Jen's Five Children's Books About Children's Books

Okay, so I was all set to work on a grim list of dystopic books starting with The Handmaid's Tale and Native Tongue, and then thankfully I noticed a brand new picture book by Andrea Davis Pinkney about Ezra Jack Keats, author of The Snowy Day*. I picked it up and was won over by her tribute to both a poor Jewish child of immigrant parents and the African American child he chose to bring to life in stories designed to diversify the world of picture books. And then I thought simultaneously of the nearly-as-new bio of E.B. White and the rather older story of Margret and H.A. Rey escaping the Nazis. And a more compassionate list was born.

A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney, illustrated by Lou Fancher and Steve Johnson (Viking, $18.99)
The publishers of The Snowy Day were on the side of diversity, too, even back in 1962. Keats was expecting to use a snow sculpture on the cover, and his editor insisted he use an image of Peter instead.

Some Writer! The Story of E.B. White by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books, $18.99)
Another heartfelt tribute. An illustrated biography full of collages of images and letters and early drafts of White's books. Note: Charlotte's Web didn't originally have that arresting first line the world has come to know and love...

The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond (Houghton Mifflin, $8.99)
The Reys were German Jewish expatriates living in Paris when the Nazis swept through France. They escaped by bicycle shortly before the occupation of the city, and among their few possessions was the manuscript of Curious George. This book, beautifully illustrated, follows the story of their lives, both before and after their daring escape.

Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw by Deborah Kogan Ray (Viking, $16.99)
This is the story of the creator of the classic book Millions of Cats, and her struggles to keep art in her life while helping her family. Her name, by the way, rhymes with bog, not bag. (Assuming you pronounce "bog" with an "ah".) She added the accent herself. And Deborah Kogan Ray is a local author who's read at our Kids' Literary Festival!

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Little, Brown, $18.00)
Before Winnie was immortalized as Winnie-the-Pooh, she was a small brown bear, rescued in wartime and taken to the London Zoo, where she met a kid named Christopher Robin. Actually met. Meaning he was allowed into the enclosure, and they got to hang out together.

*which last year passed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as the store's number one bestseller.

Jen's Five Books Full of Heroes and Innovators

Five books of familiar and unsung heroes. The first three -- all focused on women's work -- are brand new as of this summer and this month. The other two, celebrating African American inventors and Jewish-American heroes, have been around for a while, with the latter expecting a re-release in 2017!

Wonder Women: 25 Innovators, Inventors, and Trailblazers Who Changed History by Sam Maggs (Quirk Books, $16.99)
I will mention that this book in fact contains far more than 25 people. It's just that some of them get in-depth coverage, while others get a paragraph. There are also interviews with living figures in each field. The writing is sharp and quirky, and it's a lot of fun.

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky (Ten Speed Press, $16.99)
Don't think it's all just Marie Sklodowska Curie.
It's got cool illustrations, so it lives in the graphic novels section of the store.

Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History by Kate Schatz, illustrated by Miriam Klein Stahl (Ten Speed Press, $15.99)
Another release by the duo who created store-favorite Rad American Women A-Z: Rebels, Trailblazers, and Visionaries Who Shaped Our History...and Our Future! -- which I particularly love because U is for Ursula (K. Le Guin). Happy birthday to her, by the way. (-:

What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, illustrated by Ben Boos and A.G. Ford (Candlewick, $5.99 paperback, $17.99 hardcover)
Hey, I had not realised that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had just been named US Global Cultural Ambassador (by Secretary Of State Hillary Rodham Clinton) at the time this book first came out. Cool. Two kids learn about the contributions of African American inventors to fields like open-heart surgery, telecommunications, blood banks, and more.

Portraits of Jewish-American Heroes by Malka Drucker, illustrated by Elizabeth Rosen (Dutton hardcover $22.99, paperback forthcoming from Puffin in January)
From Harry Houdini to Albert Einstein, from Bella Savitsky Abzug to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from Emma Lazarus to Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman... I know a lot more of the names profiled in this book than in the others, but some are still new to me.

Jennifer Sheffield, October 2016

Jen's Five Gifts of Cheer and Edification

Most, but not all, courtesy of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.

Famous People Magnetic Finger Puppets!
Haven't you always wanted Frida Kahlo on your fridge, or near to hand? Rosa Parks? Betsy Ross? Get several at a time, and stage fantastic conversations: poets Walt Whitman and Rumi and Sylvia Plath, Sappho and Pete Seeger (with their stringed instruments), Che Guevara and Emma Goldman, Darwin and Einstein, or Zora Neale Hurston and Joan of Arc (points if you know why). Also, check out our supply of Schrödinger's cat puppets! But hurry -- until you look, you won't know whether we still have them...or not.

Heat Changing TARDIS mug
With the addition of only a hot cup of tea (or other liquid), this amazing Police Call Box will dematerialize and then rematerialize all the way on the other side of the mug! We also have mugs of banned books, Yiddish proverbs, Shakespearean insults, and heat-activated constellations.

Jews Glasses
When Micah was 3, and Passover came around, we sat at dinner and told him about the

holiday. We talked about slavery, and his Jewish ancestors, and his African American ancestors, and I told a brief version of the story of the Jews' escape from Egypt. He listened patiently, and at the end he asked, "So what happened to the red stuff?" Red stuff? We hadn't talked about the plagues...or named the sea... "You know," he prompted, "the juice!" Oh, the juice. The juice who escaped from slavery. Oops.
So here are some Jews glasses covered with the names and images of famous Juice. Drink up!

Totes Adorbs
From manatees sharing tea (or octopi serving pie) to "Books, Not Bombs," to the little "Read to Me" and "Future Author" versions, we have charming, literary, useful canvas tote bags for your every book-carrying need. (Oh, and it turns out they can carry other things, too.)

Encouragemints and Empowermints
These are tiny peppermints in tiny tins featuring the images of, respectively, Mr. Fred Rogers and Rosie the Riveter. Give yourself a boost!

A Month Full of Events for National Poetry Month!

Along with our 2nd annual Peeps Diorama Contest, which provided much hilarity and thought, and our 9th annual Mt. Airy Kids' Literary Festival later in the month, we have LOTS of poetry events for you this April. For more details on the events below, visit our website's Events page.

Updated: April 14, 2015.

Wednesday, April 1, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Three Humorous Poets on April Fool's Day.
Hal Sirowitz, Amy Barone, and Ron Kolm, all known for injecting humor and candor into their poetry and story-telling, will entertain guests at the Big Blue Marble Bookstore on April 1.

Wednesday, April 8, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Red Dashboard Press Reading Series.
Elizabeth Aiken Stelling, editor of Red Dashboard Press, brings friends Marion Deutsche Cohen and Barry Gross for a great evening of poetry to Big Blue Marble.

Thursday, April 9, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
The Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series presents Michele Belluomini (originally scheduled for January).
The Women's Writing & Spoken Word Series (Est. 2002) is a nurturing environment that celebrates women in the craft of multi-genre writing.

Friday, April 10, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Back to Its Roots: Poetry as Music with the bands Words In Flight, SHEEP, and Attractive Nuisance.
Join us as we welcome three area acoustic bands driven by the power of poetical lyrics.

Sunday, April 12, 11:00am.       National Poetry Month Event
Publishing for Poets.
In this 2 hour workshop, Elliott will introduce you to the world of poetry publications. Preregistration required.

Thursday, April 16, 7:00-9:00pm. ***Date change from April 9.***
The Art of Craft: A series of craft classes for poets, poetry fans, and writing teachers.
First of six sessions, though you can sign up for them separately.

Thursday, April 16, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry with Elvis Alves & Bernadette McBride.
Join us for an evening of two, very different, rich poetic voices. Elvis Alves just moved to the Philadelphia area from Brooklyn; Bernadette McBride is the director of the Poets Reading Series at Farley's, our sister independent Bookshop in New Hope, PA.

Friday, April 17, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Earthly Rituals: Women in Celebration of and Dialogue with Earth.
In honor of both Poetry Month and Earth Day, five area poets, Hila Ratzabi, Therese Halscheid, Amy Small-McKinney, Alison Hicks, and Catherine Bancroft, will be reading work about the earth and its myriad representations: from myth and ritual to observation and witness.

Saturday, April 18, 4:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Book launch with Barbara Crooker for her two new books, Small Rain and Selected Poems .

Saturday, April 18, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Book & Arts Press Reading with Liz Chang, Helen Mirkel, and Amy Small-McKinney.

Sunday, April 19, 4:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Four Poets: Facets of Their Jewish Journeys, with B.E. Kahn, Hal Sirowitz, Hila Ratzabi, and Cathleen Cohen.

Thursday, April 23, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Big Blue Young Adult Book Discussion with Jen Sheffield.
Opening event of the Kids' Literary Festival! An open discussion group for adults who read YA and teens who like to talk about books. April's book: The verse novel Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate.

Wednesday, April 29, 7:00pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry Liberation Front with Sekai, Jennifer Hook, Fran Gilmore, Janet Fishman, Alina Macneal, and Cassie MacDonald.

Thursday, April 30, all day!       National Poetry Month Event
Poem in Your Pocket Day.
It's national Poem in Your Pocket Day! Come read us a poem from your pocket (or recite a poem from your head) and get 10% off an item. Don't have a poem? Visit our handy poetry vending machine! You also have the option of standing before our big open window on the second floor and declaiming your favorite poem to the store at large.

Friday, May 1, 7:15pm.       National Poetry Month Event
Poetry Aloud & Alive. Featured reader: Megan Gillespie.
Everyone's favorite neighborhood poetry gathering. Hosted by local poet Mike Cohen, with a featured reader and an open reading to follow. For more information, please contact the Mad Poets Society.

Janet's Five Favorite Illustrators

Gershon's Monster by Eric A Kimmel and illustrated by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic, $17.99)
Muth is an exceptional painter whose watercolors are both expressive and gentle. This is a wonderful Jewish New Year book for all ages which includes a well-written explanation of "t'shuvah," the concept of repentance or returning done during the high holidays. (Caroline Kennedy's Poems to Learn by Heart is also illustrated by Muth.)

TRAIN by Elisha Cooper (Scholastic, $17.99)
Also done in water colors, Cooper's colors and design makes this a delight for all transportation lovers.

Heart and Soul, Kadir Nelson (HarperCollins, $8.99)
Nelson is an award-winning author and painter. All of his books radiate expert use of light and shadow to create expressions larger than life.

The Tortoise and the Hare by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown, $18.00)
Well known and well loved, Pinkney's water colors are a magical addition to his rendition of traditional fairy tales.

The Fortune-Tellers by Lloyd Alexander and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman (Puffin Books, $6.99)
All of Hyman's illustrations create a magical setting for the tales as they unfold.

Janet Elfant, September 2014

Young Adult Author Profile: Ruth Tenzer Feldman

Please join us this Thursday, October 25 (tonight!), for an evening of new young adult literature! Four authors, three local and one formerly local, will be reading from and discussing their newest books. This interview with Ruth Tenzer Feldman, author of Blue Thread, is the last of the author profiles I've been posting on the blog this month.

For more details about the event, see our website or the Facebook event page.

1) How would you describe your writing?
The marketing folks at Ooligan Press would say that my writing is primarily nonfiction and historical fiction/fantasy for young adults. The editor of ODYSSEY magazine sees my writing as mainly about health and science. My writer's critique group describes my writing as nuanced and passionate. But I'd describe my writing as the process in which I strive to churn a gazillion emotions and ideas into a good read.

2) How does writing fit into your everyday life?
Right now I'm madly revising another historical fiction/fantasy manuscript that is a companion book to Blue Thread. Writing fits into nearly every available moment.

3) What authors and/or poets inspire you?
That's a long list! I read a wide range of young adult books, and draw inspiration from so many authors. Where do I start? OK. Here are a few: Paolo Bacigalupi (Ship Breaker), Vera Brosgol (Anya's Ghost—a graphic novel), John Green (The Fault in Our Stars), Ransome Riggs (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children), Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), and Tim Wynne-Jones (Blink & Caution). I also seek sustenance and guidance from back to the classic authors: Ursula Le Guin, Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor.

4) What part does the community of Philadelphia play in your life and your writing?
I went to college in Philadelphia, and lived and worked in the city for a while. Traits from real people in the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections (my first job out of college) still show up in my characters. My husband is Philly-born and bred. Philadelphia also gave me a very real, walk-the-streets sense of American history.

5) What is the last book you have read that you enjoyed? Tell our Big Blue Marble community a little about it.
I recently devoured The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater. It's my kind of fiction, with just enough fantasy to tickle your brain. On an island off the coast of England, sometime in the 20th century, a guy we adore (Sean Kendrick) competes against a girl we adore (Puck Connolly) in a dangerous horse race. We want both of them to win, but only one can be first across the finish line. Did I mention that they love each other? And that the horses are flesh-eating "kelpies" from the sea?

Ruth Tenzer Feldman is an award-winning author of books and articles, mainly for children and young adults. She has been an attorney, editor, research analyst, ticket seller, and keypunch operator. Her 10 nonfiction books focus on history and biography, while her articles range from leeches to Einstein’s refrigerator. Blue Thread (Ooligan Press, 2012), historical fiction/fantasy for young adults, entwines the struggles of two teen girls living 3,000 years apart. Ruth lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, dog, and innumerable dust mites.

Jen’s Five Books of Issues Relevant to This Election Season

Voting Rights and Women’s Rights:
Blue Thread by Ruth Tenzer Feldman (Ooligan Press, $12.95)
The only work of fiction on the list, Blue Thread is one of the books for our upcoming Young Adult multi-author event on October 25, and it’s the story of two Jewish teenagers standing up for their rights across centuries of time. Oh, and the power of the printing press. This story of women’s suffrage doesn’t address the same issues raised by recent attempts to impose a sudden Voter ID law upon the state of Pennsylvania, but it does highlight what happens when women are arbitrarily refused a say over the paths of their own lives.

Separation of Church and State:
Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism by Susan Jacoby (Henry Holt, $18.00)
A fabulous and highly researched book of American history, Freethinkers pulls together the threads of history among nonreligious Americans. Among other things, it’s where I learned that in revolutionary times, Catholics and Evangelical Christians allied themselves with the secularists (and with other small religions) to prevent the establishment of religion in this country…and to ensure, through the Constitution, that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States”. Kind of ironic, no?

Marriage Equality:
My Two Moms by Zach Wahls (Penguin, $26.00)
I was initially wary of the attention given to 19-year-old Zach Wahls in his testimony for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Iowa -- suspecting that he gained extra status through being straight and white and an Eagle Scout -- but then I thoroughly enjoyed reading his book, which uses the specific values of the Boy Scouts to frame the story of his family and its corresponding lessons about family in general.

Immigration:
Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John (Spiegel & Grau, $15.00)
Place hundreds of war refugees from multiple countries in a small town in Georgia that wasn’t expecting them, and you get some…tension. One former refugee takes it upon herself to organize teenaged boys into soccer teams, helping deal with their sense of trauma and loss, with their complicated multinational dynamics, and with the (mostly) covert hostility of neighbors and local government, who do everything they can to prevent them from practicing and competing. And these are legal immigrants.

Twisting of Facts:
Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen (Simon & Schuster, $16.00)
As someone who cares a lot about accuracy, I have taken special interest in learning about the ways history has been distorted in textbooks to fit ideals of patriotism, racism, jingoism, etc. (A friend who worked for a textbook company used to complain that every time Texas law changed what was allowed in their texts, the same changes were applied to all textbooks countrywide.) Like Freethinkers, this book taught me all sorts of things I’d never known about my own country. It’s now required reading in some high school classrooms.

Jennifer Sheffield, October 2012

Jen’s Five Books of Heroism

Another list related to our summer movie promotion, which is still ongoing, despite the terrible and sobering events of last week's Dark Knight opening.

Thinking about superhero films and superhero books has led me to thinking about all sorts of real-life heroism -- and who counts as a hero to me.

Americans Who Tell the Truth by Robert Shetterly (Penguin, $7.99)
“Stunning portraits and stirring words of brave citizens from all walks of life.” (Indiebound.org.) Here are paintings of fifty heroes (from an ever-growing collection) comprising folksingers, teachers, scientists, historians, writers, and leaders of resistance movements, among others...

After Gandhi: One Hundred Years of Nonviolent Resistance by Anne Sibley O’Brien (Charlesbridge, $24.99)
From 1908 to 2003, from Birmingham to Belfast to Burma, nonviolent resistance movements have made dramatic change in the world. After Ghandi gives excellent historical and biographical summaries of 15 world conflicts and the peaceful protests that confronted them.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Random House, $6.99)
This is a fictional account, but the history is true: a story of two families taking part in the Danish citizens’ determined -- and mostly successful -- attempts during World War II to smuggle all Danish Jews to safety and out of the Nazis’ reach.

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House, $16.95)
Before reading this book, I knew about Jim Crow laws, about segregation and lynching, all as individual trends and incidents. Never before had I seen the vast scope of racism in the South, with overhanging threats pervading all aspects of life. Wilkerson sweeps it all together in a huge swath of motion: individuals fed up enough to leave everything and escape -- to an imperfect North, but with hope for better lives for themselves and their children.

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor (Random House, $6.99)
When I was a kid, I didn’t understand that this book was fictional, and written outside its time. It’s just day-to-day life for first generation Jewish immigrants in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, but its very difference from the modern world gave me a powerful sense of the kinds of struggle and fortitude my great-grandparents must have had when they, too, were building new lives in the same place, at around the same time.

Jennifer Sheffield, July 2012

Janet's Five Answers to the Four Questions

New American Haggadah, edited by Jonathan Safran Foer (Hachette, $29.99)

A Passover Haggadah by Elie Wiesel (Simon and Schuster, $16.99)

What am I? by Anne Margaret Lewis (Albert Whitman and Company, $9.99)

Miriam's Cup by Fran Manushkin (Scholastic, $6.99)

and of course...
Sammy Spider's First Passover and Sammy Spider's First Haggadah by Sylvia Rouss (Kar-Ben Publishing, $7.95, $5.95)

In the interest of those cleaning kitchen, house, car, garage, shower curtains, and long neglected closets, I am forgoing descriptive paragraphs.

Janet Elfant, April 2012

So Nu, 5 Yiddish Books for You (from Janet)

So Nu, 5 Yiddish Books for You (from Janet)

Snow, schmow. So vat's a bissel ice? Do yourself a favor. Come to the bookstore and take yourself a look at some yiddishkeit. Free hot drinks, we offer (a bargain at half the price). Have a nosh. A beauty queen you're not but vat's one cookie gonna hurt?

The New Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten (Three Rivers Press, $18.00)
Inside this vonderful book, you'll find 29 definitions of the word "Oy". With "oy" you can create an entire language.

Jewish as a Second Language by Molly Katz (a nice Jewish girl)
(Workman Publishing Company, $8.95)
Nu? Read carefully and learn "how to worry, how to interrupt, how to say the opposite of what you mean". These are essential additions to learning Yiddish language.

Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary by Uriel Weinreich (Schocken Books, $30.00)
A real dictionary written by a mensch, a professor of Yiddish language, no less. To understand, you need to read Hebrew script. Vat's a matter? Hebrew school you didn't go? You should take a look anyway. See vat you're missing.

Bintel Brief by Issac Metzker (Schocken Books, $12.00)
This book contains sixty years worth of letters to the advice column of the Jewish Daily Forward, a newspaper my grandfather read from cover to cover. From heart-rending letters of separation and loss, to questions about the most absurd sounding superstitions, to advice on how to remain observant in the "new world", the Bintel Brief is a taste of Jewish immigrant culture. The Yiddish language is as much a reflection of that unique culture as it is a language.

Nosh Schlep Schluff BabYiddish by Laurel Snyder (Random House, $5.99)
For the kindeleh, zie gezeint dine cup, (good health on your head), a board book with a few commonly used words.

Nu, mister smarty-pants, a guess maybe you can make on how many Yiddish words are in the schmancy Webster's dictionary? Oy, 15% savings on most books on the second floor, so maybe you're too busy to call your mother who was in labor for 52 hours and worked her fingers to the bone to send you to a fancy school but maybe you can take a minute to visit your local bookstore. We promise not to insult you...maybe...

February 2011, Janet Elfant

Janet's Five Gift Ideas for December

Hanukkah Haiku by Harriet Ziefert (Blue Apple Books, $16.95)
Beautifully illustrated by Karla Gudeon, Hanukkah Haiku is a classic for all young children. One candle and one haiku poem is added on each page, ending with a fully lit menorah and the candle lighting blessings.

Gathering Sparks by Howard Schwartz (Roaring Brook Press, $16.99)
Perhaps the most touchingly simple explanation of tikkun olam (repair of the world) available to children. Award-winning illustrator Kristina Swarner adds to the poignancy of this book with her unworldly illuminations.

The Dalai Lama's Little Book of Inner Peace: The Essential Life and Teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Hampton Roads Publishing, $12.95)
A perfect small volume to carry and open to any page any minute of the day for inspiration and instruction.

Jewish Fathers: A Legacy of Love, photographs by Lloyd Wolf, interviews by Paula Wolfson (Jewish Lights Publishing, $30.00)
Autographed by the author, a wonderful present to any Jewish father or other. Filled with photographs to kvell over, this book celebrates the true meaning of mensch.

Collect Raindrops by Nikki McClure (Abrams, $29.95)
An oversized volume of Nikki McClure's beautiful prints with one word titles on each page. A gift for anyone who needs a moment of calm.

December 2010, Janet Elfant

Five Jewish-y Books that Sheila Likes a Lot, for Many Ages

Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen
(Random House, $14.95)
The story of a Chinese-American girl growing up in a thinly-disguised Scarsdale, NY in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Mona works the peer counseling hotline and the synagogue and converts to Judaism (without telling her parents): a comic and wonderful exploration of race, identity, and the conflicts facing second-generation immigrants in America.

The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Michael Chabon
(HarperCollins, $15.95)
Imagine a classic hard-boiled detective story set in an alternate world where Jews fleeing Hitler settled in Sitka, Alaska, creating a Yiddish-speaking city-state on a 60-year lease that’s about to expire as the book opens. Plus, fabulous use of the word “Jewess.”

The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller
(Simon & Schuster, $15.99)
With vibrant new illustrations by Boris Kulikov, this kids’ book conveys the Jewish immigrant experience to a new generation via a wonderful set of tall tales.

Nachshon Who Was Afraid to Swim by Deborah Bodin Cohen
(Lerner, $8.95)
A lovely story for younger kids about bravery and faith based on a midrash (i.e., a story about a Biblical story). Before the Reed Sea parted, Nachshon walked in. Explores a part of the Passover story that’s not in the haggadah.

Jewish Holidays All Year Round by Ilene Cooper
(Harry N. Abrams, $21.95)
This is a book aimed at families with elementary-school-aged children, with stories and projects for each holiday. It has rich content and lovely multi-ethnic illustrations of Jewish families.