Children's books with a Jewish theme: Middle school
This guide lists children's books and young adult literature in Cubberley Education Library featuring Jewish lands, people, and culture.
Middle school
- Eight nights of flirting by Hannah ReynoldsPublication Date: 2022Lexile measure HL650L; Ages 12 and up; Gr.7 and up; Sydney Taylor honor book, 2023.
Shira Barbanel has a plan- this Hanukkah, she's going to get a boyfriend. And she has the perfect candidate in mind-her great-uncle's assistant, Isaac. He's reliable, brilliant, and of course, super hot. The only problem? Shira's an absolute disaster when it comes to flirting. Enter Tyler Nelson, Shira's nemesis-slash-former-crush. As much as she hates to admit it, Tyler is the most charming and popular guy she knows. Which means he's the perfect person to teach her how to win Isaac over. - The life and crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac BlumPublication Date: 2022Lexile measure 790; Ages 12-17; Gr.7-9.
Hoodie Rosen's life isn't that bad. Sure, his entire Orthodox Jewish community has just picked up and moved to the quiet, mostly non-Jewish town of Tregaron, but Hoodie's world hasn't changed that much. He's got basketball to play, studies to avoid, and a supermarket full of delicious kosher snacks to eat. The people of Tregaron aren't happy that so many Orthodox Jews are moving in at once, but that's not Hoodie's problem. That is, until he meets and falls for Anna-Marie Diaz-O'Leary-who happens to be the daughter of the obstinate mayor trying to keep Hoodie's community out of the town.
2016-2020
- Chance: escape from the Holocaust by Uri ShulevitzPublication Date: 2020Ages 8-14; Gr.7-9.
Uri Shulevitz details the eight-year odyssey of how he and his Jewish family escaped the terrors of the Nazis by fleeing Warsaw for the Soviet Union in Chance. It was during those years, with threats at every turn, that the young Uri experienced his awakening as an artist, an experience that played a key role during this difficult time. - The way back by Gavriel SavitPublication Date: 2020Lexile measure 840; Ages 12 and up; gr.7 and up; National Book award finalist, 2020.
A sweeping historical fantasy that follows two teens on a journey through the Far Country, a Jewish land of spirits and demons. For the Jews of Eastern Europe, demons are everywhere: dancing on the rooftops in the darkness of midnight, congregating in the trees, harrowing the dead, even reaching out to try and steal away the living. - On Blackberry Hill by Rachel MannCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3613 .A5498 O5 2016One daughter. One mother. One summer camp. Twenty years apart. If only Reena could stay in the city, instead of spending the last summer before high school at her cousin's Jewish sleepaway camp. From morning prayer to Color War to the social pecking order, she is lost from the start, and her cousin Lila is no ally. While working on her survival skills, Reena begins to find clues of the mother she never knew.
2011-2015
- The Nazi Hunters by Neal BascombCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » DD247 .E5 B374 2013Lexile measure 1000; Ages 11-18; Gr.6 and up.
A spy mission, a Holocaust tale, and a first-class work of nonfiction. In 1945, at the end of World War II, Adolf Eichmann, the head of operations for the Final Solution, walked into the mountains of Germany and vanished from view. Sixteen years later, an elite team of spies captured him at a bus stop in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel, resulting in one of the century's most important trials -- one that cemented the Holocaust in the public imagination. - Beyond Courage by Doreen RappaportCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » D804.6 .R37 2012Ages 10 and up; gr. 7-12.
In a stirring chronicle, Doreen Rappaport brings to light the courage of countless Jews who organized to sabotage the Nazis and help other Jews during the Holocaust. - The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert SharenowCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3619 .H35634 B47 2011Lexile 880; Reading level 5.7; Ages 12+; Grades 7-10.
Sydney Taylor Award-winning novel Berlin Boxing Club is loosely inspired by the true story of boxer Max Schmeling's experiences following Kristallnacht. - Under a Red Sky by Haya Leah MolnarCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » DR267.5 .M65 A3 2010Lexile measure 870; Ages 13 - up; Book level 5.4, gr. 7-9.
Haya Leah Molnar, née Eva Zimmermann, recalls growing up in Bucharest, Romania, during the 1950s. Though she heard Yiddish and kept Kosher at home, Eva remained unaware of her Jewish heritage. This ignorance protected Eva at her Communist-run school.
2005-2010
- Tropical Secrets: Holocaust refugees in Cuba by Margarita EngleCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3555 .N4254 T76 2009Lexile measure 1170; Ages 12-15; Gr.7-10.
Daniel has escaped Nazi Germany with nothing but a desperate dream that he might one day find his parents again. But that golden land called New York has turned away his ship full of refugees, and Daniel finds himself in Cuba. - A Bottle in the Gaza Sea by Valerie Zenatti; Adriana Hunter (Trans.)Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PQ2726 .E53 B6813 2008Ages 13-18; book level 5.8, gr. 7-12.
Seventeen-year-old Tal Levine of Jerusalem, despondent over the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, puts her hopes for peace in a bottle and asks her brother, a military nurse in the Gaza Strip, to toss it into the sea, leading ultimately to friendship and understanding between her and an "enemy." - Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse; Chris Sheban (Illustrator)Call Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3558 .E797867 B76 2008Lexile measure 680; Reading level 4.3; Ages 10-14; Gr.5-8.
In 1903 Brooklyn, fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom's life changes for the worse when his parents, Russian immigrants, invent the teddy bear and turn their apartment into a factory, while nearby the glitter of Coney Island contrasts with the dismal lives of children dwelling under the Brooklyn Bridge. - Emily Goldberg Learns to Salsa by Micol OstowCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3615 .S645 S25 2007Lexile measure 730; Ages 11-16; Book level 4.7; General fiction, gr. 7-10.
Forced to stay with her mother in Puerto Rico for weeks after her grandmother's funeral, half-Jewish Emily, who has just graduated from a Westchester, New York, high school, does not find it easy to connect with her Puerto Rican heritage and relatives she had never met. - Julia's Kitchen by Brenda A. FerberCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3606 .E7 J85 2006Lexile measure 620; Book level 3.9; Ages 9-13; gr.5-8 Guided reading Q.
When her mother and younger sister are killed in a house fire, eleven-year-old Cara struggles to find a way to deal with her emotions and to reach out to her grieving father. - The King of Mulberry Street by Donna Jo NapoliCall Number: Education Library (Cubberley) » Curriculum Collection » PS3564 .A568 K56 2005Guided Reading Level W; Lexile measure 560; Ages 11-16; Grade level 4.4
In 1892, Dom, a nine-year old stowaway from Naples, Italy, arrives in New York and must learn to survive the perils of street life in the big city.
- Last Updated: Oct 4, 2024 2:06 PM
- URL: https://guides.library.stanford.edu/childrensjewishtheme
- Print Page