Tag Archives: Jewish

Review: Naomi Teitelbaum Ends the World by Samara Shanker

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Naomi Teitelbaum Ends the World by Samara Shanker

Naomi Teitelbaum Ends the World
Samara Shanker
Atheneum
Published September 6, 2022

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About Naomi Teitelbaum Ends the World

A magical Bat Mitzvah gift gets out of control and thrusts a girl into a supernatural quest with the fate of the world at stake in this spooky middle grade adventure that’s perfect for fans of Aru Shah.

Naomi Teitelbaum is so ready for her Bat Mitzvah. Her prayers are memorized and she’s definitely got a handle on her Torah portion (well, almost). Then she gets a mysterious gift: a tiny clay Golem. To Naomi’s shock, it comes to life—and obeys her every command.

At first, this small magical helper seems like the best Bat Mitzvah gift ever. But with each command, the Golem grows…and gets harder to hide. And creepy, unnatural creatures like dybbuks, demons, and a congregation of ghosts have started following Naomi around. To keep herself out of trouble and the Golem out of harm’s way, Naomi gives the Golem well-intended instructions: save the world.

Unfortunately, this leaves more room for interpretation than Naomi thought. Before long, the Golem is wreaking havoc all over Los Angeles, and only Naomi and her friends can stop it.

My Review

I had a lot of fun reading NAOMI TEITELBAUM ENDS THE WORLD. I loved Naomi and her friends Becca and Eitan. It’s clear from the way they talk to each other that they have a lot of history and close bonds with one another. They would banter back and forth or give each other a hard time sometimes, but it always came from a place of knowing and loving each other.

Another element of the story that I liked was Golem character. There was something sort of sinister about the way he grew larger with every task he completed. The fact that using the Golem opened up a spirit world around Naomi and her friends also added some spookiness to the story. I liked that some of those encounters were spooky and others ended up being helpful.

All in all, I think readers looking for a wild, world-saving adventure will really enjoy this one. It’s a perfect read for the spooky season. I think fans of THE DARKDEEP by Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs will love this one.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Major characters are Jewish. Naomi has two moms.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
References to Jewish celebrations and religious ceremonies. Naomi and her friends are studying for their Bat Mitzvah or Bar Mitzvah ceremonies. Naomi asks her rabbi questions about her reading from the Torah. A rabbi tells her stories from Jewish folklore. Naomi’s Golem comes to life, just like the Golems in Jewish folklore. After that happens, Naomi begins to see other spirits and demons.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some of the spirits Naomi and her friends encounter try to capture them.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of NAOMI TEITELBAUM ENDS THE WORLD in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz

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The Prince of Steel Pier
Stacy Nockowitz
Kar-Ben Publishing
Published September 1, 2022

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About The Prince of Steel Pier

A young teen falls in with the Mob and learns a lesson about what kind of person he wants to be.

In THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER, Joey Goodman is spending the summer at his grandparents’ struggling hotel in Atlantic City, a tourist destination on the decline. Nobody in Joey’s big Jewish family takes him seriously, so when Joey’s Skee-Ball skills land him an unusual job offer from a local mobster, he’s thrilled to be treated like “one of the guys,” and develops a major crush on an older girl in the process.

Eventually disillusioned by the mob’s bravado, and ashamed of his own dishonesty, he recalls words of wisdom from his grandfather that finally resonate. Joey realizes where he really belongs: with his family, who drive him crazy, but where no one fights a battle alone. All it takes to get by is one’s wits…and a little help from one’s brothers.

My Review

I feel like every time I read historical fiction, I find myself thinking I should read more of it, and THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER definitely made me think that again. I really enjoyed the setting and time period. At one point, Joey talks about going to see the diving horses, and that made me want to watch WILD HEARTS CAN’T BE BROKEN again, which I haven’t seen in years.

I loved the scenes that showed Joey’s big Jewish family. His relationships with his brothers felt so real. Sometimes I couldn’t help laughing at the banter between them. At other times it was sad to see them growing apart.

Joey’s character totally drew me in. He chafed against the opinion he thought his family had of him as a weak or oversensitive person. But as he struck out on his own and tried to build a new reputation with Artie and his gang, Joey found that while they treated him like an independent person, they also expected things of him that he wasn’t sure he could give or even should give.

I thought the story balanced Joey’s character growth with the fast-paced plot pretty well. I felt like there was always just enough time to pause and explore Joey’s feelings before something new before the next conflict emerged.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. Joey is a layered character who expertly guides us through his journey in a fascinating 1970s Atlantic City landscape.

Content Notes

Content warning for Antisemitic comments.

Recommended for Ages 9 to 13.

Representation
Joey and his family are Jewish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Joey encounters people who make Antisemitic comments about him and his family.

Romance/Sexual Content
Joey has a crush on a girl.

Spiritual Content
Joey worries about his faith. He doesn’t believe in God and worries that his family would be disappointed in him.

Violent Content
Joey witnesses some men trying to intimidate another man. Joey overhears some implied threats, too. In one scene, two men pull out knives, threatening another man.

Drug Content
A man at a bar drinks liquor. Joey talks about a time someone in his family gave him a shot of whiskey.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE PRINCE OF STEEL PIER in exchange for my honest review.

Hello, Goodbye by Kate Stollenwerck

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

Hello, Goodbye
Kate Stollenwerck
SparkPress
Published August 2, 2022

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About Hello, Goodbye

Fifteen-year-old Hailey Rogers is sure her summer is ruined when her parents force her to spend a few days a week helping her grandmother, Gigi. Although she only lives across town, she never sees her grandmother and knows little about her. But Gigi is full of surprises–and family secrets. Throw in the gorgeous boy down the street, and Hailey’s ruined summer might just be the best of her life.

Then tragedy strikes, lies are uncovered, and Hailey’s life suddenly falls apart. After unearthing clues in an old letter written by her great-grandfather, she takes off on a road trip to solve the family mystery with the only person she can trust. In a forgotten Texas town, the past and the present collide–and Hailey is forced to choose what she truly values in life.

My Review

I liked a lot of things about this book– most especially the relationship between Hailey and her grandmother, Gigi. One of my favorite things is all of the layering within that relationship and the things that it brings up for Hailey in her relationships with other people like her mom and even Blake.

I struggled with Hailey’s judgments about Bree, another girl in her grade, who, admittedly, isn’t very nice to her. Hailey sums her up with some cutting remarks about her being a busty, ditzy girl. I would have liked less of the cliché reasoning there and maybe more depth? Something that wasn’t judging the girl by her appearance and making some ugly assumptions.

One thing that I thought was cool about the story is that Hailey is a runner, but she runs cross country. I don’t really know much about running, but the only other books I can think of with a runner in them are runners who run track, and I didn’t even realize cross country was a totally different thing. So it was cool to learn more about that and what her training looked like.

On the whole, I liked the exploration of family relationships and Hailey’s exploration of new relationships and independence. I think readers who like books by Kasie West should check out HELLO, GOODBYE.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Hailey is Jewish (this comes as a surprise to her– her family attends a Baptist church). She learns that her great-grandmother was a Holocaust survivor. The “gorgeous boy down the street” is also Jewish.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl. References to other characters hooking up. Reference to a girl having sent nude photos of herself to a boy, which she gets in trouble for doing.

Spiritual Content
Hailey attends a Hanukkah celebration. References to attending Baptist church.

Violent Content
A man threatens others with a gun.

Drug Content
Hailey sees other teens drinking alcohol, but she sticks with Dr. Pepper. She helps clean up a girl who has had too much to drink and is sick.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of HELLO, GOODBYE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Ripped Away by Shirley Vernick

Book Review and Content, Historical, Middle Grade 8-12, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Ripped Away
Shirley Vernick
Fitzroy Books
Published February 8, 2022

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About Ripped Away

Ignored yet again by his crush, Abe Pearlman wanders into Fortunes and Futures for a little diversion. The fortune teller reveals that Abe may be able to save someone’s life. But before he can ask any questions, he’s swept to the slums of Victorian London, where he finds that his crush, Mitzy Singer, has also been banished. Abe and Mitzy soon discover that they’ve been plunked down in the middle of the Jack the Ripper spree.

To get back home, they’ll have to work together to figure out how the fortune teller’s prophecy is connected to one of history’s most notorious criminal cases. They’ll also have to survive the outpouring of hate toward Jewish refugees that the Ripper murders triggered. Ripped Away is based on real historical events, including the Ripper crimes, the inquests, and the accusations against immigrants.

My Review

This book was such a quick read! I feel like I just saw someone recently talking about how so many middle grade and young adult books are intimidatingly long these days, so it was nice that this turned out to be a short book for a change. I think it also fits really well into the upper middle grade/lower young adult gap, where readers are kind of over the books that feel too kid-like, but not necessarily ready for the heavier or more grown-up issues in young adult books. So I liked RIPPED AWAY for that reason, too.

The book takes place during Victorian London, at the time of Jack the Ripper’s murders. The story doesn’t really focus on that, however. Instead, through the eyes of two young, Jewish characters, we see a city torn apart by fear, hate, and antisemitism.

Abe and Mitzy know each other in the present, but after individual visits to a fortune teller, they are flung back in time, where they find each other again. They decide they have to complete a task the fortune teller gave them and then hopefully return to their proper timeline. I liked the idea of their quest and the fact that they bonded over being transported back in time. I feel like they didn’t really have a clear aha moment where they understood exactly what to do and took ownership of the quest and hatched a plan and then executed it. There were glimpses of that ownership, but they were kind of fleeting.

The other thing I struggled with was the representation of Mitzy as blind in her Victorian London life. I’m not blind or vision impaired, so I’m not really qualified to speak about whether the representation was good or bad. What I can say is that it made me uncomfortable at times. I felt like Mitzy complained about it an awful lot, and while I understood that it would be a big adjustment to lose her sight like that, I also wished she didn’t seem to think of herself as less valuable and less capable of solving the time travel mystery as a blind girl. That said, I looked for other reviews that discussed this aspect of the story, especially a review from a blind or vision impaired reviewer, but I’ve been unable to find one so far.

I enjoyed other elements of the story, and I really liked how unique it was. The past setting felt very immersive without being bogged down in unnecessary details. The story and the setting were balanced really well. I liked both Abe and Mitzy as characters, so I found it easy to invest in seeing them succeed and find their way home.

All in all, I think readers who enjoy historical books or time travel stories or are looking for a quick read will like RIPPED AWAY.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
Abe and Mitzy are both Jewish. In Victorian London, Mitzy is blind.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
No profanity. In one scene, a woman uses a slur to identify Mitzy and Abe as Jewish.

Romance/Sexual Content
Abe has a crush on Mitzy.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – content warning for antisemitism.
References to murders committed by Jack the Ripper. Someone throws a stone at Mitzy’s uncle while he’s walking on the street.

Rumors spread that Jack the Ripper has a “Jewish appearance”, sparking attacks and fueling antisemitism in Abe and Mitzy’s neighborhood.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Review: This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Magical Realism, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , ,

This Rebel Heart
Katherine Locke
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published April 5, 2022

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About This Rebel Heart

A tale set amid the 1956 Hungarian revolution in post-WWII Communist Budapest.

In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic. During WWII, the river kept her family safe when they needed it most–safe from the Holocaust. But that was before the Communists seized power. Before her parents were murdered by the Soviet police. Before Csilla knew things about her father’s legacy that she wishes she could forget.

Now Csilla keeps her head down, planning her escape from this country that has never loved her the way she loves it. But her carefully laid plans fall to pieces when her parents are unexpectedly, publicly exonerated. As the protests in other countries spur talk of a larger revolution in Hungary, Csilla must decide if she believes in the promise and magic of her deeply flawed country enough to risk her life to help save it, or if she should let it burn to the ground.

My Review of This Rebel Heart

The author’s note at the beginning of the book warns that Hungary’s revolution does not end in victory, so I felt like I read this entire book holding my breath, waiting for that shoe to drop. Which wasn’t a negative for me– just added a lot of intensity.

Csilla was my favorite character, but I loved the other characters, too. I loved the way that magic is woven into the story through Csilla’s relationship with the river. The way that color (or a lack of it) is used in the story, too, is really powerful and cool.

The way the story is written completely captivated me. I felt like I couldn’t stop reading, and like so many of the scenes were just aching– achingly beautiful or haunting or tragic. I feel like it struck something in me really deeply, a kind of connection with a book that I haven’t felt since reading THE BOOK THIEF years ago, where it made me want to call people and read them pages of the story.

I’m trying not to buy any new books right now because SHELF SPACE, but I really want a hard copy of this one. THIS REBEL HEART is the first book I’ve read by Katherine Locke, but obviously I need to read all their other books immediately. I absolutely loved it.

I think readers who enjoyed THE GIRL IN THE BLUE COAT by Monica Hesse or books by Ruta Sepetys would love THIS REBEL HEART.

Content Notes for This Rebel Heart

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Csilla is Jewish. Other characters are gay or bisexual.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to a kiss between two men. Kissing between two boys. Kissing between a boy and girl. Two boys and a girl are in a romantic relationship together.

Spiritual Content
References to Jewish holidays and practices. One character is an angel of death.

Violent Content
References to genocide, some brief graphic references to death in gas chambers. References to torture and suicide. Brief description as a mob beats a young man to death. Soldiers shoot into a crowd of protestors, killing someone. Some battle violence and other situations of peril.

Drug Content
Characters drink socially at a community dance.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THIS REBEL HEART in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Boy from Buchenwald by Robbie Waisman

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Memoir, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Boy From Buchenwald
Robbie Waisman
with Susan McClelland
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Published May 11, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Boy from Buchenwald

It was 1945 and Romek Wajsman had just been liberated from Buchenwald, a brutal concentration camp where more than 60,000 people were killed. He was starving, tortured, and had no idea where his family was-let alone if they were alive. Along with 472 other boys, including Elie Wiesel, these teens were dubbed “The Buchenwald Boys.” They were angry at the world for their abuse, and turned to violence: stealing, fighting, and struggling for power. Everything changed for Romek and the other boys when Albert Einstein and Rabbi Herschel Schacter brought them to a home for rehabilitation.

Romek Wajsman, now Robbie Waisman, humanitarian and Canadian governor general award recipient, shares his remarkable story of transforming pain into resiliency and overcoming incredible loss to find incredible joy.

My Review

I feel like I’ve been sitting at my keyboard awhile struggling for the right words to review this book. It’s definitely one that left me speechless, in a good way. I’ve read NIGHT by Elie Wiesel, and a couple other accounts of surviving Nazi concentration camps, but it never gets easier to read about it. The horror and shock of it strikes me fresh every time, and it should.

I feel like this book does a really great job balancing the reality of what happened with an understanding of its audience as young readers. The authors give a frank account but seem to know when to zoom in or zoom out on the scene being described. There’s a gentleness to the way the story is told. Like it’s not only being told my someone who’s survived, but someone who understands and connects with other kids. I’m not doing a great job explaining this. I guess maybe what I’m trying to say is that it doesn’t surprise me at all that Waisman speaks to schools. It seems like he has a gift for it.

A lot of the story focuses on Romek’s recovery from imprisonment in Buchenwald. At first he has very few memories of his life before with his family, or of happiness. At the beginning of each (or most) chapters, he flashes back to a memory, sometimes difficult ones. As he has time to grieve and to heal, those flashbacks show his memories gradually returning. And the progression of them shows its own journey through trauma and anger and loss and until finally he’s able to remember happy moments from his childhood.

Conclusion

BOY FROM BUCHENWALD is an inspiring story about grief and healing. It’s about the way that we need each other. It’s about the worst ways in which we hurt one another and the best ways we help one another heal. I loved it, and I think it’d make a great addition to a classroom library or Holocaust study.

Content Notes for The Boy from Buchenwald

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Most major characters are Jewish and Holocaust survivors.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Two instances of mild profanity. One is a reference to a name for a ship carrying Jewish refugees that was turned away from other countries. Another refers to time spent in a concentration camp as being in hell.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to children being hidden by the women in the concentration camp brothels.

Spiritual Content
Some scenes describe Jewish services and celebrations. After being liberated from Buchenwald, some of the boys take refuge in faith while others can’t reconnect with faith at all.

Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of torture, starvation, and cruelty toward prisoners of the camps and Jews under Nazi occupation. The boys develop a reputation as angry and destructive.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of BOY FROM BUCHENWALD in exchange for my honest review.