Happy Jewish American Heritage Month!
JAHM was first proclaimed by President George W. Bush on April 20, 2006, following bipartisan efforts by Sen. Arlen Specter (R‑PA) and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D‑FL), with support from the Jewish Museum of Florida and the South Florida Jewish Community. Congress passed a non-binding resolution in 2006 urging the president to designate a month for Jewish American heritage, which led to the formal proclamation. Since then, every U.S. president has issued a proclamation each year.
We invite you to explore books that celebrate the diversity of the American Jewish experience.
Check out our list of a few of our favorites.
Books for Young Children
Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup
By Pamela Meyer
Synopsis: Sophie enjoys special time spent with each of her grandmothers, and eating their delicious chicken soup. Both her Jewish Bubbe and her Chinese Nai Nai have a special family recipe, and both compete for a special place in Sophie’s heart. With a little creativity, Sophie helps Bubbe and Nai Nai see that love is no competition, and they are a lot more alike than different. “A little Jewish, a little Chinese – a lot like me!”
You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!
By Jonah Winter, Illustrated by André Carrilho
Synopsis: In this striking picture book biography, an old-timer tells us what made Sandy Koufax such an amazing baseball player. We learn that the beginning of his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers was rocky, that he was shy with his teammates, and experienced discrimination as one of the only Jews in the game. We hear that he actually quit, only to return the next season—different—firing one rocket after another over the plate. We watch him refuse to play in the 1965 World Series because it is a Jewish high holy day. And we see him in pain because of an overused left arm, eventually retiring at the peak of his career. Finally, we are told that people are still “scratchin’ their heads over Sandy,” who remains a modest hero and a mystery to this day.
I Am Hava: A Song’s Story of Love, Hope, and Joy
By Freda Lewkowicz, Illustrated by Siona Benjamin
Synopsis: Hava Nagila is a beloved song of celebration. In this creative tale, Hava tells the story of her life as a song, bringing joy to Jews all around the world.
Books for Middle School Readers
Not Your All American Girl
By Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Madelyn Rosenberg
Synopsis: Lauren is a talented singer who dreams of being on Star Search. She does a great audition for the school musical, All-American Town, and everyone thinks she should get the lead. But the teacher says Chinese-Jewish Lauren doesn’t look “American” enough for the role and gives it to Lauren’s best friend, Tara, relegating Lauren to the ensemble. Tension grows between the friends, and Lauren finds it difficult to continue in the play, but she finds solace in the music of Patsy Cline, plus a new button-making business. Eventually, the girls work together to make things right both on and off the stage.
Music Was It; Young Leonard Bernstein
By Susan Goldman Rubin
Synopsis: What do you do if you love music but your father disapproves? If you’re Leonard Bernstein, you do whatever it takes to prove him wrong! This is the inspiring biography of a young man who held onto his dreams – and became a star.
Sweep
By (Pittsburgh based) Jonathan Auxier
Synopsis: It’s been five years since the Sweep disappeared. Orphaned and alone, Nan Sparrow had no other choice but to work for a ruthless chimney sweep named Wilkie Crudd. She spends her days sweeping out chimneys. The job is dangerous and thankless, but with her wits and will, Nan has managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again. When Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire, she fears the end has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself unharmed in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature—a golem—made from soot and ash.
Books for High Schoolers
Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret
By Judy Blume
Synopsis: With a Jewish father, Christian mother, and agnostic upbringing, Margaret learns about religion and cultivates her own relationship with God while in the throes of puberty. This iconic coming of age story teaches teens about identity, interfaith families, and independence.
The Last Words She Said
By Leah Schier
A Sydney Taylor Young Adult Honor Book
Synopsis: Nine months ago, Danny disappeared. His closest friends, Ellie, Rae, and Deenie, are all dealing with the loss differently. Rae’s pouring herself into rage-baking. Deenie’s deepening her commitment to Orthodox Judaism. And Ellie—who was Danny’s girlfriend and closest friend—is the only one who doesn’t believe he’s dead. Because she still sees him. In chapters that alternate between past and present, the story of Ellie and Danny unspools—from their serendipitous meeting to Danny’s effortless absorption into the girls’ friend group to Danny and Ellie falling for each other. In the past, they were the perfect couple…until it all went wrong. In the present, Ellie’s looking for answers.
She, Rae, and Deenie all have secrets, and they each hold a clue about the night Danny disappeared. Can the friends come together to uncover the truth about Danny? Or will tragedy drive them apart for good?
The City Beautiful
By Aden Polydoros
Synopsis: In this Sydney Taylor Award of the Association of Jewish Libraries winning book death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together. Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away. While the rest of the city is busy celebrating the World’s Fair, Alter is now living a nightmare: possessed by Yakov’s dybbuk, he is plunged into a world of corruption and deceit, and thrown back into the arms of a dangerous boy from his past. A boy who means more to Alter than anyone knows.
Now, with only days to spare until the dybbuk takes over Alter’s body completely, the two boys must race to track down the killer—before the killer claims them next.
Books for Adults
Kosher Soul
By Michael Twitty
Synopsis: In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them.
The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the people. Jews of Color are not outliers, Twitty contends, but significant and meaningful cultural creators in both Black and Jewish civilizations. Koshersoul also explores how food has shaped the journeys of numerous cooks, including Twitty’s own passage to and within Judaism.
As intimate, thought-provoking, and profound as The Cooking Gene, this remarkable book teases the senses as it offers sustenance for the soul.
People Love Dead Jews
By Dara Horn
Synopsis: Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture – and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly anti-Semitic attacks – Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: She was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the “righteous Gentile” Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
By Elyssa Friedland
Synopsis: In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families – best friends and business partners – have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be – and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds. As the facilities and management begin to fall apart, a tempting offer to sell forces the two families together again to make a heart-wrenching decision. Can they save their beloved Golden or is it too late?
Long-buried secrets emerge, new dramas and financial scandal erupt, and everyone from the traditional grandparents to the millennial grandchildren wants a say in the hotel’s future. Business and pleasure clash in this fast-paced, hilarious, nostalgia-filled story, where the hotel owners rediscover the magic of a bygone era of nonstop fun even as they grapple with what may be their last resort.
Explore Cookbooks
Jewish Cooking in America
By Joan Nathan
Synopsis: Take a journey back in time as Joan Nathan tells the story of Jewish immigration, assimilation, and unique identity formation through recipes from hundreds of Jewish American families. This beautifully designed cookbook will take you from Ellis Island to the Jewish cowboys of the wild west to Seattle’s Sephardic synagogues and beyond. From Sephardic Pescado Rubario to Mark Sigel’s Brooklyn Egg Cream there is a recipe for everyone that will celebrate the diverse tapestry of American Jewish life.
100 Most Jewish Foods
By Alana Newhouse
Synopsis: Tablet’s list of the 100 most Jewish foods is not about the most popular Jewish foods, or the tastiest, or even the most enduring. It’s a list of the most significant foods culturally and historically to the Jewish people, explored deeply with essays, recipes, stories, and context. Some of the dishes are no longer cooked at home, and some are not even dishes in the traditional sense (store-bought cereal and Stella D’oro cookies, for example). The entire list is up for debate, which is what makes this book so much fun. Many of the foods are delicious (such as babka and shakshuka). Others make us wonder how they’ve survived as long as they have (such as unhatched chicken eggs and jellied calves’ feet). As expected, many Jewish (and now universal) favorites like matzo balls, pickles, cheesecake, blintzes, and chopped liver make the list. The recipes are global and represent all contingencies of the Jewish experience. Contributors include Ruth Reichl, Éric Ripert, Joan Nathan, Michael Solomonov, Dan Barber, Gail Simmons, Yotam Ottolenghi, Tom Colicchio, Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, Maira Kalman, Action Bronson, Daphne Merkin, Shalom Auslander, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and Phil Rosenthal, among many others..
Peas, Love and Carrots
By Danielle Renov
Synopsis: Delicious recipes and beautiful art and photos worthy of space in your kitchen and on your coffee table! An extension of the @peaslovencarrots community Danielle has built, where tens of thousands of people tune in daily for recipes and cooking tutorials, lifestyle tips, and all things family related! With 254+ approachable recipes and 186+ gorgeous photos that draw inspiration from Danielle’s Sephardic and Ashkenazi roots, there is plenty in here for every person and every occasion! Filled with tips + tricks, stories, anecdotes, and insights that leave us laughing, teach us how to be better cooks, and make us proud of our lives in the kitchen and of the food that we serve to beloved friends and family.