Best Children's Jewish Fiction Books

This 25th anniversary edition of a now-classic tale relates how Hersehel outwits the goblins that haunt the old synagogue and prevent the village people from celebrating Hanukkah.

This 25th anniversary edition of a now-classic tale relates how Hersehel outwits the goblins that haunt the old synagogue and prevent the village people from celebrating Hanukkah.

Of those who survived, only twelve were children. This is the true story of Syvia Perlmutter—a story of courage, heartbreak, and finally survival despite the terrible circumstances in which she grew up. Grade 5-9–In thoughtful, vividly descriptive, almost poetic prose, Roy retells the true story of her Aunt Syvia's experiences in the Lodz Ghetto during the Nazi occupation of Poland. The slightly fictionalized story, re-created from her aunt's taped narrative, is related by Syvia herself as a series of titled vignettes that cover the period from fall, 1939, when she is four years old, until January 1945–each one recounting a particular detail-filled memory in the child's life (a happy-colored yellow star sewn on her favorite orange coat; a hole in the cemetery where she hides overnight with her Papa). This gripping and very readable narrative, filled with the astute observations of a young child, brings to life the Jewish ghetto experience in a unique and memorable way. She was afraid of it; when she was growing up, there was no Holocaust curriculum, no discussion-just those images of atrocity, piles of bones, and skeletal survivors being liberated. Syvia remembers daily life: yellow stars, illness, starvation, freezing cold, and brutal abuse, with puddles of red blood everywhere, and the terrifying arbitrariness of events ("like the story of a boy / who went out for bread / and was shot by a guard / who didn't like the way the boy / looked at him"). In 1944 the ghetto is emptied, except for a few Jews kept back to clean up, including Syvia's father, who keeps his family with him through courage, cunning, and luck.

These sweet, sometimes silly rhymes and adorable art are sure to make God Bless You and Good Night a favorite part of the bedtime ritual for parents and children. Hannah C. Hall estimates that she has read approximately 4,500 bedtime stories to her children over the last few years.

"Amme Tell Me" is a charming and informative series of children's books that introduces the major Hindu festivals and figures to young readers, and are perfect for families wanting to share stories of Hinduism with their children or for educators looking for resource on the Hindu culture for their students. The idea for the 'Amma, Tell Me' series of books came as a way to introduce her sons to Indian mythology and festivals.When not writing, working or running after her boys, she is happiest curled up with a book and a hot cup of chai.

Magnificently capturing the colorful world of Islam for the youngest readers, this breathtaking and informative picture book celebrates Islam's beauty and traditions. Hena Khan's first picture book, Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story , was a 2009 Booklist "Top 10 Religion Book for Youth."

Master storyteller Dharmachari Nagaraja offers 18 beautifully illustrated bedtime stories, inspired by the Buddhist folk tradition, for parents to read to their children. Dharmachari Nagaraja was ordained into the Western Buddhist Order in 1993 and is an experienced broadcaster.

This edition presents the seven books— The Magician's Nephew ; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy ; Prince Caspian ; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ; The Silver Chair ; and The Last Battle —unabridged and arranged in C. S. Lewis's preferred order. Deceptively simple and direct, The Chronicles of Narnia continue to captivate fans with adventures, characters, and truths that speak to readers of all ages, even fifty years after they were first published.