“Eating Gelato For Israel – And Other Ways To Fight Back Against The Nazis Among Us,”
November 24, 2023
Unraveling Anti-Israel Protests Across Canada: From Intimidation to Terrorism Advocacy
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A Mother’s Courage: Renana’s 12-Hour Journey To Bring Her Kidnapped Sons Home
November 24, 2023
First person: Her sons might have been taken by one of the world’s most brutal terrorist organizations, but Renana Gome remains undeterred; She goes wherever she needs to, turning heaven and earth, to bring her sons back into her arms.
Dennis Ross Tries To Save Hamas
November 24, 2023
Ross Advocates Allowing Hamas Leadership to Leave Gaza in Exchange for Remaining Hostages
Stopping Antisemitism Needs More Than A Successful Rally
November 24, 2023
The “March for Israel” in Washington, D.C., was a great response to pro-Hamas mobs. But ending the source of a rising tide of Jew-hatred requires opposing the woke ideology that created it.
Jewish Physicians At The University Of Toronto Speak Out Against Antisemitism
November 24, 2023
Over 550 Doctors Assert Their Right to Openly Identify as Zionists Amid Rising Antisemitism
Bethlehem Removes Christmas Decorations In Honor Of Gaza ‘Martyrs’
November 24, 2023
The traditional Christmas mass and prayers will still take place, but without Christmas trees or festive lights.
The Racism Of Woke Progressivism
November 24, 2023
The root of all modern-day evils for the new left is colonialism, and Israel is, they claim, a colonialist power.
Sincere Or Sanctimonious?
November 24, 2023
Will we sell our souls to claim the moral high ground?
‘Globalized Intifada’: Shootings, A Firebombing And Vandalism Rock Montreal
November 24, 2023
“This is in fact the actualization of a globalized intifada through violence,” said the president of Federation CJA of the sharp spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7.
Church Rushes Ambulance To Israel In Response To Hamas Attacks
November 24, 2023
“We knew there was an urgent need to replace ambulances that were stolen and destroyed. To know ours is part of this historic effort is incredibly gratifying,” said Pastor Larry Huch.
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Just in time for Hannukah, Part Two of our list
- 25 November 2021
- 1:03 am
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- 25 November 2021
- 1:03 am
Author Kathy Kacer crafted a story about 1 5 year old Paul who attends Hitler Youth rallies by day and engages in resistance by night – until Kristallnacht. (Photo: archambault.ca)
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Whether you have small children, pre-teens or teens, with Hanukkah coming at the end of the month – or for any time at all – you’ll want to check out these books.
Author Kathy Kracer has two Holocaust-themed novels for young people out in 2021: Under the Iron Bridge (available from Second Story Press here) and Call Across the Sea (available from Annick Press here).
Under the Iron Bridge is a fast-paced and exciting and manages to get across some of the horror of life in Nazi Germany. It’s compulsive reading. You certainly want to get this for the young teens in your life (ages 12–14).
In Dusseldorf, Germany, 15-year-old Paul is pressured into joining the Hitler Youth. He despises the Nazis and especially how they’re treating Jews, but Paul has no way to express his opposition until he stumbles on the Edelweiss Pirates, a group of young people who have begun to resist – distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets, painting slogans on walls, and sabotaging Gestapo cars.
Paul attends Hitler Youth rallies by day and engages in resistance by night – until Kristallnacht. Amidst the burning of the Dusseldorf synagogue and the destruction of Jewish homes and businesses, Paul comes across Analia, a girl he’s had a crush on, being rounded up with other Jews for shipment to a concentration camp. At great peril, Paul is able to rescue Analia, but in doing so, exposes where his true loyalties lie. For the next seven years, until the end of the war, he will have to go underground.
As with Kathy Kracer’s other novels, Under the Iron Bridge has accurate historical underpinnings. The characters are imaginary but the Edelweiss Pirates were real and Yad Vashem recognized them as Righteous Among the Nations.
Under the Iron Bridge is part of Second Story Press’s on-going Holocaust Remembrance Series for young readers – which includes the very well-known book Hana’s Suitcase, and some 18 other books (see here).
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Call Across the Sea is part of Kathy Kracer’s Heroes Quartet, four Holocaust-themed books for children aged 9–12 (available from Annick Press here).
Young Henny Sinding has grown up sailing her father’s boat the Gerda III, but with the Nazi’s occupying Denmark, Henny joins the resistance, and when the Jews are about to be deported, she suggests smuggling them to Sweden aboard Gerda III.
Like Under the Iron Bridge, Call Across the Sea is a good adventure story based on accurate history. The Gerda III was one of some 300 ships that helped Denmark’s Jews escape to Sweden, and Kracer includes a short note at the end of the novel about the real-life Henny Sinding.
Author Joanne Levy, published two books in 2021 for children aged 9–12, both with Orca Books: The Sun Will Come Out and Sorry for Your Loss (both available here):
In the Sun Will Come Out, 11-year-old Bea goes to Camp Shalom for the first time. But what should be the best summer of her life, turn out to be the most anxious, and anxiety makes Bea break out in hives – great big ugly splotches all over her face.
Mean girls make Camp Shalom anything but peaceful. There’s a boy Bea’s crushing on, but he’s crushing on her best friend. Plus, there’s an odd-looking kid who seems to work in the camp infirmary – where poor Bea ends up spending a lot of time, what with those mysterious hives all over her face. As it turns out, this odd-looking boy has problems far larger than Bea’s, and between them, they learn much about friendship and about ometz lev – courage.
This is a wonderful story, fast-paced and fun, full of humour and heart.
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Sorry for Your Loss is a miraculously good novel. Evie Walman wants to be a funeral director when she grows up – not so odd considering she already works in her family’s funeral home. She’s just 12, so she doesn’t work with the grieving families – until Oren Katzman loses both his parents in an accident that also leaves him wounded, inside and out.
The heart of this story is Evie and Oren’s growing friendship. But Evie also brings Oren deeply into the workings of a Jewish funeral home, which is both fascinating and strangely comforting for Oren and perhaps also for the reader.
The Good Fight by Ted Staunton, illustrated by Josh Rosen (2021, Scholastic Canada available here) is a graphic novel geared to kids in grades 6 and up.
It’s 1933, Sid and his family live at the edge of the Ward, an immigrant slum in a Toronto rife with prejudice. Sid’s in with a gang of pickpockets, but when he’s caught, the police coerce him into becoming an informant. They’re after a union organizer – a communist, according to the Police Chief.
But the real heart of the story is the rising tension between Toronto’s homegrown Nazis and the Jewish and other immigrant communities – a tension that erupts into a historic riot following a baseball game at the Christie Pits.
This is a tough, gritty story, ably illustrated with tough gritty artwork. Kids will eat it up.
Osnat is the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani, builder and rabbi of the Mosul yeshiva, who takes the extraordinary step of teaching his daughter to read. (Photo: Amazon.ca)
Osnat and her Dove: The True Story of the World’s First Female Rabbi by Sigal Samuel, illustrated by Vali Mintzi (2021, Levine Querido, winner of the Jewish Book Award available here).
Picture books rely as much on the art as on the text and it’s a lucky author indeed who gets as talented an artist as Vali Mintzi to illustrate her book. Full of deep reds, blues and yellows, Mintzi’s illustrations suggest a world of mystery, wonder and miracles that very much evokes the tone of this beautiful book.
Set in 16th Century Mosul in what is now Iraq, Osnat is the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Barzani, builder and rabbi of the Mosul yeshiva, who takes the extraordinary step of teaching his daughter to read. Osnat becomes such a good Torah scholar that her father agrees to her accepting a husband only if he’ll excuse her from chores so she can continue to study. But eventually her father and her husband pass away and Osnat becomes the head of the yeshiva. Not only that, but (as with any legendary rabbi worth their salt) she becomes a miracle worker.
This is a simply gorgeous book that children and adults alike will adore.
Other Canadian books of Jewish interest for young people:
Jacob and the Mandolin Adventure by Anne Dublin (2021, Second Story Press, ages 9–12 more info and available here.)
A Struggle for Hope by Carol Matas (2021, Scholastic Canada, grades 6 and up, more info and available here).
The Bagel King by Andrew Larsen, illustrated by Sandy Nichols (2021, Kids Can Press, a Picture Book, ages 4–7, more info and available here).
Boy from Buchenwald by Robbie Waisman, with Susan McClelland (2021 Bloomsbury Children’s Books, ages 12 and older, more info and available here).
The Little Synagogue on the Prairie: The Building that Went for a Ride … Three Times! by Jackie Mills (2019, self-published nonfiction picture book, ages 6–9 , more info and available here).
Brian Henry is a writer, an editor, and the publisher of the Quick Brown Fox blog. He teaches writing courses for adults, including writing Kid Lit. He’s written book reviews for the Toronto Star and for Books in Canada, and opinion pieces for the Toronto Star and the National Post. He was also a regular contributor to the (now defunct) Jewish Tribune and to the Engage and Harry’s Place websites in the UK.
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We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
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Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
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