It’s finally time to reveal the Middle Grade Selections from the Reader’s Poll. We have reviews up for six out of the ten, and one is read but we are waiting on the last book in the series so we can review them as a whole. There’s a really nice selection here including both old and new publications.
I’ve been a mother and I’ve been a daughter. I still am both of those things, yet there is something extremely difficult about defining those relationships. To be a parent is to love somebody else with your whole heart, yet never fully understand them. To be a child is to go through a series of changes including realizing your parents are fallible individuals who were once children too. These states of being are inextricably intertwined but parent and child must also define themselves as individuals. This struggle is at the heart of Emily Barth Isler’s middle grade novel The Color of Sound.
Main character Rosie has always been a violin prodigy, but after a falling out with her best friend she’s starting to question who she is without her music and the demanding schedule it necessitates. She’s on strike and refusing to play – much to the dismay of her high achieving parents. To top off this upheaval, she and her mother are living in Connecticut for the summer to spend more time with her grandmother who is dying from Alzheimer’s. Said grandmother remembers almost nothing except for the fact that Rosie plays violin. Not exactly helping the identity crisis.
Of note, Rosie experiences the world differently than others around her. Her senses often bleed together, most commonly described in the book by the way sound has color for her, which is known as synesthesia. Her inability to talk to her mother about this is reflective of the larger communication block between them. In a twist, Rosie finds a way to communicate with a childhood version of her mother, which she finds much easier than present day conversations. She learns how people change over time, how our characters are shaped by life events, and that her past is more nuanced than she expected.
Middle graders who do not enjoy “the kissing books” will be fine with this one. Rosie does have a crush on an older boy but this is not the focus of the plot and it is handled very gently. If anything, there’s more talk about Rosie’s former best friend and her desire to tell Rosie about all the girls she likes, showing that we all mature at different paces and one friend might be more interested in romance than another. However, there is an off page traumatic loss of a pet and I know some of my readers specifically ask for that content note. You can easily skip those pages if you need to.
Rosie is not on strike because she hates the violin. On the contrary, its loss feels like a gaping hole to the reader. She’s simply trying to figure out her life and how much of herself she wants to have defined by this one thing vs. how much her parents are demanding of her. Similarly, Rosie’s mother was less religiously inclined than her own parents and didn’t want a bat mitzvah. Ironically, as part of her later practice Rosie’s mother decides not to eat bacon even though Rosie’s grandfather cooks and eats it regularly. Everyone’s connection to Judaism is different and Rosie then makes her own personal choices about her religious practice.
The Color of Sound is a book about how we each define ourselves, how those choices are influenced by our relationships, but also how there is always room for change. Rosie makes peace with her music, but also with her families’ past. She celebrates what makes her special, including her synesthesia, and she finds the words to communicate this to those that mean the most to her. Middle grade readers going through the complicated process of growing up will hopefully find some inspiration in her story.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a finished copy of this book from the publisher after we emailed.
Here are the YA audience picks! We have reviews up for seven out of ten and one has been glaring at us from our TBR for an amount of time we find embarrassing and therefore we are rapidly trying to remedy this situation. FYI one books was moved to the MG list which will be released next week since the publisher officially categorizes it as MG.
It’s a good idea to start a book with some action, or a large emotional moment, to quickly grab the reader and immerse them in the characters world. In Dear Eliza by Andrea J. Stein the first chapter opens on a shiva. The main character, Eliza, is mourning her father. This officially makes her an orphan since her mother passed when Eliza was in high school. Immediately, it becomes clear to readers that there is some serious family drama between Eliza and her stepmother. Plus, her brother is fraying at the edges. We are definitely in a major emotional moment and it only gets more intense from there.
In a shocking reveal, Eliza learns that her now deceased father wasn’t really her biological father. It’s a secret her mother kept even when she knew she was dying, only revealing it via a letter that she wrote to be opened by Eliza after the passing of the man that raised her and she considers her father. What a way to end a shiva. Understandably, Eliza does not handle the news well. Less understandably, her stepmother tries to use this as a means to remove Eliza from the will, and Eliza’s brother disagrees with how Eliza chooses to handle the entire situation.
There’s a lot of emotional tension, but the book also features a sweet romance. Readers with weight and diet issues might want to go in knowing that Eliza tends to grieve by starving herself. While this is never officially labeled as an eating disorder, there is a lot of talk about food restriction, intake, and weight that certainly felt, at the very least, eating disorder adjacent to me. There’s also a fair amount of privilege in Eliza’s life and job, and while she does acknowledge it, it’s still fairly glaring. This is not the life and career of your typical twenty something.
The nice thing about Dear Eliza was watching not only Eliza’s grieving process but also her relearning how to relate to her parents and family in general. She realizes that her mother, who is responsible for a fair amount of the privilege she enjoys, is also responsible for a lot of the current mess she’s in. Her brother, whom she has always turned to for support, might himself need some help sometimes, and her stepmother isn’t necessarily a good digging demon. Nobody is perfect, especially Eliza.
While all of that might seem heavy, this is a quick read. The prose is smooth and the pages turn quickly. When Eliza finds her happy ending the reader is genuinely happy for her and optimistic about her future. We open on high drama but we end on comfort. Who could ask for anything better?
Note: BookishlyJewish received an arc of this book from the publisher
It’s always nice to revisit an old friend – unless of course that friend turns out to be the most complicated part of your life. In Authority, the sequel to Jamie Krakover’s YA sci- fi Tracker220, readers will be pleased to catch up with main character Kaya Weiss and learn how she is faring after bringing down the tracker network that allowed the authorities an unprecedented ability to not only monitor people, but also to control them. However, readers will also get to revisit a less beloved friend – Kaya’s tracker is working again. Several other trackers are also working in highly undesirable ways. Kaya and crew must figure out who is exploiting the supposedly dormant devices and how to stop them.
Per usual, I found Kaya’s taste in men to be very suspect. I did not care for her ex, and I do not care for her currently boyfriend or the way either of these guys treats her. Possibly this has to do with my overall aversion to large doses of testosterone, especially when it comes to jealousy. However, when the tracker network is activated once again by someone trying to manipulate people, Kaya herself shows lapses in judgement far more egregious than her dating choices. She trusts some people too quickly while at the same time rushing off and attempting to fix things on her own in order to try and spare those she loves. Meanwhile the reader is left yelling at their e-reader, reminding her you can’t trust sociopaths (OK maybe just this reader, but still). There’s a lot of room for growth here from almost all the characters – and they do so over the course of the book.
What I really enjoyed was Kaya’s complicated relationship with her father. When we learn that all the shenanigans in the last book were due to Mr. Weiss giving his daughter a special gift and then completely neglecting to tell her about it or the resulting danger it puts her in, readers are understandably miffed at the guy. It’s nice to learn that Kaya is too. She and her father have to hash it out over the next few pages and what results is also a microcosm of one of the larger questions of the book – how much do we shield others instead of letting them make their own choices and what price are we willing to pay in either direction? Turns out a universe without trackers isn’t quite the utopia everyone thought it would be. But life with them wasn’t so great either.
The most delightful bit in the book has to do with an artificial intelligence. I do not approve of AI in the writing process or in the cover design process, but I am very open to them as plot devices in sci fi! Authority is human written and human designed and I enjoyed seeing what actual uses Krakover could come up with for the AI character in her book. Here’s a hint- it has nothing to do with replacing humans. If current humans could take a leaf from her book maybe we’d actually use this technology in ways that benefit people.
The title Authority is apt- authority and who should wield it over another, is indeed the question the reader is thinking about as the book closes. Who gets to set the rules and why? How do we monitor that process? It’s a timely question that I hope will lead young readers to engage thoughtfully on this topic.
Note: BookishlyJewish received an e-arc of this book from the author
Continuing on with the genre reveals, today we feature the science fiction and fantasy picks! We’ve got reviews up for four of these books, plus an author interview for a fifth. And one is burning a hole in my kindle just waiting to be read.
Today we reveal the Reader’s Picks for ROMANCE, and as a sign of my long lasting devotion to the subject, I am pleased to report that BookishlyJewish already has a review up for nine out of ten of these books. We have the full gamut of heat levels represented here, and I suspect those who know me can easily guess which pick was mine. XOXO
As a personal aside, Jewish romance writers are really fun and they were some of the first people in the industry to send BookishlyJewish arcs and also welcomed me into their spaces as a writer before I was published. Thank you romance writers for your continued support. I hope to keep covering your gorgeous books for many years to come and have one of mine up there someday keeping yours company.
Today is the nonfiction reveal, and I definitely have some work to do to expand the nonfiction section. I’ve read one of these and have plans to review it, but I need to get on the others ASAP. Calling all guest reviewers – help me out!
I am really pleased to announce the reader picks in the “Best Overall Jewish Book” category.
I won’t tell you which books got the most votes, but I can share a few fun facts:
-BookishlyJewish has reviews up for five of them (links below)
-There’s an additional book I’ve read but still haven’t gotten around to reviewing
-Two are so high on my TBR I already own them. They stare at me balefully as I type this. (Can you guess which?)
-There’s a nice mix of fiction and nonfiction
-Three of these books were not on my radar, but now they are
-Our younger readers have participated! Plus some nostalgic grown ups! Love that we got some children’s literature on here.
Stay tuned as we release the results for individual categories throughout the week. There are a lot of fun and surprising picks. Your TBR is sure to grow.
Find the books:
All Who Go Do Not Return by Shulem Deen, nonfiction: Bookshop | Amazon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, speculative literary: Bookshop | Amazon
The Chosen by Chaim Potok, historical fiction: Bookshop | Amazon
written by: Ruth Horowitz with illustrations by: Jenny Meilhove
barefoot Books October 1, 2024
32 pages
Review by: E. Broderick
The best way for me to review children’s books, particularly picture books, is to read them to a child. So when I heard Ruth Horowitz had a new picture book coming out, I set about recruiting a child to participate in reading The Midnight Mitzvah with me. Luckily, most children enjoy being read to and this was not a difficult position to fill. Especially since the illustrations by Jenny Meilhove were particularly inviting.
Full disclosure – we read this on a computer so the full board book experience is not here, but I did read it out loud and the aforementioned toddler was very happy to snuggle up and listen. They even tried to touch the screen the same way they would turn the pages of a physical book. As this was 3-year-old, the full plot, which involves an important lesson about how charity is best performed in secret, may have flown over their head. It was, however, grasped by the older siblings who kept pretending they were not listening to the book. They commented on how this preserves the recipients dignity, with the oldest even mentioning they learned about this in the laws of tzedakah -charity – laid out by Moses Maimonides. They shared their thoughts on the topic and many text to self connections were made.
I mostly enjoyed how the featured chipmunk is a stand in for a respected Rabbi in a famous old Jewish tale. There’s nothing like involving the local wild life to make a story feel fresh.
The text is not heavy handed, and there is a tense moment in the forest at night before we learn that all is well. This provides just enough emotional tension to keep little listeners engaged.
But back to the three-year-old. This particular child was very excited to point out and name all the different animals as well as the moon which is drawn with a variety of facial expressions. When we finished The Midnight Mitzvah, there was a request asked for more books to be read. Which is a sure sign of success – the audience asked for an encore! How fortunate for us that Horowitz has more books for us to read together.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a free e-arc from the author after we expressed interest in one.
