children’s books

Muriel Mandell works on her iPad at her apartment in downtown Manhattan's Greenwich Village. After a career as a reporter and schoolteacher, she began writing children's books, including 'A Donkey Reads,' right. (Lori Silberman Brauner/ viaJTA)

Former wartime reporter and kid’s book author is 99 – and she isn’t slowing down

Ahead of her 100th birthday, tech-savvy Muriel Mandell teaches fellow seniors photo editing, animation and word processing, and is still a prolific reviewer of children’s books

July 30, 2021, 3:24 am

Former wartime reporter and kid’s book author is 99 – and she isn’t slowing down

Ahead of her 100th birthday, tech-savvy Muriel Mandell teaches fellow seniors photo editing, animation and word processing, and is still a prolific reviewer of children’s books

By Lori Silberman Brauner

'Nicky & Vera' by Peter Sis (Courtesy W.W. Norton and Company); Holocaust-era hero Nicholas Winton, who helped save 669 Czech children from the Nazi invasion. (AP/Petr David Josek, File)

July 12, 2021, 2:42 am

Man who rescued 669 Czech children from Nazis is now the hero of a kids’ book

Nicholas Winton helped organize Kindertransports that carried young people to safety on the eve of war. ‘Nicky & Vera,’ by author and illustrator Peter Sis, now honors his legacy

By Rich Tenorio

Ruth Behar's grandmother Esther (third from left in front row, in white dress) with her family in Agramonte, Cuba, c. 1936. (Courtesy)

July 1, 2021, 3:00 am

Based on grandmother’s heroic tale, author shows 1930s Cuba as haven for Jews

Ruth Behar mines family lore for ‘Letters From Cuba,’ a book for readers ages 8-12 about a pre-teen Polish-Jewish girl’s solo journey to life in remote sugar plantation town

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Uri Shulevitz, author of 'Chance: Escape From the Holocaust,' and cover art. (Photo of Shulevitz courtesy of Paula Brown/ book cover courtesy Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

April 8, 2021, 4:56 pm

Fate has starring role in Holocaust-surviving illustrator’s memoir for children

Acclaimed writer/illustrator Uri Shulevitz returns with autobiography ‘Chance: Escape From the Holocaust,’ filled with encounters so fantastic they could only happen in real life

By Rich Tenorio

Passover books 'Baby Moses in a Basket,' 'The Great Passover Escape,' 'Matzah Craze,' and 'The Passover Guest.' (Kar-Ben Books; Candlewick; Holiday House Publishing/ via JTA)

March 21, 2021, 2:57 am

Lions read haggadahs, magical guests appear in new Passover kids’ books

Poignant moments of generosity, lighthearted humor, and interactive seder instructions with tips for guests joining remotely fill the pages of holiday stories for all ages

By Penny Schwartz

Norton Juster at home in Massachusetts. (Bill Greene/The Boston Globe via Getty Images via JTA)

March 10, 2021, 12:24 am

‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ author Norton Juster dies at 91

Daughter of American Jewish writer and architect says her father, who grew up reading Yiddish novels, died of complications from a recent stroke

By Gabe Friedman

Laura Shovan, left, the cover of 'A Place at the Table,' and Saadia Faruqi (QZB Photography/Clarion Books/Laura Joy Burke/ via JTA)

March 6, 2021, 3:48 pm

2 women, Muslim and Jew, co-write children’s book about standing up to prejudice

Even as the US struggles with seemingly insurmountable divides, Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan’s ‘A Place at the Table’ teaches that difference does not inherently mean discordance

By Talia Liben Yarmush

'Osnat and Her Dove: The True Story of the World's First Female Rabbi' written by Sigal Samuel and illustrated by Vali Mintzi (Levine Querido)

January 30, 2021, 11:15 pm

World’s 1st female rabbi led a 16th century Mosul yeshiva for Kurdish Jewry

Journalist and novelist Sigal Samuel honors her Iraqi Jewish heritage with picture book about Osnat Barazani, whose life was a real-life early Yentl story set in the Middle East

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Poet and author Kwame Alexander surprises bar mitzvah boy Mossy Simonson at his home in London, January 17, 2021. (Raymond Simonson)

January 29, 2021, 1:50 pm

Famed young adult author walks hours across London to surprise bar mitzvah boy

Responding to an appreciative tweet from Mossy Simonson’s father, award-winning poet Kwame Alexander shows up on family’s doorstep with signed books and best wishes for the big day

By Renee Ghert-Zand

'Turtle Boy' and 'Welcoming Elijah' are among the top Sydney Taylor Book Awards winners in 2020. ('Turtle Boy': Courtesy of Delacorte Press/Random House; 'Welcoming Elijah': Courtesy of Charlesbridge/ via JTA)

January 26, 2021, 8:42 am

A Passover tale and 2 coming-of-age debut novels win Jewish books for kids award

Sydney Taylor Book Awards go to stories of young boy bonding with a lonely kitten, a 7th grader learning friendship with terminally ill teen and an exploration of loss

By Penny Schwartz

Beate Sirota Gordon at American Japanese Festival in 1938. (Beate Sirota Photo Gallery/ via JTA)

January 6, 2021, 4:07 am

Jewish feminist Beate Sirota Gordon changed women’s rights in Japan forever

A new children’s book shows how her upbringing and bit of good, old-fashioned chutzpah helped a 22-year-old woman change a country’s destiny, and then keep mum about it for decades

By Maddy Albert

Hanukkah Goblins is based on Eric Kimmel’s classic children’s book 'Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins.' (Art/Kali Hayes, KH Illustration/ via JTA)

December 11, 2020, 2:15 am

New game lets you play Hanukkah goblins and shoot jelly doughnuts

Out December 10, Max Fefer’s tabletop role-playing version of classic children’s book ‘Herschel and the Hanukkah Goblins’ lets players choose their own destiny

By Maya Mirsky

'I am Anne Frank' illustration by Christopher Eliopoulos

December 6, 2020, 11:59 pm

‘I am Anne Frank’ demystifies hero to make Holocaust accessible to young readers

Author Brad Meltzer says he wrote the delicate, hope-filled intro to genocide’s horrors with his own children in mind, as part of the ‘Ordinary People Change the World’ book series

By Matt Lebovic

Some of the books written about the Ethiopian Israeli experience by Naomi Shmuel, who will speak at the Beit Avi Chai digital Sigd celebration on November 16, 2020. (courtesy, Naomi Shmuel)

November 15, 2020, 10:27 pm

Ethiopian Sigd holiday marked with online events at Beit Avi Chai

Children’s book author Naomi Shmuel to speak about diversity and difference in Ethiopian community for digital celebration

By Jessica Steinberg

Clockwise, from right: 'Honey on the Page' by Miriam Udel (courtesy); 'Labzik: Stories of a Clever Pup,' by Khaver Paver (NYU Press/ via New York Jewish Week); author Miriam Udel (Shulamit Seidler-Feller/via New York Jewish Week); background: Yiddish 'King Lear' poster (flickr/CC-SA-2.0/ Rachel-Esther)

November 2, 2020, 4:23 am

New collection of Yiddish kids’ stories comes out from under shadow of Holocaust

In ‘Honey on the Page,’ Atlanta scholar Miriam Udel uncovers in the YIVO archives 50 stories and poems for a young audience that had largely disappeared by the end of World War II

By Andrew Silow-Carroll