The SJCC is closed during the mandated lockdown. Click here for updates.

Greenberg Families Library — New Releases

BOOKS

FICTION

The Yellow Bird Sings by Jennifer Rosner

As Nazi soldiers round up the Jews in their town, Róza and her 5-year-old daughter, Shira, flee, seeking shelter in a neighbor’s barn. Hidden in the hayloft day and night, Shira struggles to stay still and quiet, as music pulses through her and the farmyard outside beckons. To soothe her daughter and pass the time, Róza tells her a story about a girl in an enchanted garden: The girl is forbidden from making a sound, so the yellow bird sings. He sings whatever the girl composes in her head: high-pitched trills of piccolo; low-throated growls of the contrabassoon. Music helps the flowers bloom.

In this make-believe world, Róza can shield Shira from the horrors that surround them. But the day comes when their haven is no longer safe, and Róza must make an impossible choice: whether to keep Shira by her side or give her the chance to survive apart. Inspired by the true stories of Jewish children hidden during World War II, Jennifer Rosner’s debut is a breathtaking novel about the unbreakable bond between a mother and a daughter. Beautiful and riveting, The Yellow Bird Sings is a testament to the triumph of hope―a whispered story, a bird’s song―in even the darkest of times.

Other new titles:

  • The Night Archer and Other Stories by Michael Oren
  • The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
  • Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland
  • The End of October by Lawrence Wright
  • The Book of V by Anna Solomon
  • The Lost Shtetl by Max Gross
  • Turn to Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery by James W. Ziskin
  • Beyond the Ghetto Gates by Michelle Cameron
  • Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris
  • Through Shadows Slow by Abraham Boyarsky
  • The Organs of Sense by Adam Ehrlich Sachs
  • A Boy is Not a Bird by Edeet Ravel
  • Apeirogon by Colum McCann
  • Evening by Nessa Rapoport
  • Invisible as Air by Zoe Fishman
  • Girl at the Edge of the Sky by Lillian Nattel
  • The Order by Daniel Silva
  • Half Moon Bay by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman
  • House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon
  • The Takeaway Men by Meryl Ain
  • Rocket’s Red Glare: A WWII Era Alternate History Novel by CY Stein
  • The Tunnel by A.B Yehoshua
  • The Convert by Stefan Hertmans

NON-FICTION

The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia: From Abraham to Zabar’s and Everything in Between

Deeply knowing, highly entertaining, and just a little bit irreverent, this unputdownable encyclopedia of all things Jewish and Jew-ish covers culture, religion, history, habits, language, and more. Readers will refresh their knowledge of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, the artistry of Barbra Streisand, the significance of the Oslo Accords, the meaning of words like balaboosta, balagan, bashert, and bageling. Understand all the major and minor holidays. Learn how the Jews invented Hollywood. Remind themselves why they need to read Hannah Arendt, watch Seinfeld, listen to Leonard Cohen. Even discover the secret of happiness (see “Latkes”). Includes hundreds of photos, charts, infographics, and illustrations. It’s a lot.

 

Other new titles:

  • The Color of Love: The Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl by Marra B. Gad
  • Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times by Jonathan Sacks
  •  The Seventh Heaven: Travels through Jewish Latin America by Ilan Stavans
  • Never Alone: Prison, Politics and My People by Natan Sharansky and Gil Troy
  • The Yiddish Historians and the Struggle for a Jewish History of the Holocaust by Mark L. Smith
  • Thinking about the Prophets: A Philosopher Reads the Bible by Kenneth Seeskin
  • How Yiddish Changes America and How America Changed Yiddish by Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert
  • I Want You to Know We’re Still Here: A Post Holocaust Memoir
  • Recipes for a Sacred Life: True Stories and a Few Miracles by Rivvy Neshama
  • Borders and Belonging: A Memoir by Mira Sucharov
  • The Art of Bible Translation by Robert Alter
  • Don’t Go Crazy Without Me by Deborah A. Lott
  • German as a Jewish Problem: The Language of Jewish Nationalism by Marc Volovici
  • Lot Six: A Memoir by David Adjmi
  • The Art of the Mystical Narrative: A Poetics of the Zohar by Eithan P. Fishbane
  • From Left to Right: Lucy S. Dawidowicz, the New York Intellectuals, and the Politics of Jewish History by Nancy Sinkoff
  • Stepchildren of the Shtetl: The Destitute, Disabled, and Mad of Jewish Eastern Europe, 1800-1939 by Natan M. Meir
  • The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts by Karen Armstrong
  • A Mortuary Books: The Rescue of Jewish Culture after the Holocaust by Elisabeth Gallas
  • The Rebellion of the Daughters: Jewish Women Runaways in Habsburg Galicia by Rachel Manekin
  • Paper Bullets by Jeffrey H. Jackson
  • Elie Wiesel: An Extraordinary Life and Legacy Ed. by Nadine Epstein
  • And in the Vienna Woods the Trees Remain: The Heartbreaking True Story of a Family Torn Apart by War by Elisabeth Asbrink
  • Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything by Viktor Frankl
  • The Woman Who Fought an Empire: Sarah Aaronsohn and Her Nili Spy Ring
  • The War of Return: How Western Indulgence of the Palestinian Dream Has Obstructed the Path to Peace by Adi Schwartz
  • The Nazi Menace: Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin, and the Road to War
  • In the Hour of Fate and Danger by Ferenc Andai
  • My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsberg
  • America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today by Pamela Nadell
  • Chaos to Canvas by Maxwell Smart
  • Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader by Derek Penslar
  • Legacy of Blood: Jews, Pogroms, and Ritual Murder in the Lands of the Soviets by Elissa Bemporad
  • Heinrich Heine: Writing the Revolution by George Prochnik
  • L’Chaim and Lamentations by Craig Darch

JUVENILE/YOUNG READER

Turtle Boy by Evan M. Wolkenstein

Seventh grade is not going well for Will Levine. Kids at school bully him because of his funny-looking chin. And for his bar mitzvah community service project, he’s forced to go to the hospital to visit RJ, an older boy struggling with an incurable disease. At first, the boys don’t get along, but then RJ shares his bucket list with Will. Among the things he wants to do: ride a roller coaster; go to a school dance; swim in the ocean. To Will, happiness is hanging out in his room, alone, preferably with the turtles he collects. But as RJ’s disease worsens, Will realizes he needs to tackle the bucket list on his new friend’s behalf before it’s too late. It seems like an impossible mission, way outside Will’s comfort zone. But as he completes each task with RJ’s guidance, Will learns that life is too short to live in a shell.

Other new titles:

  • Mommy, Can You Stop the Rain? By Rona Milch Novik
  • Chance: Escape from the Holocaust: Memories of a Refugee Childhood by Uri Shulevitz
  • Maurice and His Dictionary: A True Story by Cary Fagan
  • Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights by Bonnie Bader
  • Fish Out of Water by Joanne Levy
  • Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature by Jack Zipes
  • Recommended for You by Laura Silverman
  • The Assignment by Liza Wiemer
  • The Ghost in Apartment 2R by Denis Markell
  • A Ceiling Made Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine
  • Gideon’s Bible: A Father and Son Discuss God, the Bible and Life
  • Yiddish Saves the Day! By Debbie Levy