Jewish Heritage Month

Celebrate Canadian Jewish Heritage Month by choosing one of our recommended reads. For all ages.

Updated April 27, 2026
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1

The postcard
Berest, Anne
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR TIME Magazine・NPR・Library Journal・The Globe and Mail・Lilith・Forward Magazine・Toronto Star・The New Yorker Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest...

En 2003, l'ecrivaine recoit une carte postale anonyme sur laquelle sont notes les prenoms des grands-parents de sa mere, de sa tante et de son oncle, morts a Auschwitz en 1942. Elle enquete pour decouvrir l'auteur de cette missive et plonge dans l'histoire de sa famille maternelle, les Rabinovitch, et de sa grand-mere Myriam qui a echappe a la deportation.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

2

The postcard
Berest, Anne
Paper Book
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR TIME Magazine・NPR・Library Journal・The Globe and Mail・Lilith・Forward Magazine・Toronto Star・The New Yorker Winner of the Choix Goncourt Prize, Anne Berest...

Also available in eBook or eAudiobook formats.

3

Sisters of Fortune : a novel
Chehebar, Esther Levy
Paper Book
"Syrian Jewish culture gets the Jane Austen treatment, with sisters Nina, Fortune and Lucy--the rebel, the good girl and the baby of the family, respectively--all on the marriage market. What's Mama Cohen to do? Chehebar's witty debut dives deep into Brooklyn's Syrian Jewish community."--...

4

Girl in the blue coat
Hesse, Monica
Paper Book
"A beautiful combination of heartbreak, loss, young love, and hope."―Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale   ★ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ★ Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Mystery...
Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

5

Girl in the blue coat
Hesse, Monica.
Paper Book
"A beautiful combination of heartbreak, loss, young love, and hope."―Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale   ★ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ★ Edgar Award Winner for Best Young Adult Mystery...

Aussi disponble en format numerique.

6

Daughters of the occupation : a novel of WWII
Sanders, Shelly
Paper Book
Inspired by true events in World War II Latvia, an emotionally charged novel of sacrifice, trauma, resilience, and survival, as witnessed by three generations of women.  On one extraordinary day in 1940, Miriam Talan's comfortable life is shattered. While she gives birth to her second...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

7

Girls girls girls : a novel
von Blanckensee, Shoshana
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2026 LAMBDA Literary Award Finalist for the 2025 CALIBA Golden Poppy Award Longlisted for the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award "Jam-packed with queer angst and queer joy . . . and a truly incredible amount of heart. I devoured this novel." -Kristen...

8

Jewish literature : a very short introduction
Stavans, Ilan
Paper Book
The story of Jewish literature is a kaleidoscopic one, multilingual and transnational in character, spanning the globe as well as the centuries. In this broad, thought-provoking introduction to Jewish literature from 1492 to the present, cultural historian Ilan Stavans focuses on its multilingual...

9

Living a Jewish life : Jewish traditions, customs, and values for today's families
Diamant, Anita
Paper Book
The classic guide to the cultural and spiritual treasures of Judaism is now updated for the first time in 15 years to reflect changes in the modern Jewish community. Living a Jewish Life describes Judaism as not just a contemplative or abstract system of thought but as a...

10

Do not cry when I die : a Holocaust memoir of a mother and daughter's survival in Jewish ghettos, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen
Salt, Renee
Paper Book
One of the oldest living Holocaust survivors recounts her family's imprisonment at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen in this moving memoir of love, loss, courage, and hope. "I only survived because of my mother's love." When German soldiers invaded Poland in...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook format.

11

Can posters kill? : antisemitic propaganda and World War II
Faivish, Jerry
Paper Book
How did Hitler and the Nazi Party convince millions of people that the murder of Jews during the Holocaust was not only justifiable but correct? What can we learn from one of the most horrific times in history?  Can Posters Kill?uses rare, historical posters to take readers on a...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

12

A boy is not a bird
Ravel, Edeet
Paper Book
A young boy named Natt finds his world overturned when his family is uprooted and exiled to Siberia during the occupation of the Soviet Ukraine by Nazi Germany. In 1941, life in Natt's small town of Zastavna is comfortable and familiar, even if the grownups are acting strange, and his...

Canadian author.

13

Honey and me
Drazin, Meira
Paper Book
Fans of Judy Blume, The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, and The Penderwicks will love this funny, charismatic story of a Jewish girl striving to forge her own identity in the shadow of her fearless best friend. **A 2023 Sydney Taylor Award Honor Book!** **A...

14

By chance alone : a remarkable true story of courage and survival at Auschwitz
Eisen, Max
Paper Book
An award-winning, internationally bestselling Holocaust memoir in the tradition of Elie Wiesel's Night and Primo Levi's Survival in Auschwitz In the spring of 1944, gendarmes forcibly removed Tibor "Max" Eisen and his family from their home, brought them to a brickyard and eventually...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

15

The promise : a story of two sisters, prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp
Bat-Zvi, Pnina
Paper Book
The night that Rachel and Toby's parents are taken away by the Nazis, they give their young daughters three gold coins with the instructions to "use these wisely to help save your lives." They also ask the girls to promise that they will always stay together. This compelling true story follows the...

Canadian author.

16

She's a mensch! : ten amazing Jewish women
Dublin, Anne
Paper Book
From the poorest neighborhoods in Kenya to the halls of the Canadian Supreme Court, the Jewish women found in these pages have accomplished remarkable feats. Some survived the horrors of the Holocaust while others had more peaceful childhoods, but all of them saw unfairness in their world and...

Canadian author.

17

Rising
Ludwig, Sidura
Paper Book
An Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Honor Book A quiet, joyful story celebrating a Jewish mother's tradition of making challah with her child merges a lyrical text with stunning illustrations--and includes the author's favorite recipe. Melt into the...

Canadian author.

18

The light keeper
Baslaw, Sheila
Paper Book
Shmuel is eager to help support his poor family, but no one in his shtetl is interested in hiring a ten-year-old boy. One day, the village installs new electric lamps, bringing light to their square and dazzling away the dark. Until a lamp breaks during a storm--and Shmuel is the only one who can...

Canadian author.


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