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  • General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

Chapter Books Celebrating Jewish Life and Culture

The Contemporary Jewish Museum and SFPL have partnered to develop a list of children's books for parents, caregivers and educators to offer connections for students in grades K-8 about Jewish culture and celebrations, with the hope of expanding understanding and countering antisemitism.

User from San Francisco Public Library

19 items

  • After the death of eleven-year-old Aviva’s father, she and her mother move into a small apartment above the local mikvah that seems to be haunted by a dybbuk, a mischievous spirit in Jewish folklore. [Grades 4-8]
    Book, 2022Montclair : Levine Querido, 2022. — jF LOWE
  • Ava (who is Jewish) and Nadeem (who is Muslim) go back in time to ancient Morocco to help Prince Abdur Rahman escape to Spain and fulfill his destiny as the ruler of a country in which Jews and Muslims work together to make medieval Spain a center…
    Book, 2022Minneapolis, MN, USA : Kar-Ben Publishing, [2022] — jF HODD
  • Vampire siblings ten-year-old Adam and his older foster brother Victor agree to help two mortal kids track down a serial killer. Explores antisemitic elements in Bram Stoker’s "Dracula" and vampire lore in general. [Grades 6-8]
    Book, 2023Toronto : Tundra Books, [2023] — jF MOUL
  • In sixth grade at an Orthodox Jewish girls’ school, awkward, chubby Shaindy feels invisible, while smart, popular Gayil is considered the perfect student. When Gayil includes Shaindy in her series of harmless pranks, will Shaindy be able to resist…
    Book, 2023Hoboken, NJ : Levine Querido, [2023] — jF LOWE
  • The Genius Under the Table

    Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain

    Yelchin, Eugene,
    In this funny and tragic memoir, Yelchin describes his childhood in Cold War Russia as a young boy desperate to understand his place in his Jewish family. [Grades 3-8]
    Book, 2021Somerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, 2021. — jB YELC
  • When eleven-year-old Milla's best friend Honey joins her school for sixth grade Milla finds herself in her friend's shadow. As the year progresses through the Jewish holidays Milla tries to cope with the tensions and the dramas of school, including…
    Book, 2022New York : Scholastic Press, 2022. — jF DRAZ
  • Middle schooler Ariel Goldberg must find her own voice and define her own beliefs after her big sister elopes with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage.
    Book, 2021New York, NY : Kokila, 2021. — jF HIRA
  • An Orthodox Jewish seventh grader who has watched way too much television negotiates new schools and divorced parents. [Grades 5-8]
    Book, 2023New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, 2023. — jF LEVY
  • When someone sneaks into a middle school in a small, quiet town and vandalizes it with a swastika nobody can believe it. How could such a symbol of hate show up in their school? [Grades 4-8]
    Book, 2021New York, NY : Scholastic, Incorporated, 2021. — jF KORM
  • When 11-year-old Max Bretzfeld, a Jewish boy from Berlin, is sent to England on the Kindertransport in 1939, he’s accompanied by two tiny men on his shoulders whom only he can see. He’s determined to do whatever it takes to get back to his…
    Book, 2024New York, NY : Dutton, 2024. — jF GIDW
  • Naomi receives a mysterious package containing a tiny clay Golem that comes to life and obeys her every command. Soon it becomes out of control and Naomi and her friends must research its origins in Jewish folklore to try and stop it. [Grades 5-8]…
    Book, 2022New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2022] — jF SHAN
  • In this chapter book, twelve-year-old Shai hates everything about moving to America from Israel and she's determined to come up with a plan that will get her back home. [Grades 4-8]
    Book, 2023Minneapolis, MN : Kar-Ben, 2023. — jF NIMR
  • When Lauren Horowitz tries out for her middle school's musical, she thinks she might have a shot at the lead. But when the drama teacher tells her she doesn't look "all-American" because she's Chinese and Jewish, Lauren begins to doubt whether her…
    Book, 2020New York, NY : Scholastic, Incorporated, 2020. — jF ROSE
  • In 1975 Atlantic City, thirteen-year-old Joey’s Skee-Ball skills get him in over his head with a shady character known as the king of Steel Pier, but his close-knit Jewish family remind him where he really belongs. [Grades 5-8]
    Book, 2022Minneapolis, MN : Kar-Ben, 2022. — jF NOCK
  • In 1905, eleven-year-old Shoshana and her family flee from Russian pogroms to North Dakota, where land is available to those who are willing to farm it—even Jews. [Grades 4-8] See also "Skating with the Statue of Liberty" by Susan Meyer [Grades 4-8]
    Book, 2023New York, NY : Union Square Kids, 2023. — jF MEYE
  • Eighth grader Evie is about to become the junior funeral director at her parents’ funeral home for the summer and she takes the job very seriously. Even though she’s not interested in making any friends, she meets Oren Katzman after the tragic…
    Book, 2021Victoria, British Columbia : Orca Book Publishers, 2021. — jF LEVY
  • A bar mitzvah community service assignment forces Will to befriend dying teen RJ, which gives Will flashbacks to when his Dad died and flash-forward fears to Will’s upcoming facial surgery. [Grades 5-8]
    Book, 2020New York, NY : Delacorte Press, 2020. — jF WOLK
  • Twelve-year-old Zippy thinks of her intermarried family as “part-time Jews” so she’s pretty surprised when her mom announces that it’s time to prepare for her bat mitzvah. What she really loves is witchcraft and creating spells, and when she speaks…
    Book, 2023New York, NY : Walden Pond Press, [2023] — jF SNYD