Jewish Genre Reading Challenge discussion

This is the place to discuss Jewish books for younger readers. Maybe you have books to recommend, or are looking for new reads for your kids. Or maybe you want to chat about an old classic from your childhood and see if it was formative for anyone else. Please remember that readers of all ages are welcome in this thread so keep discussion appropriate to all audiences.

Are you wondering if you can read YA, middle grade, or children's books yourself for the Jewish Genre Challenge? Yes, you absolutely can! We believe it's so important for Jewish kids, teens, and young adults to see themselves reflected in books of all genres and we are all for showing those books some love. Books still need to follow the same rules (Jewish main character, prompt-specific rules) but a YA, middle grade, or children's book counts exactly the same in this challenge as a book geared towards adults. Remember this is your challenge, you can tailor it to bring you towards the books you want in your reading life right now.

In 2025, we'd like to have a whole series with folks who specialize in Jewish kid lit (librarians, authors, etc.) doing the challenge using entirely books for younger readers. Please let us know if you're interested in participating!

chysodema wrote: "This is the place to discuss Jewish books for younger readers. Maybe you have books to recommend, or are looking for new reads for your kids. Or maybe you want to chat about an old classic from you..."

I’m a children’s librarian in a public library serving a large Jewish population and I am interested in participating in this series if that’s okay? Feel free to reach out.

Rebecca wrote: "chysodema wrote: "This is the place to discuss Jewish books for younger readers. Maybe you have books to recommend, or are looking for new reads for your kids. Or maybe you want to chat about an ol..."

Yes, absolutely! I will get in touch about the practicalities soon and in the meantime if you like you could start brainstorming about what kid's books you might use to fulfill one or both of the challenges.

I would love recommendations for my 7yo. She's a very able reader for her age and I recently picked up a Jewish chapter book for her that she *loved*. So...middle grade fantasy but gentle on the themes if that makes sense?

Rebecca wrote: "I would love recommendations for my 7yo. She's a very able reader for her age and I recently picked up a Jewish chapter book for her that she *loved*. So...middle grade fantasy but gentle on the th..."

Rebecca,
Go the Jewish Book Council website. There are so, so many.

Oh, that's a good point! And I was just checking out our website and I read an excerpt of Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop this morning.