By Melissa Wilson, Leeds Trinity University, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Many young adult books about Jews or being Jewish are set in the Holocaust (Shoah) or in Israel. These settings limits readers from building connections to Jews who are currently living in the diaspora (not living in Israel). This WOW Dozen highlights young adult realistic fiction featuring these Jews. Each novel shows Jewish younger people living lives not directly connected to the Shoah or to the Middle East. This text set illustrates that diaspora Jews, like all cultural groups, are not a monolith. We live all over the world, speak different languages, and have varying degrees of religious orthodoxy. Yet there are ties that bind all of us, ties of traditional languages (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino), otherness, and a non-Christian world view. Enjoying and transacting with these texts will help students to connect with Jews and Jewish culture in the here and now. Most importantly, these connections will challenge the entrenched antisemitism that infects our American culture.
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What We’re Scared Of by Keren David, 9781407196442, Scholastic, 2021.
Twin sisters living in London must confront their relationship with each other and with their Jewish background when antisemites troll their mother.
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Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds, 9780593349755, Razorbill, 2022.
In this winter romcom, Shira wants a boyfriend in time for Hannukah. She thinks the right boy may be Isaac until Shira is snowed in with Tyler, her nemesis and former crush.
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Color Me In by Natasha Diaz, 9780525578239, Delacorte, 2019.
When her Black mother and Jewish father divorce, Naveah is pushed and pulled between two cultures and two families, learning a secret that changes her world forever.
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Dancing at the Pity Party: A Dead Mom Graphic Memoir by Tyler Felder, 9780525553021, Dial Books, 2020.
This graphic memoir takes readers on the journey of Felder’s mother’s initial cancer diagnosis to life as a motherless young adult.
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What Makes Us by Rafi Mittlefehldt, 9780763697501, Candlewick Press, 2019.
A viral video reveals that Eran, a teenager who organized a protest, is the son of a terrorist and he must now figure out if he is like his father.
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Strange Creatures by Phoebe North, 9780062841155, Balzer+Bray, 2021.
Annie’s older brother, James, disappears and she is sure that he took refuge in an imaginary world they created when they were children together.
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The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Issac Blum, 9780593525821, Philomel Books, 2022.
Hoodie’s entire Orthodox Jewish community relocates to a small, non-Jewish town that becomes unsafe for Jews.
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You asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman, 978149265276, Sourcebooks Fire, 2019.
Ariel is the perfect student, until he fails his calculus quiz and must seek help from Amir.
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Camp by L. C. Rosen, 9780241428252, Little Brown Books, 2020.
Randall gives himself a makeover to tempt a boy he has liked from afar at a queer summer camp, but questions of identify and truth crop up.
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Hope and Other Punchlines by Julie Buxbaum, 9781524766771, Delacorte, 2019.
Abbi and Noah are both camp counsellors trying to make sense of their personal traumas from 9/11.
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Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz, 9781640637320, Entangled: Teen, 2020.
Isabel has rheumatoid arthritis and does not date, but this is tested when she meets a boy who is also chronically ill.
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Lucy Clark will not Apologize by Margo Rabb, 9780062322401, Quill Tree Books, 2021.
In this mystery, Lucy and friends, help an eccentric elderly woman with dementia figure out who is trying to kill her.
WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.
- Themes: Camp, Color me In, Dancing at the Pity Party, Eight Nights of Flirting, Hannah Moskowitz, Hannah Reynolds, Hope and Other Punchlines, Issac Blum, Julie Buxbaum, Keren David, L. C. Rosen, Laura Silverman, Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize, Margo Rabb, Melissa Wilson, Natasha Diaz, Phoebe North, Rafi Mittlefehldt, Sick Kids in Love, Strange Creatures, Tyler Felder, What Makes Us, What We're Scared Of, You asked for Perfect
- Descriptors: WOW Dozen