Rivka's Presents by Laurie Wallmark
It is 1918 and Rivka cannot wait to go to school. But she is told the night before, she must stay home as her father has the flu and her mother needs help taking care of her younger sister, while she works. The Lower East Side of New York City comes alive with how one plucky young girl finds a way to get the education she needs. She trades chores for reading and math lessons. And when her father is finally well, all her hard […]
When Rabbit Was a Lion by Eugenie Fernande
When Rabbit Was a Lion is a story about a child, Rabbit, who is not a fan of parties, noise and too much excitement. But he likes his friends, and wants to celebrate with them. Creating a costume party, Rabbit is all ready to party after rushing about making it, but after a while things are too much, and he needs to hide. When he is found, his friends decide that they will now help him by toning down the wild rumpus. Eugenie Fernandes’s story […]
Always Anjali by Sheetal Sheth
Bravo, Anjali! by Sheetal Sheth
I have read a few books about having a “different” or “difficult” name to have and/or pronounce. And I can empathize with them. Now, my name is not as unusual as Anjali or the author Sheetal Sheth has, but when I was growing up, we did not have “unusual” names. The most “exotic” was we had two spellings of Stacey/Stacy and a few Jennifer’s with various N’s. However, I know what it is like to go to the store and find the Name Item Display […]
More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell
I went to a private, Christian middle school that utilized a classical education model (rhetoric, Latin, logic, etc.). I checked this apologetics book out from the library in, oh….1998! When I switched schools in high school, I forgot to return it. Twenty-five years later, I finally read it! Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter is a kind of quick overview of standard apologetics arguments that Christians use to try and prove up that Jesus is/was Christ and God. McDowell also wrote Evidence That Demands a […]
How to Welcome an Alien by Rebecca Klempner
This is a picture book that is about welcoming people in the tradition of Jewish hospitality. How to Welcome an Alien is on the surface, just about being kind to your neighbors and visitors; but the deeper meaning is accepting people who are different from you, and helping them in times of need. This can mean not just your new neighbors, but refugees, aliens or even something else. Rebecca Klempner set their book in a way all can relate. It is humorous, but serious as well. […]
Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Corretta Scott King by Alice Faye Duncan
I knew a little bit about Coretta Scott King’s story, but mostly how it related to her husband Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And when I saw Coretta’s Journey: The Life and Times of Coretta Scott King I was wondering how much her life would be shaped by her husbands? How much would there be about her and not just “oh she was this really famous guy’s wife and mother of his children?” Well, there is a lot about her. More than I really would have […]
