Books Featuring Jewish Characters
I Dissent
“Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality, arguing against unfair treatment, and standing up for what’s right for people everywhere. This biographical picture book about the Notorious RBG, tells the justice’s story through the lens of her many famous dissents, or disagreements.”
Brave Girl
“When Clara arrived in America, she couldn't speak English. She didn't know that young women had to go to work, that they traded an education for long hours of labor, that she was expected to grow up fast.
But that didn't stop Clara. She went to night school, spent hours studying English, and helped support her family by sewing in a shirtwaist factory.
Clara never quit, and she never accepted that girls should be treated poorly and paid little. Fed up with the mistreatment of her fellow laborers, Clara led the largest walkout of women workers the country had seen.
From her short time in America, Clara learned that everyone deserved a fair chance. That you had to stand together and fight for what you wanted. And, most importantly, that you could do anything you put your mind to.”
Mrs. Katz and Tush
“Larnel doesn't know his neighbor, Mrs. Katz, very well, until he asks her to adopt an abandoned kitten. Mrs. Katz agrees on one condition: that Larnel helps her take care of the kitten she names Tush. When Larnel starts spending more and more time with Mrs. Katz to help with Tush, Mrs. Katz tells him stories about coming to America from Poland and about the good times she spent with her late husband. As Larnel grows to love Mrs. Katz, he also learns about the common themes of hardship and triumph in each of their cultures.”
Here Is The World
“Here Is the World is a joyous celebration of the Jewish holidays throughout the year for young children. Beginning with the weekly observance of Shabbat, readers join a family through the holidays and the corresponding seasons. From sounding the shofar on Rosh Hashanah to lighting the menorah for Chanukah to rattling a grogger for Purim, and on through the Jewish year, the joy and significance of each holiday beautifully come to life.”
Lights Out Shabbat
“A little boy spends Shabbat with his grandparents in Georgia and gets a snowy surprise.”
Koala Challah
“Young, awkward, messy Lila the koala wants to help her family get ready for Shabbat dinner. Her plan is to bake her own loaf of challah—but each time she tries, the challah comes out wrong. What’s the secret to making the best koala challah ever?”
A Hat for Mrs. Goldman
“Mrs. Goldman always knits hats for everyone in the neighborhood, and Sophia, who thinks knitting is too hard, helps by making the pom-poms. But now winter is here, and Mrs. Goldman herself doesn't have a hat-she's too busy making hats for everyone else! It's up to Sophia to buckle down and knit a hat for Mrs. Goldman. But try as Sophia might, the hat turns out lumpy, the stitches aren't even, and there are holes where there shouldn't be holes. Sophia is devastated until she gets an idea that will make Mrs. Goldman's hat the most wonderful of all. Readers both young and old will relate to Sophia's frustrations, as well as her delight in making something special for someone she loves.”
Sammy Spider’s First Shavuot
“‘What’s a recipe?’ Sammy Spider asks his mother as he watches Mrs. Shapiro make blintzes for Shavuot. As Sammy follows the holiday preparations, young readers will learn how the Torah, which was given on Shavuot, is also a ‘recipe for life.’”
The Whispering Town
“It is 1943 in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Anett and her parents are hiding a Jewish woman and her son, Carl, in their cellar until a fishing boat can take them across the sound to neutral Sweden. The soldiers patrolling their street are growing suspicious, so Carl and his mama must make their way to the harbor despite a cloudy sky with no moon to guide them. Worried about their safety, Anett devises a clever and unusual plan for their safe passage to the harbor.”
Emma’s Poem
“Before reading Linda Glaser’s simple, yet eloquent picture book, Emma’s Poem, one might think one knew most of what there was to know about the Statue of Liberty: gift from France, stands in New York harbor, has a poem on its pedestal written by Emma Lazarus. Glaser’s book tells the story behind the woman who wrote that poem. Emma Lazarus grew up in the lap of luxury. Her visit one day to Ward’s Island, entry port for many tired, hungry, and poor immigrants, had a profound effect on her. These immigrants, mainly Jews like herself, had been terribly mistreated in their home countries. Emma felt compelled to help them. But immigrants were not well-received in Emma’s social circle, an image she vowed to help change. When asked to contribute a poem to an anthology being put together to raise money for the Statue of Liberty pedestal, Emma wrote her now-famous words to welcome all immigrants to our country, words so powerful they were eventually etched on a plaque attached to the pedestal itself. All immigrants would now read Emma’s welcoming words: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. “
My Name is Aviva
“"My name is Aviva, not Amoeba!" shouts Aviva at her teasing classmates. Aviva is determined to change her name until she discovers where her name comes from and why her parents chose that special name for her.”
The Keeping Quilt
“‘We will make a quilt to help us always remember home,’ Anna's mother said. ‘It will be like heaving the family in back home Russia dance around us at night.’
And so it was. From a basket of old clothes, Anna's babushka, Uncle Vladimir's shirt, Aunt Havalah's nightdress and an apron of Aunt Natasha's become The Keeping Quilt, passed along from mother to daughter for almost a century. For four generations the quilt is a Sabbath tablecloth, a wedding canopy, and a blanket that welcomes babies warmly into the world.
In strongly moving pictures that are as heartwarming as they are real, Patricia Polacco tells the story of her own family, and the quilt that remains a symbol of their enduring love and faith.”