After the successful celebration of the 350th Anniversary of American Jewish History in May 2004, the Jewish Museum of Florida and prominent Jewish leaders in South Florida urged President Bush to name the month of May as Jewish American Heritage Month. In May 2006, the first Jewish American Heritage Month was celebrated, honoring the centuries of Jewish impact in America.
There is a myriad of ways that Jewish Americans have contributed to the United States. Below I’ve compiled a small selection of books to enjoy that acknowledge some of those contributions, whether you want to get lost in a story, experiment in the kitchen, or learn something new.
“Florence, the 20-year-old daughter of Jewish bakery owners Esther and Joseph Adler, starts the summer of 1934 training for an upcoming trip to France to swim the English Channel. When Florence’s life is cut short in tragedy, Esther and Joseph keep her death quiet from their eldest daughter, Fannie, who waits out a high-risk pregnancy in the hospital. Protecting the baby becomes paramount. While Fannie’s husband, Isaac, swindles away funds in real estate schemes, their young daughter Gussie, unable to grasp the reason behind the lie, mourns the loss of her beloved aunt and misses her mother. Gussie finds comfort in Anna, a young German girl mysteriously living with the Adlers, and Stuart, Flossie’s swim coach and admirer. Stuart, a handsome lifeguard and son of the elite Covington hotel owner, begins clandestine swimming lessons with Anna, growing closer as they also grieve for Florence. As the secrets threaten to spill and heartbreak blankets them, the family must unite to face a future without Florence.”
“Set against the backdrop of the Clinton and Lewinsky scandal, My Last Innocent Year is a coming-of-age story about a young woman on the brink of sexual and artistic awakening, navigating her way toward independence while recognizing the power, beauty and grit of where she came from. Timely and wise, it reckons with the complexities of consent, what it means to be an adult, and whether or not we can ever outrun our bad decisions.”
“Relying on classic Jewish dishes, new favorites, and some imports, Gray and Kassoff Gray look to change the traditional Jewish table by “blending” tastes and histories. With dishes like yukon gold and sweet potato latkes and vegetable kishka with sage and paprika mixed in with asparagus risotto with Parmesan tuiles and quick summer squash ratatouille, there is a little something from everywhere thrown into the pot. With more than 75 color photographs, stories, and instructions from the authors on almost every recipe, as well as other restaurateurs’ and chefs’ anecdotes peppered throughout, this book has a very personal and inviting feel, asking the reader to focus on enjoying the food.”
“Finding himself alone after his divorce and his mother’s recent death, Ben Ziskind distracts himself with work, crafting questions for a TV quiz show. When he decides to steal a Chagall painting that once belonged to his mother, his actions shake him from his hermetic shell. Flashbacks to Ben’s past and to the lives of Chagall and his one-time novelist friend, the Hidden One, merge together. Horn deftly weaves an intricate story steeped in folklore and family secrets. Along the way, readers are offered glimpses of the possibilities, allegorical and otherwise, of life’s beginning and end.”
“In this anthology of 14 short stories by YA authors, the protagonists experience all the familiar exhilaration, embarrassment, and anxiety of late adolescence, with physical symptoms to match: they’re torn, they freeze up, they blush. They are also Jewish, and what that means—in terms of family, upbringing, and beliefs—adds additional layers of questioning and rumination to their fledgling sense of themselves.”
“Russian Jewish folklore meets the modern world in this fantastical story of good versus evil. Estranged siblings Isaac and Bellatine Yaga come from a long line of Russian puppeteers, each having their own special talent (or curse). Isaac is the Chameleon King, changing his appearance by imitating a person’s muscle movements. Bellatine has hands which ignite and wake the puppets. The siblings reunite when they receive an inheritance—Thistlefoot, a living house with chicken legs that moves and responds to commands in Yiddish. Isaac and Bellatine tour the U.S. with Thistlefoot, performing their famous puppet shows, but they soon discover there are others intent on finding the magical house. The evil Longshadow Man is close and will let no one get in his way; however, the house has its own agenda, and dues must be paid to balance the universe’s energy.”
“In this ambitious mix of biography, historiography, and family memoir, historian Popkin (A New World Begins) pays tribute to his grandmother, novelist Zelda Popkin. Throughout, Popkin draws insightful comparisons between Zelda and other Jewish American writers and provides helpful synopses of her novels. This admiring profile restores a well-deserving author to the spotlight.”
“When Charles Lindbergh, Republican candidate in the 1940 presidential race, defeats popular FDR in a landslide, pollsters scramble for explanations–among them that, to a country weary of crisis and fearful of becoming involved in another European war, the aviator represents “normalcy raised to heroic proportions.” For the Roth family, however, the situation is anything but normal, and heroism has a different meaning. As the anti-Semitic new president cozies up to the Third Reich, right-wing activists throughout the nation seize the moment. Most citizens, enamored of isolationism and lost in hero worship, see no evil–but in the Roths’ once secure and stable Jewish neighborhood in New Jersey, the world is descending into a nightmare of confusion, fear, and unpredictability. But though the situation is grim, this is not a despairing tale; suspenseful, poignant, and often humorous, it engages readers in many ways. It prompts them to consider the nature of history, present times, and possible futures.”
“The Austrian Jewish Künstler family’s established, prosperous life is threatened when creeping Nazi reforms erode their freedom. Fortunately, they escape Vienna in 1939 and settle in Los Angeles, finding themselves on the fringes of its European émigré community. Salomea (“Mamie”), 11, enthusiastically explores her new home, helping her parents and aging grandfather learn English. When Mamie is 93, she invites her 23-year-old grandson, Julian, to stay with her; his New York life has disintegrated since he lost both his girlfriend and his roommate. His parents refuse to subsidize his aimless existence, so he reluctantly accepts Mamie’s offer, only to linger when the pandemic strikes. Over the months, Mamie recounts fascinating anecdotes about meeting famous writers and luminaries such as Greta Garbo. Contrasting the wartime excesses in Hollywood with privation in Austria, Mamie and Julian liken COVID-era isolation to the sense of exile so many faced when they fled Europe.”
“In Koshersoul, Michael W. Twitty considers the marriage of two of the most distinctive culinary cultures in the world today: the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora. To Twitty, the creation of African-Jewish cooking is a conversation of migrations and a dialogue of diasporas offering a rich background for inventive recipes and the people who create them. The question that most intrigues him is not just who makes the food, but how the food makes the people. Jews of Color are not outliers, Twitty contends, but significant and meaningful cultural creators in both Black and Jewish civilizations. Koshersoul also explores how food has shaped the journeys of numerous cooks, including Twitty’s own passage to and within Judaism.”
If you live in Cleveland, you probably know that we like to brag about our wonderful museums. From the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to Cleveland Museum of Art to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to Cowan Pottery Museum here at Rocky River Public Library, Cleveland has quite a few museums to explore and celebrate.
Documents the unsolved theft of twelve masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, tracing the research of the late art detective Harold Smith while recounting the author’s own forays into the art underworld.
This beautifully written and richly illustrated book is a clear-eyed but loving account of natural history museums, their curators, and their ever-expanding roles in the twenty-first century.
Beautifully composed panoramic photographs that showcase the iconic interiors and exteriors in the great museums and cultural institutions of the United States from a singular visual perspective.
When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort – she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
In this collection of compact fictions, Nicolette Polek transports us to a gently unsettling realm inhabited by disheveled landlords, a fugitive bride, a seamstress who forgets what people look like, and two rival falconers from neighboring towns.
On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that the United States military would invade Cambodia, furthering their involvement in the Vietnam War.
On May 1, over 500 students gathered on an outdoor common area in the center of campus to demonstrate against President Nixon’s announcement. At this demonstration, a rally was planned for May 4, to continue the protest. During the next few days, students kept up the demonstrations, and after Kent Mayor LeRoy Satrom declared a state of emergency, the Ohio National Guard were called on May 2.
On May 3, Governor Rhodes said they were going to “eradicate the problem” and that the protestors were “the worst type of people that we harbor in America” (Kent State). Another rally took place that evening, with Guardsmen tear gassing participants in order to get them to disperse. A curfew was enforced, and several students were bayoneted by Guardsmen.
On May 4, the originally planned protest took place as scheduled. The University tried to advertise it had been cancelled, but students (and some non-students as well) gathered anyway, even when tear gas was used to get them to disperse. At 12:24 PM, Guardsmen began firing at the protestors for approximately 13 seconds, killing four students—Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, William Schroeder and Sandra Scheuer—and injuring nine students— Joseph Lewis, John Cleary, Thomas Grace, Alan Canfora, Dean Kahler, Douglas Wrentmore, James Russell, Robert Stamps, and Donald MacKenzie. The University President closed the school and remained closed for six weeks.
This is an incredibly brief overview of the Kent State shootings and I highly recommend the Kent State University’s Digital Archives for oral histories, timelines, newspaper articles, interviews, and more. Below are a few titles available through the library for more information:
For National Library Week, which runs from April 23-29, the staff at Rocky River Public Library have filled quite a few shelves full of our book recommendations. From nonfiction to graphic novels to fantasy to audiobooks, we’ve got a little bit of everything for every type of reader.
But if you can’t make it in person to see our staff recommendations, here’s a list of just a few of the books staff have picked out:
A reimagining of the classic gothic suspense novel, Mexican Gothic follows the experiences of a courageous socialite in 1950s Mexico who is drawn into the treacherous secrets of an isolated mansion.
Alex Craft knows how to kill someone. And she doesn’t feel bad about it. When her older sister, Anna, was murdered three years ago and the killer walked free, Alex uncaged the language she knows best: The language of violence.
An account of the unsolved Golden State Killer case, written by the late author of the TrueCrimeDiary.com website traces the assaults and murders of dozens of victims and the author’s determined efforts to help identify the killer and bring him to justice.
Three Daughters of Eve is set over an evening in contemporary Istanbul and follows the efforts of a woman to navigate cultural, religious and economic tensions during a seaside mansion dinner party while enduring painful memories of her deep multicultural friendships during her Oxford years.
Zuboff explores the challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, presenting a detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called “surveillance capitalism,” and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control human behavior.
A clerk in a Tokyo of the near future works in an organization that controls the flow of information to society–employing electronic brainwashing and other insidious techniques–a job that contributes to his increasing sense of dehumanization.
Keefe documents the notorious abduction and murder of I.R.A. Troubles victim Jean McConville in 1972 Belfast, exploring how the case reflected the brutal conflicts of Northern Ireland and their ongoing repercussions.
Glitter and Glue presents an account of the author’s perspectives on motherhood, which have been shaped by her job as a nanny for a grieving Australian family and her character-testing experiences with her daughters.
Despite the unspeakable horrors that Frankl faced in the Nazi concentration camps, he learned from the strength of his fellow inmates that it is always possible to “say yes to life”–a profound and timeless lesson for us all.
Kolker tells the heartrending story of a midcentury American family with 12 children, 6 of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science’s great hope in the quest to understand the disease.
Apparently, April is Garden Month! That seems fitting, as we are finally seeing some sunny, warm days in Rocky River. As you plot out your backyards, balconies, or windowsills, check out some of these helpful gardening books. Whether you’re a beginner or ready for a challenge, we’ve got a book for you.
I hope these books spark some plant inspiration! And remember, the Library has partnered with the Cleveland Seed Bank to provide seed packets for “check out”! It’s a great way to get started with a range of choices, from peppers to basil to zucchini. Please visit here for more information.
As you can probably tell based on my haiku attempt, I am not a poet nor am I well-versed in poetry! However, I recognize how important poetry is to literature, to culture, and to individuals. Poetry helps us understand new things, connects us to one another, and allows us to express our emotions. Poets new and old have a special place in our world and for National Poetry Month, here are some poets, familiar or maybe unknown, to celebrate this April.
“There’s no doubt that Abdurraqib has a lot to be serious about, but it’s also refreshing to see the majestic illusionist draw the audience in with a little bit of close-up magic. He reminds us, with self-deprecating irony, that trust is important to both poetry and magic, and that if this trust is broken, it should be to dazzle, not to harm.” (Bracken, 2019)
“Poetry to her was the expression of vital meanings, the transfer of passionate feeling and of deep conviction. Her work is essentially lyric; it lacks the slow, retreating harmonies of epic measures, it does not seek to present leisurely details of any sort; its purpose is to objectify the swiftly-passing moments and to give them poignant expression.” (Shackford, 1913)
“He writes in classic metres in a way to set the teeth of all the poets of the older schools on edge; and he writes in classic metres, and uses inversions and cliches whenever he pleases, those devices so abhorred by the newest generation. He goes his own way, regardless of anyone else’s rules, and the result is a book of unusual power and sincerity.” (Poetry Foundation)
“The beauty of Jones’s poems lies in the way they approach death through the pleasures of being alive, deploying a redemptive levity or an acerbic conviviality to lend shape to catastrophe.” (Woo, 2022)
“In this book, Vuong grieves the loss of his mother, but he also celebrates her existence. His strategy is to focus on the small moments in life that give our closest relationships their meaning.” (Chandonnet, 2022)
I hope you find some peace, healing, beauty, hope, or whatever it is you need from one of these poets or from any poet that catches your eye. And if you’re in the area, stop by the Library to see our wonderful National Poetry Month display where you can take a poem to support what you need.
Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George’s Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong. Linnea
A strange, twisting novel that resists being pigeonholed into one genre. At its simplest, this is the tale of a girl and her adopted siblings trying to find their missing father. A little bit of horror, fantasy, and science fiction are mixed with metaphysical, philosophical ponderings for a truly excellent, one-of-a-kind reading experience. Shannon
Part memoir, part travelog, part call for conservation, part investigation into the study of belief on a material, spiritual, and conceptual level, Looking for the Hidden Folk is a book that defies sitting in a single genre. Author Nancy Marie Brown share her decades long love of Iceland by giving a historical and literal background along with her own travels and multiple visits. All of this is centered around the belief in elves. Brown takes multiple approaches to this topic but doesn’t offer a solid answer to emerge. This becomes a strength for the book, allowing readers to make their own decision or to maintain a solid position of ambiguity. A great read for someone who has visited/will visit Iceland. Greg
Vera Crowder always loved the house her father built. But the Crowder house was created to hide the secret life of a serial killer. Vera just happened to call him Dad. When her estranged mother Daphne calls to tell her she’s dying, Vera ends up back at the house where it all began. Now a twisted tourist attraction, the house has two occupants: Daphne and Duvall, an artist capitalizing on the family’s dark history. As Daphne packs up the place she once called home, she revisits the haunting moments shared inside the walls. This twisty horror novel gives new meaning to the phrase “home is where the heart is.” Melinda
It’s the 10th season of Bake Week and six new amateur bakers have been selected to compete for The Golden Spoon. As before, they’ll gather under a big white tent in the mountains of Vermont on the grounds of Grafton Manor, family estate of legendary baker and host of the competition, Betsy Martin. Surprised by the addition of a co-host, supposedly to bring in younger viewers, Betsy is unhappy with how the season is going long before murder is committed. Quirky characters, fun pop culture references, and a few surprising plot twists, keep the pages turning. Readers who enjoy The Great British Bake Off and classic closed room mysteries should pick this one up asap! Stacey
I loved Sarah Penner’s book The Lost Apothecary so I am eager to crack open her latest The London Séance Society. It opens in 1873, where the unlikely pair of Vaudeline D’Allaire, a renowned spiritualist, and Lenna Wickes, a woman investigating her sister’s death, team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve a high-profile murder. It’s sure to be a spooky and suspenseful read. Carol
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The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels: In 1986, Brian, a gay man who has spent the last six years in NYC, comes home to Ohio. The story is about reconciliation, grief, acceptance, and home.
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A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark: In 1912, Agent Fatma of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, along with her girlfriend, Siti, must solve the murders of a secret brotherhood. The suspected murderer is Al-Jahiz, who opened the veil between the mystical and earthly realms 50 years ago and is now vowing to destroy the world because of it’s social oppressions.
Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy: Saint Sebastian’s School is targeted by a serial arson and it’s up to Sister Holiday, of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood, to solve the case. This punk rocker nun must do all of this while confronting her checkered past and not get caught smoking…. Christine
Emily, a jaded Instagram astrologer, becomes obsessed with a client after reading his “perfect” birth chart. She pursues him romantically, with terrible consequences. In a parallel narrative, Dawn’s decades of unhinged dating behavior turn into a reputation that increasingly precedes her. Nobody is who they want you to think they are in this dark satire about image, excuses, and taking all the bad advice we can get. Annelise
A psychological thriller about a desperate mother, Isabelle Drake, who’s son Mason has been missing for a year, taken from his crib while he was sleeping, and the case has never been solved. She hasn’t slept for more than minutes at a time since her son went missing, and she is beginning to lose her grip on reality and to wonder what really happened that night. Her marriage has fallen apart and a true-crime podcaster has come to town offering to interview her and help bring publicity to the case. However, Isabelle has secrets in her past that may not stand up to the scrutiny of a podcast. Isabelle is desperate to know what happened to Mason, but will her deepest fears be true? Sara
Read it or Weep 