okay I wrote a really long thing and my phone deleted it so here is take 2 of my MASTERPOST OF NON-HOLOCAUST-CENTRIC JEWISH MCās:
āAll Other Nightsā by Dara Horn - Jewish spy for the union in the civil war
āShylockās Daughterā by Marjam Pressler - retelling of the Merchant of Venice with a sympathetic Shylock and a historically accurate look at the Ashkenazi AND Sephardic Jewish community in 16th century Italy
āThe Chosenā by Chaim Potok - Hassidic + Modern Orthodox Jewish boys āfriendshipā (lbr we all ship it)Ā in 1945-1948 NYC
āMy Name is Asher Levā by Chaim Potok - ultra-orthodox Jewish boy takes up art, paints a crucifixion scene, and sh*t hits the fan
āThe Museum of Extraordinary Thingsā - Jewish photographer + (non-Jewish) daughter of a sideshow owner meet and fall in love in turn of the century Brooklyn, and also a subplot about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
āEscape from Egyptā by Sonia Levitin - retelling of the Passover story
āDaniel Derondaā by George Eliot - itās like Jane Austen. With Jews! (And while everything is not all hunky-dory, itās also not the antisemitic travesty Iāve come to expect from 19th century gentile writers).
āHacking Harvardā by Robin Wasserman - 3 nerds take on a bet to get a slacker/stoner into Harvard (also a really nice critique of the college admissions process tbh)
āThe Pactā by Jodi Picoult - (suicide tw) A tragedy hits 2 families. The novel centers on a trial and flashbacks to the event in question.Ā
āSomeone to Run Withā by David Grossman - set on the streets of Jerusalem, a boy tries to return a lost dog to its owner, a girl who has run away from home in search of her brother (this is the English translation, obviously, but if you can read novels in Hebrew I highly recommend reading the original, ×ש×× ××Ø×ׄ ×××Ŗ×)
Urban Fantasy/Fantasy/SciFi
āThe Mediatorā series by Meg Cabot - teenaged girl starts seeing ghosts / YA romance (although the fact that the MC is Jewish is not even remotely relevant to the plot, it is mentioned outright several times which is more than most books)
āThe Cureā by Sonia Levitin - futuristic dystopian society tries to cure one young manās appreciation of music by sending him to a Jewish shtetl in 13th century Poland (fair warning for dystopian fans, though, the middle 2/3rds reads like historical fiction, so.)
Childrenās (Middle Grade) Books
āAll of a Kind Familyā by Sydney Taylor - the classicĀ ā1920s NYC Jewish familyā
āDave at Nightā by Gail Carson Levine - boy sneaks out of an orphanage in early 20th century NYC
āWitnessā by Karen Taylor Hesse - told in free verse, the KKK visits a small town Ā (Iām including it because itās not a Holocaust book, and itās really good,Ā but it still might Ā willĀ set off your antisemitism sensors so fair warning)
āAre You There God? Itās Me, Margaret.ā by Judy Blume - Classic. (Also, takes on an interfaith family in a really interesting and nuanced way!)
āSamir and Yonatanā by Daniella Carmi - two boys (one Israeli, one Palestinian) end up in the same hospital and learn that they have more in common than they thought
āAngels in Americaā by Harold Kushner - I canāt even begin to describe this one just google it. (or: Jewish and Mormon gay people in NYC during the AIDS epidemic, and also angels)
āThirteen: The Musicalā by Dan Elish and Robert Horn, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown - Jewish boyās parents get divorced and he moves from NYC to Appleton, Indiana right before his Bar Mitzvah
yousharknotpass
pixelskylines
gummygunk
tangentwithtanner
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
