Best Jewish books for Children and Teens: A JPS Guide

Introduction

xi Introduction Once books for English-speaking American Jewish children began being published, it took several decades for writers to find a voice that spoke to their readers, whose languages and experiences were different from those of their European ancestors. No immigrant group has ever appreciated the freedom and opportunity that America offered more than Jews, despite the hardships that many of them endured. Yet, until the thumb-sized character, K’tonton, tumbled onto the scene, well after the great wave of Jewish immigration had ended, books with Jewish content written for children were generally serious, moralistic, and formal in style, reflecting the culture of an old world where whimsy rarely flourished and childhood was fleeting. As first-generation Jewish Americans continued the process of acculturation that their immigrant parents had begun, a market for Jewish children’s books developed along with the idea that those books should be appealing enough to keep readers coming back for more. Sadie Rose Weilerstein’s K’tonton stories, Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family books, and Anne Frank’s diary are major milestones in American Jewish children’s literature, part of a literary treasure trove that has especially flourished in the last few decades. Among other qualities, they represent high and low points in Jewish life through the ages: K’tonton revels in the holidays with heartfelt Yiddishkeit; the family members in Sydney Taylor’s books find strength and love in each other as they negotiate the challenges of remaining Jewish while becoming American; and Anne Frank has become the face and voice of the greatest catastrophe ever to befall the Jewish people. Jewish children’s books generally portray the joys as well as the vicissitudes that have marked Jewish life throughout history. Positive experiences are emphasized, as children deserve to be offered hope and affirmation about Jewish identity and history before learning about the hardships that the Jewish people have endured. As the editors of Children’s Literature in the Elementary School rightly observe, “Cynicism and despair are not childlike emotions and should not figure prominently in a child’s book … This is not to say that all stories for children need to have happy endings; many today do not. It is only to say that when you close the door on hope, you have left the realm of childhood” (Seventh Edition, McGraw Hill, 2001, p. 5). The titles included in this guide are a selection of Jewish books for children—from preschool through high school—written in or translated into English and published during the 20th and 21th centuries, with most appearing since the end of World War II. I chose them after reading or, more typically, re-reading them, because I think that they represent the best writing, illustration, reader appeal, and authentically Jewish content. Readers will no doubt question why some titles were included and others not. This is in the nature of choosing books: it is not an exact science, opinions differ, and different views have validity, in part because there is a dichotomy of opinion about the purpose of children’s literature. Is it primarily educational or is it primarily for pleasure and enjoyment? Some adults feel that its main purpose is didactic: to teach and to inculcate values. Others believe that its main purpose is aesthetic: to stimulate children’s imaginations and creativity. The books recommended in this guide all have something of a Jewish nature to say to readers. They may impart facts or concepts directly or they may weave them into a story. In other words, some of these books are didactic in purpose while others are aesthetic. A tasty and nourishing Jewish reading diet includes books of both kinds. In answering the recurring question, “What is a Jewish book?,” I was guided by a principle that Josh Lambert, author of American Jewish Fiction: A JPS Guide, expresses with commendable economy: “… this guide excludes books that do not mention Jews.” Like Lambert, I avoided “interpreting Jewishness into books where it does not already inhere …” For one thing, as Fanny Goldstein noted years ago, many authors of books with Jewish content are not Jewish and many Jewish authors write books with no Jewish content. Moreover, in children’s books, Jewishness is sometimes implied by the use of Yiddish-isms, Yiddish names, funny relatives, and exclamations like the ever popular “Oy!” Some authors are more subtle about such implications: their books are Jewish in sensibility without ever mentioning the “J” word. I have avoided...