Review of The Last Two Jews of Mogadishu: Living Under Al Shabaab’s Fire
Hope is not a noun regional analysts of the Red-Sea-Rim associate with Somalia. Regardless of their optic — political, security, cultural, economic — most analysts offer, following the Africanist school of Martin Meredith, grim reasons...
Good vs evil in a chessboard, parallel universe
Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind by Eduard Shyfin, illustrations by Tomislav Tomic; White Rose Pubilshing, 2019, ISBN 9781912-802150, 188 pages; $19.99.
Siblings Aaron and Stella eat some magic sushi and they...
“Harry Potter” series receives official Yiddish translation
Harry Potter Un Der Filosofisher Shteyn
This translation would not have been possible if not for the efforts of four committed colleagues: Yankl-Peretz Blum, whose linguistic guidance significantly leveled up the quality of the text;...
Time-traveling through Jewish history
River by Shira Nayman; Guernica Editions, 2020; ISBN 9781771-834575; 255 pages; $25.
“River,” in the context of this novel, is a metaphor for the continuity of life.
As Emily, 14, would hear from a wise African man...
Book Review: ‘Jews in Medicine’
Jews in Medicine, Contributions to Health and Healing through the Age by Ronald L. Eisenberg Jerusalem and New York: Urim Publications, 2019, 464 pages, $29.12
This 464-page encyclopedic reference book starts with the Talmud and...
German’s diary tells of opposition to Hitler
The opening quote sets the tone for a remarkable book, My Opposition, the Diary of Friedrich Kellner, a German against the Third Reich (1939-1945), edited by Robert Scott Kellner. This month, a new paperback edition is...
Time travel fiction dramatizes first Chanukah
Ah, the joys of time travel! San Diego author Marcia Berneger, a retired teacher, uses this device to imaginatively retell the story of the first Chanukah in A Dreidel in Time, a chapter book for children between the...
Jewish cartoon book delights
Have I Got a Cartoon for You: The Moment Magazine Book of Jewish Cartoons, edited by Bob Mankoff, 2019: Moment Books, 86 pages, $19.95.
Thirty graphic artists are featured in this delightful 86-page book of...
Holocaust survivors remember childhood traumas
Survivors of the Holocaust: True Stories of Six Extraordinary Children, edited by Keith Shackleton, illustrated by Zane Whittingham; Sourcebooks, © 2019; ISBN pending, 96 pages.
This set of six memoirs, illustrated cartoon style, is intended...
‘A Trace of Smoke’ set in pre-war Berlin
I downloaded this ebook from Amazon’s Kindle Store in order to have something to read on the plane. I always like to have something to read in my phone-cum-Kindle, as that means I’m not...