Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month all year long with these young adult reads from Penguin Young Readers. Click to learn more!
This May, celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month with these great, young adult titles from Jewish authors. Jewish American Heritage month recognizes the contributions of Jewish Americans in history, society, culture, and literature and is a great time to pick up books that incorporate Judaism into their stories and the lives of their characters. Many organizations, including the Association of Jewish Libraries, the American Library Association, Bookishly Jewish, and the Jewish Book Council, all offer great resources and reading lists to celebrate and honor this month and readers of all ages can find book reviews and recommendations to fill their to-be-read lists.
In the young adult genres, famous Jewish American authors include the queen of coming-of-age stories, Judy Blume, contemporary YA and romance writer Rachel Lynn Solomon, and multi-genre writer Aden Polydoros, all of whom have delighted readers with their stories. Whether you’re looking for fantasy rooted in Jewish folklore, cheery contemporary romance, or contemporary fiction about fitting in with your family and community, the books below are sure to be great reads!
The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb
The night before she is supposed to get married, 17-year-old Sorel escapes through a window and disguises herself as young boy Isser Jacobs. As Sorel makes her way through her small city in the Pale of Settlement, she discovers that the identity she has taken on belonged to a real boy, and there are people who want him dead. Aided by a dybbuk and dodging censors, smugglers, and dark forces, Sorel makes her way through an underworld to find out who Isser Jacobs was and who she wants to be.
Summer Nights and Meteorites by Hannah Reynolds
Sydney Taylor Honor author Hannah Reynolds is back with the third book in her Golden Doors series. Jordan Edelman is ready to spend the summer helping her father on a research trip to Nantucket, which should help her keep her vow to swear off dating until she leaves for college. But then she meets a very cute boy on the ferry, a very cute boy who turns out to be Ethan Barbanel: her father’s research assistant who Jordan has hated from afar for years. Throw in a talented astronomer and a mystery surrounding Gibson’s Comet and Jordan’s summer promises to be one for the books.
Just a Hat by S. Khubiar
S. Khubiar’s debut YA novel is set in 1979 and packed with humor, heartache, and coming-of-age struggles. Thirteen-year-old Joseph Nissan is struggling to fit in as one of the only Jewish kids in the small Texas town his parents moved to from Iran. Over the course of a year, Joseph will discover family secrets, face school bullies, fall for a pastor’s daughter, and deal with harassment around the Iranian hostage crisis. This novel was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award and one of Kirkus’ Best YA Historical Fiction books.
Night Owls by A. R. Vishny
Molly and Clara are sisters and estries (female vampires from Jewish folklore) who run a historic movie theater by day and shift into owls at night. Clara is a rule follower who believes in never falling in love. Molly is in love with Anat, and when she goes missing, Molly convinces Clara to break the rules and venture into New York’s underworld to find her. This paranormal romance is a debut for A.R. Vishny and won the National Jewish Book Award and the Sydney Taylor Book Award.
The Judgment of YoYo Gold by Isaac Blum
Award-winning author Isaac Blum’s latest young adult book tells the story of Yoyo Gold, who has spent her life being the perfect, Orthodox Jewish daughter with a father who’s a rabbi. Yoyo has always felt like she fit in her community, until one of her best friends is cast out and Yoyo starts to see conflicts she hadn’t before. Turning to TikTok to share her feelings, Yoyo soon finds herself going viral, which comes with consequences for her identity and her relationships with her family and neighbors.
The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero
Based on R.M. Romero’s experiences restoring Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe, The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a magical ghost story set in Prague. Ilana Lopez is staying with her aunt at her artist’s cottage in Prague, where she discovers a Jewish cemetery behind her aunt’s home and the ghost of a boy named Benjamin who shows her the ghostly side of the city.
Color Me In by Natasha Díaz
Sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz has never spent much time thinking about her roots or about having a Black mother and a Jewish father as she’s growing up in a suburb of New York City. But when her parents split up, she’s introduced to her mom’s family in Harlem, where her cousins think she passes for white and can’t understand them. Then, her dad decides he wants her to have a belated bat mitzvah for her sixteenth birthday. Caught between her two parents, Nevaeh goes silent, until a surfaced secret and a new love force her to confront her past and present.
Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros
Polydoros’ novel combines horror, fantasy, and historical fiction into a compelling story about a father in World War II Lithuania. Driven by grief for his daughter who was killed by the Nazis, he creates a golem in her image to avenge her death. Vera, awakened by this magic, knows she remembers a life that was not her own and must find what her creator wants, and what she’s living for now, as she confronts the darkest aspects of humanity.
For more great books by Jewish authors, check out this list of 100 Must Read Works of Jewish Fiction and this Hey YA! episode celebrating Jewish Heritage Month.