Diversity

Happy Chanukah and Jewish Books!

By on December 6, 2018   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Hope you’re all well! This is a little bit of a departure from my regular posts, but I felt it was important. Here we are, smack dab in the middle of Chanukah or Hanukkah, depending on the way you spell it, because there is no wrong way, even though Chanukah is the right way, because that’s the one I use, but anyway, no matter the spelling, Jews all over the world are celebrating. It’s a beautiful holiday, filled with joy, lighting candles, singing songs, giving gifts, and perhaps the best part of all, eating latkes and jelly doughnuts. And yet, this year feels different. This year feels a little sad in many ways, because I don’t recall a time in my life where anti-Semitism was so prevalent. Don’t get me wrong, because people who hate Jews have always been there, but yet over the last ten years or so, it’s seemingly been increasing in numbers and intensity every year. I’ve faced it a lot in my life, and still don’t feel any of the instances are as bad as they are now.

This can’t go on and change needs to occur. It can’t begin with the adults who won’t change opinions, but it can with younger kids who are impressionable. If they learn hate, they’ll grow up hating. If they’re unfamiliar with something, it’ll seem strange and alien. If they see more stories with Jewish characters and see Judaism as part of the world around them, there’s a chance they won’t grow up hating the unknown. So, this post is basically a call for more Jewish characters for younger readers, and especially for Middle Grade. It’s important for parents, teachers, and librarians, to promote books with Jews in them. Jewish books are Diverse books.

So, for this holiday season, while you’re sitting there and fretting over what to get, don’t worry any longer. Because, I now have fantastic news for you! I’m going to tell you about some really great books to go pick up just in time for the end of the Chanukah, which also make for wonderful reading for Christmas!

Now, admittedly, there aren’t a lot of Middle Grade books which are Chanukah-based. There are plenty of them for younger readers who like picture books, but not for the older ones. I’m going to have to rectify that. Get me my agent on the phone! But, to fill in the void, I’m going to suggest some great books by Jewish authors, which would make great gifts for the bibliophiles you care about.

So, without further ado, we’ll start with a couple that are actually centered on Chanukah. I haven’t read this one, but it looks like so much fun!

Dreidels on the Brain, by Joel Ben Izzy:

One lousy miracle.  Is that too much to ask?
Evidently so for Joel, as he tries to survive Hannukah, 1971 in the suburbs of the suburbs of Los Angeles (or, as he calls it, “The Land of Shriveled Dreams”). That’s no small task when you’re a “seriously funny-looking” twelve-year-old magician who dreams of being his own superhero: Normalman.  And Joel’s a long way from that as the only Jew at Bixby School, where his attempts to make himself disappear fail spectacularly.  Home is no better, with a family that’s not just mortifyingly embarrassing but flat-out broke.

That’s why Joel’s betting everything on these eight nights, to see whether it’s worth believing in God or miracles or anything at all.  Armed with his favorite jokes, some choice Yiddish words, and a suitcase full of magic tricks, he’s scrambling to come to terms with the world he lives in—from hospitals to Houdini to the Holocaust—before the last of the candles burns out.

No wonder his head is spinning: He’s got dreidels on the brain. And little does he know that what’s actually about to happen to him and his family this Hanukkah will be worse than he’d feared . . . And better than he could have imagined.

The next one is:

Penina Levine is a Potato Pancake by Rebecca O’Connell

FRESH, FEISTY, FUNNY.

In this Hanukkah story, Penina fi nds that a glass of cold milk and a hot potato pancake go a long way. Penina Levine is the only member of her family who isn’t looking forward to Hanukkah. Not only is it another chance for her annoying sister to steal the spotlight, but her favorite teacher is taking a mysterious leave of absence, and her best friend is deserting her to go on a dream vacation to Aruba. Then Penina discovers why Mrs. Brown must go away and hears that a snowstorm may ruin Zozo’s trip, and Penina knows she’s the one who must bring some holiday spirit to her friends. Readers of all backgrounds will relate to Penina as she turns a pile of problems into a Hanukkah to remember.

 

How I Saved Hanukkah by Amy Goldman Koss

 

Marla Feinstein, the only Jewish kid in her fourth-grade class, hates December. While everyone else is decorating trees, she’ll be forgetting to light the candles and staring at a big plastic dreidel. The holidays couldn’t get much worse. So Marla decides to find out what Hanukkah’s really about—and soon she and her family have made the Festival of Lights the biggest party in town!

 

Now, some non-Chanukah books by Jewish Authors, which feature Jewish characters:

 

Kat Greene Comes Clean by Melissa Roske

Kat Greene lives in New York City and attends fifth grade in the very progressive Village Humanity School. At the moment she has three major problems—dealing with her boy-crazy best friend, partnering with the overzealous Sam in the class production of Harriet the Spy, and coping with her mother’s preoccupation with cleanliness, a symptom of her worsening obsessive-compulsive disorder.

With nowhere to turn, Kat reaches out to the free-spirited psychologist, Olympia, at her new-age private school in New York’s Greenwich Village. Olympia encourages Kat to be honest. Eventually, Kat realizes that sometimes asking for help is the best way to clean up life’s messes.

 

 

This is Not the Abby Show by Debbie Reed Fischer

Abby was born for the spotlight. Now it’s her time to shine!

Abby is twice exceptional—she is gifted in math and science, and she has ADHD. Normally, she has everything pretty much under control. But when Abby makes one HUGE mistake that leads to “The Night That Ruined My Life,” or “TNTRML,” she lands in summer school.
Abby thinks the other summer-school kids are going to be total weirdos. And what with her parents’ new rules, plus all the fuss over her brother’s bar mitzvah, her life is turning into a complete disaster. But as Abby learns to communicate better and finds friends who love her for who she is, she discovers that her biggest weaknesses could be her greatest assets.
Hilarious and heartwarming, This Is Not the Abby Show is for everyone who knows that standing out is way more fun than blending in.

 

Apple Pie Promises: A Swirl Novel by Hillary Homzie

Lily has lived with her mom since her parents got divorced several years ago, and her dad has recently remarried to a woman with a daughter her age named Hannah. But now, Lily’s mom has gotten a once-in-a-lifetime work opportunity in Africa and she’ll be gone for a year, so Lily is moving in with her dad―and new stepmom and new stepsister. It’ll be as easy as apple pie, right?

Wrong. Lily promises her dad that she’ll try to get along with everyone, but she is not happy about it. Her stepmom is nice, but she’s no replacement for her real mom, and Lily feels like she barely gets any one-on-one time with her dad anymore.

The real problem, though, is Hannah. What starts out as tension between the new stepsisters becomes a full-on war, both at home and at school. Harmless pranks turn into total sabotage. Can Lily survive the year―or is her family fractured beyond repair?

 

Takedown by Laura Shovan

Mikayla is a wrestler; when you grow up in a house full of brothers who wrestle, it’s inevitable. It’s also a way to stay connected to her oldest brother, Evan, who moved in with their dad. Some people object to having a girl on the team. But that’s not stopping Mikayla. She’s determined to work harder than ever, and win.
Lev is determined to make it to the state championships this year. He’s used to training with his two buddies as the Fearsome Threesome; they know how to work together. At the beginning of sixth grade, he’s paired with a new partner–a girl. This better not get in the way of his goal.
Mikayla and Lev work hard together and become friends. But when they face each other, only one of them can win.

 

In Your Shoes by Donna Gephart

Miles is an anxious boy who loves his family’s bowling center even if though he could be killed by a bolt of lightning or a wild animal that escaped from the Philadelphia Zoo on the way there.
Amy is the new girl at school who wishes she didn’t have to live above her uncle’s funeral home and tries to write her way to her own happily-ever-after.
Then Miles and Amy meet in the most unexpected way . . . and that’s when it all begins.

 

These are just a few, and there are many more that I don’t have space for, and if I forgot some, it sincerely wasn’t intentional, but please consider getting books with Jewish characters in them, or supporting Jewish authors. Because again, Jewish books are Diverse books. Say it with me. Let’s all remember it. Jewish books are Diverse books.

Anyway, I want to wish all of our readers a very Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and everything else under the sun!

With that being said, I need to go, because Dorian Cirrone warned me not to make this post longer than the eight days of Chanukah, and I think I might’ve failed that edict.

But before I go, there’s one more thing! If you want a Christmas book written by a Jewish author, you can go pick up my own Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies! (Shameless insertion of self-promotion now complete)

 

Twelve-year-old Devin Dexter has a problem. Well, actually, many of them. His cousin, Tommy, sees conspiracies behind every corner. And Tommy thinks Devin’s new neighbor, Herb, is a warlock . . . but nobody believes him. Even Devin’s skeptical. But soon strange things start happening. Things like the hot new Christmas toy, the Cuddle Bunny, coming to life.

That would be great, because, after all, who doesn’t love a cute bunny? But these aren’t the kind of bunnies you can cuddle with. These bunnies are dangerous. Devin and Tommy set out to prove Herb is a warlock and to stop the mob of bunnies, but will they have enough time before the whole town of Gravesend is overrun by the cutest little monsters ever? This is a very funny “scary” book for kids, in the same vein as the My Teacher books or Goosebumps.

Again, I thank all of you for reading, and until next time . . .

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Native American #Kidlit Recommended Reading

By on November 21, 2018   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity  

If you’re looking to explore the rich world of Native American literature with your family, the following wonderful middle grade titles are a great place to start. (Thank you to the First Nations Development Institute who graciously let us share their list with the Mixed-Up Files readers, and to Debbie Reese, Ph.D., who chose these books. Dr. Reese is a expert in the field of Native children’s literature and an enrolled member of Nambé Pueblo. She is the curator of the Native American Children’s Literature Recommended Reading list and the editor and publisher of the “American Indians in Children’s Literature” website.)

Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki)
Eleven-year-old Sonny and his mother can’t predict his father’s sudden abusive rages. Jake’s anger only gets worse after long days at the paper mill — and when Uncle Louis appears. Louis seems to show up when Sonny and his mother need help most, but there is something about his quiet wisdom that only fuels Jake’s rage. Through an unexpected friendship with a new school librarian, Sonny gains the strength to stand up to his father, and to finally confront his mother and uncle about a secret family heritage that may be the key to his father’s self-hatred.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (Turtle Mountain Chippewa)
“[In this] story of a young Ojibwa girl, Omakayas, living on an island in Lake Superior around 1847, Louise Erdrich is reversing the narrative perspective used in most children’s stories about nineteenth-century Native Americans. Instead of looking out at ‘them’ as dangers or curiosities, Erdrich, drawing on her family’s history, wants to tell about ‘us’, from the inside. The Birchbark House establishes its own ground, in the vicinity of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ‘Little House’ books.” –The New York Times Book Review

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III (Sicangu Lakota)
Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy—though you wouldn’t guess it by his name: his father is part white and part Lakota, and his mother is Lakota. When he embarks on a journey with his grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, he learns more and more about his Lakota heritage—in particular, the story of Crazy Horse, one of the most important figures in Lakota and American history. Drawing references and inspiration from the oral stories of the Lakota tradition, celebrated author Joseph Marshall III juxtaposes the contemporary story of Jimmy with an insider’s perspective on the life of Tasunke Witko, better known as Crazy Horse (c. 1840–1877). The book follows the heroic deeds of the Lakota leader who took up arms against the US federal government to fight against encroachments on the territories and way of life of the Lakota people, including leading a war party to victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Along with Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse was the last of the Lakota to surrender his people to the US army. Through his grandfather’s tales about the famous warrior, Jimmy learns more about his Lakota heritage and, ultimately, himself.

Son Who Returns by Gary Robinson (Choctaw/Cherokee)
Fifteen-year-old Mark Centeno is of Chumash, Crow, Mexican and Filipino ancestry–he calls himself “four kinds of brown.” When Mark goes to live with his Chumash grandmother on the reservation in central California, he discovers a rich world of family history and culture that he knows very little about. He also finds a pathway to understanding better a part of his own identity: powwow dancing. Riveted by the traditional dancers and feeling the magnetic pull of the drums, Mark begins the training and other preparations necessary for him to compete as a dancer in one of America’s largest powwows.

Indian Shoes by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Muscogee (Creek)
What do Indian shoes look like, anyway? Like beautiful beaded moccasins…or hightops with bright orange shoelaces? Ray Halfmoon prefers hightops, but he gladly trades them for a nice pair of moccasins for his Grampa. After all, it’s Grampa Halfmoon who’s always there to help Ray get in and out of scrapes — like the time they are forced to get creative after a homemade haircut makes Ray’s head look like a lawn-mowing accident. This collection of interrelated stories is heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny. Cynthia Leitich Smith writes with wit and candor about what it’s like to grow up as a Seminole-Cherokee boy who is just as happy pounding the pavement in windy Chicago as rowing on a take in rural Oklahoma.

How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story by Tim Tingle (Choctaw)
A Choctaw boy tells the story of his tribe’s removal from the only land his people had ever known, and how their journey to Oklahoma led him to become a ghost–one with the ability to help those he left behind.

 

 

 

 

 

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Diverse MG Lit #4 American Indian Books

By on November 16, 2018   /   Diversity  
November is traditionally the month of focus on American Indian history, and fortunately there is much to celebrate this year. It was my very great pleasure to hear many Indigenous authors and poets reading and discussing their work at the Portland Book Festival. One among them was Tommy Orange the author of the National Book Award nominee THERE, THERE. It’s not a book designed for the MG audience but it is within reach of strong readers who are looking for hard-hitting contemporary realism. I think many seventh and eighth grade readers would find much to love. It is the intertwined story of twelve people on their way to a powwow in Oakland and offers plenty of ideas for the thoughtful reader to absorb and discuss.
It was also my great pleasure to hear a reading and discussion of their poetry from Trevino Brings Plenty, Laura Da’, and Layli Long Soldier. They are all three contributors to the anthology NEW POETS OF NATIVE NATIONS edited by Heid Erdrich. This is also a book published for the adult market. But of all adult writing I think poetry can be the most accessible to younger readers. Here is a snippet of example from a poem called Passive Voice by Laura Da’ a middle school teacher and Eastern Shawnee.

Passive Voice

Laura Da’

I use a trick to teach students
how to avoid passive voice.
Circle the verbs.
Imagine inserting “by zombies”
after each one.
Have the words been claimed
by the flesh-hungry undead?
if so, passive voice
This poem goes on and becomes even more searing and evocative with each line, talking about how the crimes of the past against indigenous people are usually reported in the passive voice. Now there’s a conversation I’d love to have in the classroom. I am beyond excited to read all the poems in this anthology and to follow the literary careers launched there.
On the more traditional side of MG publishing Joseph Bruchac has a new novel TWO ROADS. Much has been written about the abuses of the Indian Boarding Schools and it’s easy, if you don’t live in the west, to think that Indian boarding schools are a thing of the past. Although most of them closed 80 to 100 years ago, some operated much longer and under slightly reformed conditions. Bruchac’s story takes place in 1932 and is about a Creek Indian boy, Cal Black, and his father a WWI veteran who live a transient life. When the father decides to join a protest with other veterans in Washington to demand their wartime bonuses, he decides to leave his son at the Challagi Indian School in Oklahoma. The most brutal practices of the Indian schools are past at the time of this story, still there is much hardship to endure. Even so Cal learns about his own culture and gains the strength of knowing other young men of his tribe.  This resonates with the stories I have heard from elders who attended Indian schools in the 1930s and 40s. They found much hardship there, but they also found their voice as Native people and a community that would go on to become part of many of the movements, AIM and others, that lead to the recent pipeline protests. Two Roads is an important book and one that I hope will be widely read.
Also on the topic of Indian schools but originating in Canada is SPEAKING OUR TRUTH: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith. It is a larger format, photo illustrated work of non-fiction about the journey of reconciliation addressing Canada’s past, present and future relationship with its First Nations People. Monique Gray Smith asks her readers to leave behind these attitudes
  • I’ve heard this all before
  • Reconciliation doesn’t involve me or my friends or my family
  • History isn’t important
  • I, as one person, can’t make a difference
She organizes her book according to Seven Sacred Teachings: Honesty, Respect, Love, Courage, Truth, Humility, and Wisdom. The book is packed with information. It’s a book to read slowly. Every few pages there is a spot illustration of a drum and an invitation to reflect. Definitions are placed on the page where the words first occur in addition to a glossary in the back. I thought the book would make me feel sad and ashamed but because so much of it is focused on things everyone can do now to make it better I felt much hope by the end. This book is rooted in Canadian history but the issues are so similar to American ones that I think you could use it in the US. But I’d love to see and American version of this concept too.
And finally I want to call attention to a group of picture book legends. Many teachers are looking for authentic indigenous legends to use in the curriculum and want to make sure they are using books of the best quality. I think when it comes to traditional tales, the way to get the authentic versions we are looking for is to have the tribes publish themselves. The Sealaska Heritage Institute does just this. Their award winning books are produced from start to finish by professional indigenous storytellers, world-class indigenous artists and indigenous publishers. They have an imprint called Baby Raven Reads which focuses on stories from the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Haida traditions. There are many beautiful books in this imprint. I’m going to highlight Shanyaak’utlaax—Salmon Boy edited by Johnny Marks, Hans Chester, David Katzeek, Nora Dauenhauer and Richard Dauenhauer and illustrated by Michaela Goade. It is the Tlingit story of a boy who disrespects the salmon his mother gives him and is swept away into the ocean to meet the Salmon People. It is written in Lingít and English with a Lingít audio available on line. Michaela Goade is a Tlingit Raven from the Kiks.ádi clan of Sitka, Alaska. These books are not available through the normal channels but don’t be discouraged you can get them through Taku Graphics in Juneau, AK. Email Katrina Woolford at orders@takugraphics.com for more information. Learn more about Baby Raven Reads at www.sealaskaheritage.org.
If you have a favorite book with Native American characters, please share it in the comments.
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