Jewish Read in Color Recommended Reads

Jason Belongs: The Story of Jason Schachter McKinney by Audrey Ades and Jason Schachter McKinney, illustrated by Isabel Muñoz (32 pp, Kar-Ben Publishing, 2025). Jason has a big voice. He sings everywhere–until a whisper runs through his Jewish day school: Jason is Black. Is he really Jewish? “Can I be both Black and Jewish?” wonders Jason. He stops caring about Jewish songs and prayers.

His African ancestors’ music continues to touch Jason’s heart and spirit, but he longs for a community where he can be his complete self. When he finds his way to services at a synagogue years later, can Jason learn to sing with his whole spirit, both Black and Jewish? Ages 5 – 9.

Mazel Toes! by Audrey Barbakoff, illustrated by Annita Soble (232 pp, The Collective Book Studio, 2025). With sweet gestures for every part of the body—like a kiss on the keppie and a boop on the nose—Mazel Toes! is a heartfelt love letter from parent to child. Author Audrey Barbakoff, a Jewish mother and educator, infuses each verse with cultural warmth and connection, while Annita Soble’s cozy illustrations honor the strength and diversity of Jewish families, from historic shtetls to modern-day homes. Ages 0 – 3.

More Than Enough: Inspired by Maimonidess Golden Ladder of Giving Richardson Michelson, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (32 pp, Peachtree, 2025). Moses isn’t used to jingle-jangle in his pocket, so he’s reluctant to give money when Barefoot Benny clink-clanks his cup of change. But Mom encourages him to follow her example and help a neighbor. “Feels better to help than to need help,” she tells him, so drops a coin in Benny’s can.

Later that spring, Benny’s fortunes have improved. He’s cutting hair at the barber shop, where he gives a free trim to Big Jim, who’s down on his luck. Soon Big Jim becomes the building superintendent, and then he and Moses volunteer to babysit for Ms. Brown when she gets a last-minute job interview and can’t find childcare.

Throughout the year, each neighbor finds the opportunity to help another, and the community grows and deepens through mutual support. As it turns out, “Little enough is more than enough to share.” Ages 4 – 8.

Shabbat Is… by A.J. Sass, illustrated by Noa Kelner (40 pp, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2025). What does Shabbat mean to you?
Is it making a big meal with your relatives on Friday night?
Singing songs on Saturday morning?
Or maybe it’s seeing all your friends after services.

Shabbat can mean different things to different people, even for those who attend the same synagogue! This timeless story by award-winning author A. J. Sass explores the countless ways to celebrate the sabbath holiday through the wonderfully diverse fabric of Jewish life and experience. Ages 3 – 6.

The Singer and the Scientist by Lisa Rose, illustrated by Isabel Muñoz (32 pp, Kar-Ben Publishing, 2021). It’s 1937, and Marian Anderson is one of the most famous singers in America. But after she gives a performance for an all-white audience, she learns that the nearby hotel is closed to African Americans. She doesn’t know where she’ll stay for the night…

Until the famous scientist Albert Einstein invites her to stay at his house. Marian, who endures constant discrimination as a Black performer, learns that Albert faced prejudice as a Jew in Germany. She discovers their shared passion for music–and their shared hopes for a more just world. Ages 5 – 11.

Talia and the Passover Hug-Gadah by Linda Elovitz Marshall, illustrated by Francesca Assirelli (32 pp, Kar-Ben Publishing, 2026). WOW! A whole holiday about HUGS! As Talia places books called Haggadahs on the Passover table, she can’t wait for the hugging to begin. While waiting, Talia learns about the Jewish people’s escape from slavery in Egypt, the Ten Plagues, the Four Questions, and the Passover meal. But where are all the hugs? After all, it’s called the “HUG-gadah,” isn’t it? Ages 3 – 8.

The Real Rosalind: The Truth about Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Discovery and How it Was Erased by Debbie Loren Dunn and Janet Fox (240 pp, Zest Books, 2026). Ask most people what they know about DNA and they might be able to tell you some basics: It exists inside every living thing. It holds the genetic code that controls much of our development and behavior. And it’s shaped like a double helix–a structure that holds the key to understanding how it works.

But who first figured out the structure of DNA? Who unlocked this crucial key? That’s where Rosalind Franklin came in. Ages 11 and up.

Refugee: The Graphic Novel by Alan Gratz, illustrated by Syd Fini (176 pp, Graphix, 2025). JOSEF is a Jewish boy living in 1930s Nazi Germany. With the threat of concentration camps looming, he and his family board a ship bound for the other side of the world…

ISABEL is a Cuban girl in 1994. With riots and unrest plaguing her country, she and her family set out on a raft, hoping to find safety in America…

MAHMOUD is a Syrian boy in 2015. With his homeland torn apart by violence and destruction, he and his family begin a long trek toward Europe… Ages 9 – 12. En español.

Rules for Liars by Debra Green and April Patten (280 pp, Kar-Ben Publishing, 2026). Twelve-year-old Nikki Davis has been lying most of her life, pretending to fit into her friends’ world of designer clothes and country club parties. When her mother loses her job and they move into a rundown apartment, Nikki tries to cover things up with increasingly desperate lies.

Rebecca Weiss has her own problems. Her bat mitzvah is just months away, and she’s totally unprepared. She doesn’t have time for a new person in her life–especially someone who might be deceiving her.

When Nikki and Rebecca’s worlds collide, an unlikely friendship forms. But can a friendship built on secrets and lies survive? And when the truth finally comes out, will Nikki have the courage to make things right? Can Rebecca ever forgive her? Ages 8 – 13.

As a Jew: Reclaiming Our Story from Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us  by Sarah Hurwitz (336 pp, HarperOne, 2025). At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an introduction to Judaism class and was astonished by what she discovered: thousands of years of wisdom from her ancestors about what it means to be human. That class sparked a journey of discovery that transformed her life.

Years later, as Hurwitz wrestled with what it means to be Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, she wondered:

And why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies

Where had the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life?

Why hadn’t she seen the beauty and depth of her tradition in those dull synagogue services and Hebrew school classes she’d endured as a kid?

Fagin the Thief by Allison Epstein (336 pp, Doubleday, 2025). Long before Oliver Twist stumbled onto the scene, Jacob Fagin was scratching out a life for himself in the dark alleys of nineteenth-century London. Born in the Jewish enclave of Stepney shortly after his father was executed as a thief, Jacob’s whole world is his open-minded mother, Leah. But Jacob’s prospects are forever altered when a light-fingered pickpocket takes Jacob under his wing and teaches him a trade that pays far better than the neighborhood boys could possibly dream.

Striking out on his own, Jacob familiarizes himself with London’s highest value neighborhoods while forging his own path in the shadows. But everything changes when he adopts an aspiring teenage thief named Bill Sikes, whose mercurial temper poses a danger to himself and anyone foolish enough to cross him. Along the way, Jacob’s found family expands to include his closest friend, Nancy, and his greatest protégé, the Artful Dodger. But as Bill’s ambition soars and a major robbery goes awry, Jacob is forced to decide what he really stands for—and what a life is worth.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Rachel Kadish (400 pp, Levine Querido, 2022). Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn’t have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.

The Holocaust: An Unfinished History by Dan Stone (464 pp, Mariner Books, 2024). The Holocaust is much discussed, much memorialized, and much portrayed. But there are major aspects of its history that have been overlooked.

Spanning the entirety of the Holocaust, this sweeping history deepens our understanding. Dan Stone—Director of the Holocaust Research Institute at Royal Holloway, University of London—reveals how the idea of “industrial murder” is incomplete: many were killed where they lived in the most brutal of ways. He outlines the depth of collaboration across Europe, arguing persuasively that we need to stop thinking of the Holocaust as an exclusively German project. He also considers the nature of trauma the Holocaust engendered, and why Jewish suffering has yet to be fully reckoned with. And he makes clear that the kernel to understanding Nazi thinking and action is genocidal ideology, providing a deep analysis of its origins.