It’s Jewish Book Month and today World Kid Lit blog co-editor Jackie Friedman Mighdoll looks at recent picture books that celebrate Judaism around the world. 

By Jackie Friedman Mighdoll

What does Jewish look like? What’s Jewish food? What are Jewish holidays? I’ll admit, I thought I had good answer for these questions. But in celebrating Jewish Book Month, I delved into the world of picture books and discovered some even better ones. That’s another world-kid-lit win!

The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda

This story is set in the Abayudaya Jewish community in Uganda, a community I’ll admit that I hadn’t known existed. Founded around a hundred years ago, the Abayudaya community blends Jewish and Ugandan traditions. This book is also a beautiful and colorful blend of the familiar and new. It has a sassy, competitive narrator, Shoshi, a good-hearted grandmother and community, a rabbi, shabbat, and sukkot! On the new side for me, I learned that grandma in Lugandan is Jajja, that Shoshi and her family live among the coffee trees, and they make kalo bread for shabbat with millet and cassava. 

I loved this book so much that I went searching on the Internet to learn more. It turns out the author is now an ordained rabbi who hopes one day to become the first female rabbi of her egalitarian community in Abudaya.

A Bright Light in Buenos Aires

In this picture book, Dani, who lives in Buenos Aires, has a bright light that follows him everywhere. This can be convenient, after a scary story at night or when helping his sister look for her missing rollerblades. But mostly, he fears it makes him a nuisance to his family and friends. As Dani comes to accept his light, the reader gets a picture of his life in Buenos Aires.  Not only is there chocotorta and futbol and firing the grill for asado, there is also shabbat candles and services. The backmatter explains in detail about the Jewish community in Argentina, the largest in the Spanish-speaking world, and how Jewish celebrations blend both local and traditional influences. It also points out how the art includes elements that blend both Argentine and Jewish traditions.

Pumpkin Pie for Sigd: A Holiday Tale

Maddie has recently moved to Israel from the US, and she is invited to celebrate Sigd, a Jewish Ethiopian holiday with her friend Orly. She wants to make a pumpkin pie for Orly to try, but not all the ingredients are available in Israel. Their neighbors from India, Mexico, and Ukraine, offer up helpful substitutions. At the celebration, Orly gets to try pumpkin pie while Maddie tastes Ethiopian foods like injera, misir wat, and dabo. The book both shows the diversity of people living in Israel, and also provides insight into the Jewish Ethiopian holiday, Sigd.

What Jewish Looks Like

This book opens with the big questions including: How many Jewish people are there in the world? Are Jews a race? Are Jews White? It then presents a map outlining Jewish communities around the world. The heart of the book contains thirty-six diverse profiles of Jewish people among them an Israeli violinist, a Kurdistani rabbi, a Tunisian boxer, an Italian scientist, and a Portuguese philanthropist. These Jews span time frames and continents, professions and identities. Some are well known figures and others are still young and forging their way. All together they answer the question that this book’s title poses!