Sara N.S. Meirowitz

Books for the 90s

These books tackle issues which are only now the topics of public discussion with children: senility, body image, divorce. Many of them also portray Judaism infused with feminism, with mothers as rabbis and women taking major roles in the classic biblical tales. An idiosyncratic sampler:

Belinda’s Bouquet (Alyson Publications, 1991), by Leslea Newman, handles the self-image problems girls face from our culture’s pervasive pressures to starve themselves. Newman also wrote Heather Has Two Mommies (Alyson Publications. 1989), a story of one girl’s acceptance of her lesbian parents.

Grandma’s Soup (Kar-Ben, 1989), by Nancy Karkowsky, poignantly shows how one girl copes with the slow onset of her beloved grandmother’s mental deterioration, while emphasizing the family’s continued love.

Once I Was a Plum Tree (Morrow, 1980), by Johanna Hurwitz, is the story of a girl who has to teach herself about her Jewish identity because her family is so assimilated.

Ima On the Bima (Kar-Ben, 1986), by Mindy Avra Portnoy, shows how some mommies are rabbis too (and some rabbis mommies), in a natural and comfortable depiction of a girl and her mother’s Jewish rituals. Another of Portnoy’s books. Mommy Never Went To Hebrew School (Kar-Ben, 1989), tells how one child learns to understand that his mommy didn’t grow up Jewish.

Who Will Make Kiddush? (UAHC Press, 1985), by Barbara Pomerantz, shows how a family doesn’t need to lose stability after the parents divorce. The family’s Judaism and daughter’s special relationship with each parent continue.

Esther’s Story (Morrow Junior Books, 1996), by Dianne Wolkstein, is one of many new books of feminist midrash, with its 14- year-old Purim heroine going from orphan to queen. Similar is But God Remembered (Jewish Lights, 1995), by Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso; she creates four new tales about oft-forgotten biblical women, including our own Lilith.

 

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Sugar & Spice – and Beyond

The articles in this special section:

Poor Marjorie Morningstar!

Fran Manushkin

Books for the 90s

Sara N.S. Meirowitz

Powerful Adolescent Girls

Naomi Danis

Jewish (But Not Feminist)

Sara N.S. Meirowitz

Feminist (But Not Jewish)

Sara N.S. Meirowitz

Finding Else Ury’s Suitcase at Auschwitz

Anne L. Fox

Israeli Bedtime Stories

Nava Semel

Roseanne (Yes!) on Yidn in Utah

Roseanne

At Last, Jewish Fairy Tales

Jane Yolen

Jewish Before I Was American

Norma Simon

Deborah & Letty

Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Please Write One More…

Elizabeth Michaelson

The Book under My Pillow

Leslea Newman

Girls Who Thought about Sex

Barbara Brenner

Searching for Jewish Clues

Johanna Hurwitz

Jewish Rabbits

Rachel Kadish

The Impact of Reality

Yona Zeldis McDonough

God Will Have to Allow It

Esther Hautzig

Sarah Was My Soulmate

Rebecca Goldstein

Uh oh! Babar Celebrates Christmas

Michelle Edwards

Something Good from Hebrew School

Gila Gevirtz

On Yom Kippur When My Stomach Growls

Lisa Pilar Cowan

Safe in America

Paula J. Caplan

So I Had to Write it Myself

Floreva G. Cohen

They were all Orthodox

Deborah Brodie