Books for Kids: Jewish American Heritage Month

May is Jewish Heritage Month. Check out some of these titles to celebrate throughout the month!

Updated April 26, 2023
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Lucky broken girl
Behar, Ruth
Paper Book
Winner of the 2018 Pura Belpre Award! A Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Book of the Century "A book for anyone mending from childhood wounds."--Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age...
How to find what you're not looking for
Hiranandani, Veera
Paper Book
New historical fiction from a Newbery Honor-winning author about how middle schooler Ariel Goldberg's life changes when her big sister elopes following the 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision, and she's forced to grapple with both her family's prejudice and the antisemitism she experiences,...
A ceiling made of eggshells
Levine, Gail Carson
Paper Book
In A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, Newbery Honor-winning author Gail Carson Levine tells a moving and ambitious story set during the expulsion of Jews from Spain, about a young Jewish girl full of heart who must play her own role in her people's epic history--no matter the sacrifice.<...
I dissent : Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes her mark
Levy, Debbie
Paper Book
Get to know celebrated Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg--in the first picture book about her life--as she proves that disagreeing does not make you disagreeable! Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent a lifetime disagreeing: disagreeing with inequality,...
Chunky
Mercado, Yehudi
Paper Book
In this full-color middle grade graphic memoir for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Jerry Craft, Yehudi Mercado draws inspiration from his childhood struggle with his weight while finding friendship with his imaginary mascot, Chunky, as he navigates growing up in a working class Mexican...
Chunky goes to camp
Mercado, Yehudi
Paper Book
In Yehudi Mercado's full-color middle grade graphic memoir sequel to Chunky, Hudi and his imaginary friend, Chunky, head to Jewish summer camp, where the dynamic duo meet a new friend who can see Chunky, too, and get mixed up in a prank war. This series is perfect for fans of Raina...
The woman who split the atom : Lise Meitner
Moss, Marissa
Paper Book
As a female Jewish physicist in Berlin during the early 20th century, Lise Meitner had to fight for an education, a job, and equal treatment in her field, like having her name listed on her own research papers. Meitner made groundbreaking strides in the study of radiation, but when...
Gittel's journey : an Ellis Island story
Newman, Lesle a
Paper Book
A 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Book! A 2019 National Jewish Book Award Winner! Gittel and her mother were supposed to immigrate to America together, but when her mother is stopped by the health inspector, Gittel must make the journey alone. Her mother writes her cousin's...
Black bird, blue road
Pasternack, Sofiya
Paper Book
In this historical fantasy novel, praised as a "rich, omen-filled journey that powerfully shows love and its limits*" and "propulsive, wise, and heartbreaking,"** Ziva will do anything to save her twin brother Pesah from his illness--even facing the Angel of Death himself....
Eddie Whatever
Ruby, Lois
Paper Book
"Comic, creepy, calamitous, and . . . completely satisfying."--Claudia Mills, author of The Lost Language and Zero ToleranceWith his bar mitzvah on the horizon, thirteen-year-old Eddie needs to do a community service project, and he needs to start yesterday. Against his better judgment, he ends up...
Osnat and her dove : the true story of the world's first female rabbi
Samuel, Sigal
Paper Book
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...
Ellen outside the lines
Sass, A. J.
Paper Book
Winner of a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor! A heartfelt novel about a neurodivergent thirteen-year-old navigating changing friendships, a school trip, and expanding horizons for fans of Rain Reign and Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World. ...
Nicky & Vera : a quiet hero of the Holocaust and the children he rescued
Si?s, Peter
Paper Book
In December 1938, a young Englishman canceled a ski vacation and went instead to Prague to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Nazis who were crowded into the city. Setting up a makeshift headquarters in his hotel room, Nicholas Winton took names and photographs from parents...
Sitting shiva
Silver, Erin
Paper Book
Key Selling Points A heartwarming story that explains an important Jewish custom in a child-appropriate way. Centers around the beauty of an age-old tradition that shows how much more alike we are than different as we seek to comfort and nourish one another in times of need....

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