Jewish Heritage Month Reading List

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May was designated Jewish Heritage Month in 2006 by presidential proclamation. Here is a reading list full of YA books that commemorate Jewish history, heritage, and culture. To learn more, visit the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Did you enjoy this Jewish Heritage Month reading list? Check out more reading lists here, and get social with us at @getunderlined!

Alma Presses Play

By Tina Cane

A lyrical novel-in-verse that takes us through the journey of coming of age in New York during the 80s.

Alma's life is a series of halfways: She's half-Chinese, half-Jewish; her parents spend half the time fighting, and the other half silent; and she's halfway through becoming a woman. But as long as she can listen to her Walkman, hang out with her friends on the stoops of the Village, and ride her bike around the streets of New Yor...

Anna and the Swallow Man

By Gavriel Savit

“[A] splendid debut novel. . . . This is masterly storytelling.” —The New York Times

Set in Poland during the Second World War, Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning, literary, and wholly original New York Times bestseller and Publishers Weekly best book of the year perfect for readers of The Book Thief and All the Light We Cannot ...

The Assignment

By Liza Wiemer

Inspired by a real-life incident, this riveting novel explores the dangerous impact discrimination and antisemitism have on one community when a school assignment goes terribly wrong.

Would you defend the indefensible?

That's what seniors Logan March and Cade Crawford are asked to do when a favorite teacher instructs a group of students to argue for the Final Solution--the Nazi plan for the genocide of the Jewish peopl...

The Book Thief (Anniversary Edition)

By Markus Zusak

This anniversary edition of the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller features pages of bonus content, including marked-up manuscript pages, original sketches, and pages from the author's writing notebook.

“Life-changing.” —The New York Times

When Death has a story to tell, you listen.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been ...

A Cloud of Outrageous Blue

By Vesper Stamper

For fans of Fever 1793 comes the story of a young woman paving her own path and falling in love during the Great Plague of 1348, from the award-winning creator of What the Night Sings.

Edyth grew up in a quiet village with a loving family, before losing everything she holds dear in the blink of an eye. Suddenly sent to live in a priory and work with ancient texts, Edyth must come to terms with her new life and t...

Color Me In

By Natasha Díaz

A powerful coming-of-age novel, pulled from personal experience, about the meaning of friendship, the joyful beginnings of romance, and the racism and religious intolerance that can both strain a family to the breaking point and strengthen its bonds.

Growing up in an affluent suburb of New York City, sixteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz never thought much about her biracial roots. When her Black mom and Jewish dad split up, she relocates ...

It's a Whole Spiel

By

Includes a special introduction by Mayim Bialik, star of The Big Bang Theory and author of the #1 bestseller Girling Up!

Get ready to fall in love, experience heartbreak, and discover the true meaning of identity in this poignant collection of short stories about Jewish teens, including entries by David Levithan, Nova Ren Suma, and more!

A Jewish boy falls in love with a fellow counselor at summer ...

Other

A Light in the Darkness

By Albert Marrin

From National Book Award Finalist Albert Marrin comes the moving story of Janusz Korczak, the heroic Polish Jewish doctor who devoted his life to children, perishing with them in the Holocaust.

Janusz Korczak was more than a good doctor. He was a hero. The Dr. Spock of his day, he established orphanages run on his principle of honoring children and shared his ideas with the public in books and on the radio. He famously said that "ch...

This Rebel Heart

By Katherine Locke

A tumultuous tale of the student-led 1956 Hungarian revolution set in a colorless post-WWII Budapest—where the magical Danube river has plans of its own—from Sydney Taylor Honor winner Katherine Locke.

“A haunting, beautiful read that centers queer Jewish characters.” —BuzzFeed

In the middle of Budapest, there is a river. Csilla knows the river is magic. During WWII, the river ke...

The Way Back

By Gavriel Savit

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST and a SYDNEY TAYLOR NOTABLE BOOK, now in paperback! A sweeping historical fantasy that follows two teens on a perilous journey through the Far Country, a Jewish land of spirits and demons. Perfect for readers of Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman.

For the Jews of Eastern Europe, demons are everywhere: dancing on the rooftops in the darkness of midnight, congregating in the trees, harrowing t...

What the Night Sings

By Vesper Stamper

A Morris Award Finalist
Longlisted for the National Book Award

For fans of The Book Thief and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas comes a lushly illustrated novel about a teen Holocaust survivor who must come to terms with who she is and how to rebuild her life.

"A tour de force. This powerful story of love, loss, and survival is not to be missed." --KRISTIN HANNAH, #1 New York Times bestselling a...

Jewish Heritage Month Reading List

Did you enjoy this Jewish Heritage Month reading list? Check out more reading lists here, and get social with us at @getunderlined!

Alma Presses Play

By Tina Cane

Anna and the Swallow Man

By Gavriel Savit

The Assignment

By Liza Wiemer

The Book Thief (Anniversary Edition)

By Markus Zusak

A Cloud of Outrageous Blue

By Vesper Stamper

Color Me In

By Natasha Díaz

It's a Whole Spiel

By

A Light in the Darkness

By Albert Marrin

This Rebel Heart

By Katherine Locke

The Way Back

By Gavriel Savit

What the Night Sings

By Vesper Stamper

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