witty and heartwarming coming-of-age story. David Da-Wei Horowitz has a lot on his plate. Preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah would be enough work even if it didn't involve trying to please his Jewish and Chinese grandmothers, who argue about everything. But David just wants everyone to be happy. That includes his friend Scott, who is determined to win their upcoming trivia tournament but doesn't like their teammate -- and David's best friend -- Hector. Scott and David begin digging a fallout shelter just in case this Cold War stuff with the Soviets turns south... but David's not so convinced he wants to spend forever in an underground bunker with Scott. Maybe it would be better if Hector and Kelli Ann came with them. But that would mean David has to figure out how to stand up for Hector and talk to Kelli Ann. Some days, surviving nuclear war feels like the least of David's problems.

Every day, Benny's mother writes him a mitzvah note, and his father draws a picture on it. Those precious notes, highlighting Benny's good deeds, mean so much to him. At the end of the school year, the teacher puts each child's mitzvah notes into an album. Benny and his family regard each day as a blank page in an album, just waiting to be filled with more and more acts of kindness, friendship, and Jewish observances. No one is perfect, but Benny certainly tries his best! As he grows too old for those little notes, mitzvos remain at the center of Benny's life. When it's time for him to write a mitzvah note for someone else, what will it say, and who gets to keep it? A heartwarming story of life and love that parents and children will want to read over and over again!

Tired of being picked on at school for being a "furrin Immigrant" because he is Jewish, twelve-year-old Sammy Greenburg learns the legend of the golem from his bar mitzvah coach, but discovers that friends--and forming a klezmer fusion band--can be better than magic in defeating bullies

During the fall leading up to her bat mitzvah, Tara (Hindi for "star") Feinstein has a lot more than her Torah portion on her mind. Between Hebrew school and study sessions with the rabbi, there doesn't seem to be enough time to hang out with her best friend Ben-O--who might also be her boyfriend--and her other best friend, Rebecca, who's getting a little too cozy with the snotty Sheila Rosenberg. Not to mention working on her robotics project with the class clown Ryan Berger, or figuring out what to do with a priceless heirloom sari that she accidentally ruined. Amid all this drama, Tara considers how to balance her Indian and Jewish identities and what it means to have a bat mitzvah while questioning her faith.

When her preschool plans a Shavuot hike just like Moses took up Mt. Sinai, Sadie is afraid she is too little to make it to the top, and tries to think of ways to be absent. But when the day comes, she learns that anyone can climb high enough to reach God.

Matzah balls were never meant for a game of fetch, but try telling that to Mitzvah the Mutt when he is rescued by a Jewish family. Mitzvah's silly antics manage to charm his family and his humorous misinterpretations of the Jewish holidays will leave you laughing and begging for more. Get ready for a howling good time as you celebrate Shabbat, Hanukkah and Passover with Mitzvah the Mutt.

A little girl named Sara finds a toy duck, and with help from her bubby, keeps the Jewish commandment of returning lost things. Includes glossary.

Little Red Hen must make matzah for Passover. She asks her friends for help planting grains. "Sorry, bub," neighs Horse. "Think again," barks Dog. Of course, the Little Red Hen does it all herself. A classic tale gets a Jewish twist in this hilarious story.

In this lively adaptation of "The Gingerbread Boy," a bold little man made of matzah jumps out of the baker's oven and leads him and everyone in the neighborhood--all of whom are preparing for Passover--on a merry chase. With colossal chutzpah, the Matzah Man taunts Cousin Tillie as she is cooking brisket, Auntie Bertha trying on her new spring shoes, and Grandpapa Solly making gefilte fish. He at last arrives on the doorstep of clever Mendel Fox, who offers him a hiding place under the Passover matzah cover--and when the seder meal begins, that's the end of the Matzah Man!

Get ready to fall in love, experience heartbreak, and discover the true meaning of identity in this poignant collection of short stories about Jewish teens, including entries by David Levithan, Nova Ren Suma, and more! A Jewish boy falls in love with a fellow counselor at summer camp. A group of Jewish friends take the trip of a lifetime. A girl meets her new boyfriend's family over Shabbat dinner. Two best friends put their friendship to the test over the course of a Friday night. A Jewish girl feels pressure to date the only Jewish boy in her grade. Hilarious pranks and disaster ensue at a crush's Hanukkah party. From stories of confronting their relationships with Judaism to rom-coms with a side of bagels and lox, It's a Whole Spiel features one story after another that says yes, we are Jewish, but we are also queer, and disabled, and creative, and political, and adventurous, and anything we want to be. You will fall in love with this insightful, funny, and romantic Jewish anthology from a collection of diverse Jewish authors.

On the first night of Hanukkah, Rabbi Judah has too much to do and too little time to do it. Before the rabbi leaves to visit the emperor, he tells his housemaid Basha that she can ask the golem to help. While the golem makes latkes, Basha decides to visit a friend. Basha is having so much fun with her friend, she doesn't realize that latkes are pouring out of the rabbi's house, sending people running! Will Rabbi Judah come up with a solution to control the golem before it's too late? Illustrated with lively acrylic on wood, the book includes an Author's Note about the tale's origins.

This is a remarkable story of a tiny Torah smuggled into the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by a rabbi. Knowing he would not survive, the rabbi entrusts the Torah to a boy for safekeeping, asking only that he tell its story. Years later, Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon takes this Torah with him into space.

A colorful, fun-to-read introduction that explains the ways and whys of Jewish worship, faith, and religious life. What You Will See Inside a Synagogue will: Satisfy kids' curiosity about what goes on in synagogues attended by their friends, broadening awareness of other faiths at an important age when opinions and prejudices can first form. Provide Jewish children with a deeper understanding of the practices of their own religious tradition. Give children the opportunity to ask questions, making them more active participants. Colorful full-page photographs set the scene for concise but informative descriptions of what is happening, the objects used, the clergy and laypeople who have specific roles, the spiritual intent of the believers, and more.

As a sign of affection for their warm-hearted rabbi, the families of the congregation make Rabbi Benjamin a special holiday vest, complete with four shiny silver buttons. Throughout the year& - Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Chanukah, and Passover - the rabbi celebrates with his congregation, unable to resist their delicious home-cooked food. But with each holiday his vest grows tight, tighter, until . . . POP!

Akiva is just a poor shepherd living an ordinary life, until he falls in love with Rachel. Rachel thinks her husband could become a great man of learning--but Akiva can't even read! Is he too old to be a scholar or can he follow the example of the water in the nearby brook? Water is soft, yet drop by drop, it can soften the hardest stone.
With his wife's encouragement, a shepherd learns to read at age 40 and eventually becomes one of the greatest sages in Jewish history

A laugh-out-loud novel for middle-grade readers, for any child who loves Star Wars, science and soccer. Ten-year-old Avery Green loves science. He loves football. He is crazy about Star Wars. But Hebrew school? No, thank you. Avery would rather have his arms sliced off with a lightsaber than sit through one more day of Hebrew School. He's only asked about a million times why he has to go, but no one in his family has managed to convince him. And then one day, Rabbi Bob shows up. He is strange, but how strange? And strange how? Piecing together some unusual clues, Avery begins to suspect that this new rabbi might be a Jedi master. Armed with something more powerful than a lightsaber, he sets out to reveal the surprising truth. Going Rogue (at Hebrew School) is a hilarious tale about the deep passions of a 10-year-old boy, Judaism, family, big questions and the surprising journey one can have in pursuit of truth and understanding. A book for any child who questions the purpose of religious school and any parent who has run out of answers.

Osnat was born five hundred years ago - at a time when almost everyone believed in miracles. But very few believed that girls should learn to read. Yet Osnat's father was a great scholar whose house was filled with books. And she convinced him to teach her. Then she in turn grew up to teach others, becoming a wise scholar in her own right, the world's first female rabbi! Some say Osnat performed miracles - like healing a dove who had been shot by a hunter! Or saving a congregation from fire! But perhaps her greatest feat was to be a light of inspiration for other girls and boys; to show that any person who can learn might find a path that none have walked before.

An absorbing, inspiring tour of the 350-year Jewish American adventure. From its beginnings, America, founded on religious freedom, has been a land of opportunity for Jews, socially, economically, and spiritually, a writes Rabbi Malka Drucker in introducing twenty compelling individuals who have enriched our country by their achievements. In areas including science, sports, filmmaking, and civil rights, we meet male and female heroes who set an example, made a positive difference, and took a risk to do it.

To become the first female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, the unsinkable Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to overcome countless injustices. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s and '40s, Ginsburg was discouraged from working by her father, who thought a woman's place was in the home. Regardless, she went to Cornell University, where men outnumbered women four to one. There, she met her husband, Martin Ginsburg, and found her calling as a lawyer. Despite discrimination against Jews, females, and working mothers, Ginsburg went on to become Columbia Law School's first tenured female professor, a judge for the US Court of Appeals, and finally, a Supreme Court Justice. Structured as a court case in which the reader is presented with evidence of the injustice that Ginsburg faced, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the true story of how one of America's most "notorious" women bravely persevered to become the remarkable symbol of justice she is today.

This collection of biographies of brave and brilliant Jewish female role models--selected in collaboration with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and including an introduction written by the iconic Supreme Court justice herself-- provides young people with a roster of inspirational role models, all of whom are Jewish women, who will appeal not only to young people but to people of all ages, and all faiths.

Eleven-year-old Benny Feldman spends his days at Sieberling School obeying his number-one rule for surviving sixth grade: blend into the background. So when he signs up his klezmer band to play in the school talent show, his classmates are shocked. Teased by guitar superstar and former friend Jason Conroy, Benny vows to win the trophy and erase the embarrassing nickname that has haunted him since his disastrous debut performance in a first-grade Sabbath play. But, there is a problem. Benny Feldman's All-Star Klezmer Band is only a figment of Benny's imagination. He loves the traditional klezmer music of Eastern Europe, but how is he going to find other players to join him? With the show a few months away, Benny, an accomplished fiddler, embarks on a quest to assemble a band that will beat Jason's rock group at the talent show. His search takes him to an arcade convention, a potato chip factory, an oddities shop, and a storage room stacked with cans of creamed corn and succotash. Along the way he meets Jennifer, a jazz-loving drummer; Royce, a bow-tie-wearing clarinet prodigy; and Stuart, a braggart accordion player from Cajun Country. He also learns a great deal about the joys and sorrows that lie at the heart of klezmer and discovers that being different can be wonderful. Eventually, the ragtag and renamed "Klez Misfits" mount the stage and the tension-filled climax will have young readers wondering until the end if Benny and his band can pull off a miracle. This fun, feel-good story shows how friends, family, history and culture can all build confidence. Benny learns to believe in himself and has fun and finds love along the way.

Third-grader Rachel Berger longs to be different. At the very least, she'd like to be set apart from her copycat little sister, Hannah. The second Rachel spots the glass rose buttons at Mr. Solomon's button shop, her heart stops. They'll be the perfect, unique touch on the skirt her mother is making her for Rosh Hashanah. There's just one problem: Rachel can't afford them. With her focus set on earning enough to buy them before the holiday, will Rachel lose sight of what's really important? Themes of sisterhood, sibling rivalry, and strong family values are organically woven into this charmingly illustrated chapter book set on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early twentieth century.

Lottie, a talented violinist, disappeared during the Holocaust. Can her grand-niece, Charlie, discover what happened? A long-lost cousin, a mysterious locket, a visit to Nana Rose in Florida, a diary written in German, and a very special violin all lead twelve-year-old Charlie to the truth about her great-aunt Lottie in this intriguing, intergenerational mystery. Charlie, a budding violinist, decides to research the life of her great-aunt and namesake for her middle school ancestry project. Everyone in Charlie's family believes Great-Aunt Charlotte (called Lottie), a violin prodigy, died at the hands of the Nazis, but the more Charlie uncovers about her long-lost relative, the more muddied Great-Aunt Lottie's story becomes. Could it be that Lottie somehow survived the war by hiding in Hungary? Could she even still be alive today? In Searching for Lottie, Susan Ross has written a highly personal work of historical fiction that is closely inspired by her own family history, exploring the ongoing effects of the Holocaust on families today. Includes a letter from the author describing the research that shaped this story.

Over the last forty years, Aaron Lansky has jumped into dumpsters, rummaged around musty basements, and crawled through cramped attics. He did all of this in pursuit of a particular kind of treasure, and he's found plenty. Lansky's treasure was any book written Yiddish, the language of generations of European Jews. When he started looking for Yiddish books, experts estimated there might be about 70,000 still in existence. Since then, the MacArthur Genius Grant recipient has collected close to 1.5 million books, and he's finding more every day. Told in a folkloric voice reminiscent of Patricia Polacco, this story celebrates the power of an individual to preserve history and culture, while exploring timely themes of identity and immigration.

Dalya is the daughter of a cobbler in Berlin, and though she is only 15, she knows she will follow in her father's footsteps. Then, one violent November night, she is forced into a concentration camp with her family, and must leave behind everything she knew and loved...including the single, gorgeous pair of shoes she was finally allowed to craft for herself. Life as she knew it is over, but Dalya somehow finds her way to a new life in New York City. The Dalya of Before is gone, and she must now decide who the Dalya of After will become. Meanwhile, her beloved shoes take their own journey to America. When they wind up in a small town second-hand shop, they enter the lives of Ray and Pinny, two modern-day orphans who couldn't be more different. Ray is jagged around the edges in every possible way, music her only escape. Pinny believes in the More in life...and she doesn't want the fact that she has Down Syndrome to stop her from living her dreams. How these lives connect across different times and places, their touchstone a single pair of shoes, is an unforgettable journey--a story of strength, love, bravery, memory, and finally, the serendipity that binds us all together.

A poignant multicultural ode to family and what it means to create a home as one girl helps her Tia move away from her beloved Miami apartment. When Estrella's Tia Fortuna has to say goodbye to her longtime Miami apartment building, The Seaway, to move to an assisted living community, Estrella spends the day with her. Tia explains the significance of her most important possessions from both her Cuban and Jewish culture, as they learn to say goodbye together and explore a new beginning for Tia. A lyrical book about tradition, culture, and togetherness, Tia Fortuna's New Home explores Tia and Estrella's Sephardic Jewish and Cuban heritage. Through Tia's journey, Estrella will learn that as long as you have your family, home is truly where the heart is.

Thirteen-year-old Ellen Katz feels most comfortable when her life is well planned out and people fit neatly into her predefined categories. She attends temple with Abba and Mom every Friday and Saturday. Ellen only gets crushes on girls, never boys, and she knows she can always rely on her best-and-only friend, Laurel, to help navigate social situations at their private Georgia middle school. Laurel has always made Ellen feel like being autistic is no big deal. But lately, Laurel has started making more friends, and cancelling more weekend plans with Ellen than she keeps. A school trip to Barcelona seems like the perfect place for Ellen to get their friendship back on track. Except it doesn't. Toss in a new nonbinary classmate whose identity has Ellen questioning her very binary way of seeing the world, homesickness, a scavenger hunt-style team project that takes the students through Barcelona to learn about Spanish culture and this trip is anything but what Ellen planned. Making new friends and letting go of old ones is never easy, but Ellen might just find a comfortable new place for herself if she can learn to embrace the fact that life doesn't always stick to a planned itinerary.

Every day Ben's mom sends him out to fetch an egg from the chicken pen. But each day, havoc ensues and Ben comes back empty-handed. Until finally, just in time for Shabbat, he achieves his goal.

Jamie Goldberg, who chokes when speaking to strangers, and Maya Rehrman, who is having the worst Ramadan ever, are paired to knock on doors and ask for votes for the local state senate candidate.

In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative--based on the author's childhood in the 1960s--a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie's plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time. Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. Just when she's finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English--and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood's hopscotch queen--a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie's world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger and she comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times.

Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie's world hasn't changed that much. He's got basketball to play, studies to avoid, and a supermarket full of delicious kosher snacks to eat. The people of Tregaron aren't happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that's not Hoodie's problem. That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O'Leary-who happens to be the daughter of the obstinate mayor trying to keep Hoodie's community out of the town. And things only get more complicated when Tregaron is struck by a series of antisemitic crimes that quickly escalate to deadly violence. As his community turns on him for siding with the enemy, Hoodie finds himself caught between his first love and the only world he's ever known.

Benny's family owns a knishery and sells delicious round dumplings. Then the Tisch family opens a store across the street--selling square knishes--and Benny's papa worries. So he lowers his prices! But Mr. Tisch does too. As each knishery tries to outdo the other, Benny helps his papa realize there's room on Rivington Street for more than one knishery.

Jacob loves baseball, and he knows his team counts on him. But when a critical game is scheduled on the holiday of Yom Kippur, he doesn't know what to do. In this reflection of the Sandy Koufax story, Jacob discovers the value of prayer and of being on different kinds of teams

Hanukkah in Alaska is unlike anywhere else. Snow piles up over the windows. Daylight is only five hours long. And one girl finds a moose camped out in her backyard, right near her favorite blue swing. She tries everything to lure it away: apples, carrots, even cookies. But it just keeps eating more tree! It's not until the last night of Hanukkah that a familiar Jewish holiday tradition provides the perfect-and surprising-solution.

After she's hit by lightning at a wedding, twelve-year-old Lilah Bloom develops a new talent: she can hear dead people. Among them, there's her overopinionated Bubby Dora; a prissy fashion designer; and an approval-seeking clown who livens up a séance. With Bubby Dora leading the way, these and other sweetly imperfect ghosts haunt Lilah through seventh grade, and help her face her one big fear: talking to-and possibly going to the seventh-grade dance with-her crush, Andrew Finkel.

In this touching, simple story, a young Jewish girl named Rachel tries to make peace with the impending death of her grandfather. Rachel's grandfather, her Zayde, has come to live with her family. Though no one has told her, Rachel knows it is because he is dying, and she worries what will happen to him. Her friends' religions offer her no solace, and although she gets some answers from her Rabbi about where Zayde may go, Rachel still can't imagine her own life without her grandfather in it. It is only when she realizes that Zayde will live on in the love and memories they share that she finally begins to find peace.

One of 12 siblings growing up in depression-era Baltimore, Edith isn't quite sure of who she is. Between working at her father's diner, taking care of her younger siblings, and living in the shadow of her more mature sisters, Edith feels lost in a sea of siblings. When a kind teacher encourages Edith to be a teacher herself one day, Edith sees prospects for a future all her own. Full of joy, pain, humor, and sadness, this novel in verse is a wonderful look at the life of Edith Paul, the author's mother, and is an enduring portrait (complete with family photos and an author's note at the end) of one family's pursuit of the American dream.

In 1897 a young man named Solomon fell in love with and married a beautiful young woman named Anna. They lived in Russia, which was dangerous at that time for a Jewish family, so Solomon moved to the United States, where he worked and saved until he had enough money to send Anna a ticket for the voyage across the ocean. But when Solomon went to meet Anna's ship, Anna's younger brother was waiting for him. Solomon took in her brother and worried and saved until he could send the money for Anna's passage again-but this time, Anna's older brother was waiting. When Solomon sent the money a third time and Anna's mother arrived, Solomon wondered if he would ever see his dear wife again. Anna & Solomon is based on the true story of the author's grandparents' immigration.

Lauren Yanofsky doesn't want to be Jewish anymore. Her father, a noted Holocaust historian, keeps giving her Holocaust memoirs to read, and her mother doesn't understand why Lauren hates the idea of Jewish youth camps and family vacations to Holocaust memorials. But when Lauren sees some of her friends--including Jesse, a cute boy she likes--playing Nazi war games, she is faced with a terrible choice: betray her friends or betray her heritage. Told with engaging humor, Lauren Yanofsky Hates the Holocaustisn't simply about making tough moral choices. It's about a smart, funny, passionate girl caught up in the turmoil of bad-hair days, family friction, changing friendships, love--and, yes, the Holocaust.

Rebecca Rubin dreams of being an actress. Growing up in a big Jewish family, Rebecca has never been outside her immigrant neighborhood in New York City. As her world expands and she sees the plight of new immigrants, Rebecca decides that aaccting means not just performing, but also taking a stand against injustice

Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel. Their names stand for the quest for justice and equality. Martin grew up in a loving family in the American South, at a time when this country was plagued by racial discrimination. He aimed to put a stop to it. He became a minister like his daddy, and he preached and marched for his cause. Abraham grew up in a loving family many years earlier, in a Europe that did not welcome Jews. He found a new home in America, where he became a respected rabbi like his father, carrying a message of peace and acceptance. Here is the story of two icons for social justice, how they formed a remarkable friendship and turned their personal experiences of discrimination into a message of love and equality for all.

Hudi needs to lose weight, according to his doctors. Concerned about the serious medical issue Hudi had when he was younger, his parents push him to try out for sports. Hudi would rather do anything else, but then he meets Chunky, his imaginary friend and mascot. Together, they decide to give baseball a shot. As the only Mexican and Jewish kid in his neighborhood, Hudi has found the cheerleader he never had. Baseball doesn't go well (unless getting hit by the ball counts), but the two friends have a great time drawing and making jokes. While Hudi's parents keep trying to find the right sport for Hudi, Chunky encourages him to pursue his true love--comedy. But when Hudi's dad loses his job, it gets harder for Hudi to chart his own course, even with Chunky's guidance. Can Chunky help Hudi stay true to himself or will this friendship strike out

Middle school is full of challenges. Everyone knows how much brainy Bri likes the spotlight (not). So why did she ever agree to something that forces her to learn a new language, give a speech, help organize a party, and juggle drama at school and home?! As the big event inches closer, Bri wonders if it's all worth it... Told in alternating past and present chapters, Bri's heartwarming story unfolds over the eight months leading up to her bat mitzvah--as well as over the course of the big day itself.

Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a modern feminist icon--a leader in the fight for equal treatment of girls and women in society and the workplace. She blazed trails to the peaks of the male-centric worlds of education and law, where women had rarely risen before. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has often said that true and lasting change in society and law is accomplished slowly, one step at a time. This is how she has evolved, too. Step by step, the shy little girl became a child who questioned unfairness, who became a student who persisted despite obstacles, who became an advocate who resisted injustice, who became a judge who revered the rule of law, who became...RBG.

Spunky ten-year-old Mirka Herschberg hones her skills in her Orthodox Jewish community before accepting the challenges presented in these books

Presents the story of Lily Renée Wilheim, the Jewish girl who escaped from the Nazis through the Kindertransport operation, leaving her parents behind and traveling alone to England, later becoming a comic book artist in New York

This extraordinary graphic novel tells the true stories of six Jewish children and young people who survived the Holocaust. Between 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were responsible for the persecution of millions of Jews across Europe. From suffering the horrors of Auschwitz, to hiding from Nazi soldiers in war-torn Paris, to sheltering from the Blitz in England, each true story is a powerful testament to the survivors' courage. These remarkable testimonials serve as a reminder never to allow such a tragedy to happen again. Also in this graphic novel: Current photographs of each contributor along with an update about their lives A glossary A timeline to support the reader and develop their understanding of this period

Tevye is a poor Jewish milkman with five unmarried daughters to support in a village in Czarist Russia. With a sharp tongued wife at home and growing anti-Semitism in the village, Tevye talks to God about his troubles. His people's traditions keep him strong when his existence is as precariously balanced as a fiddler on the roof

Uses interviews, official photos, home movies, and archival footage to explore the factors that shaped America's response to the Holocaust and asks the question "Why didn't America do more?" Looks at America's inaction through the experiences of a Jewish refugee trying to save his parents, and through documented evidence of official policy of the U.S. government

Students will quickly realize the tragedy of overwhelming moral magnitude and great historical significance that was the Holocaust. The hands-on historical documents are powerful: the chronology from Yad Vashem; Reich Citizenship Law stripping Jews of all rights; photos of the horrors of the Holocaust; Hitler’s directive by Bormann on the “Jewish Question”; extraordinary maps labeled with countries and numbers of Jews to go to death camps. This Jackdaw examines the evolution of prejudice from origin to its modern, fatal culmination in the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”