Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month

On April 20, 2006, President George W. Bush proclaimed that May would be Jewish American Heritage Month. From the Jewish Heritage Month website, “The month of May was chosen due to the highly successful celebration of the 350th Anniversary of American Jewish History in May 2004, which was organized by the Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History.”

To celebrate the month recognizing Jewish contributions to American culture, Susan Kusel, author of The Passover Guest, librarian, and bookseller, curated a list of titles from Jewish authors and about Jewish culture: 

Art

Belonging and Betrayal: How Jews Made the Art World Modern
Charles Dellheim, Brandeis University Press, 9781684580569

Biography

The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton
Andrew Porwancher, Princeton University Press, 9780691211152

Cookbook

52 Shabbats: Friday Night Dinners Inspired by a Global Jewish Kitchen
Faith Kramer, The Collective Book Studio, 9781951412180

Cooking alla Giudia: A Celebration of the Jewish Food of Italy
Benedetta Jasmine Guetta, Artisan, 9781579659806

Sephardi: Cooking the History. Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora, from the 13th Century to Today
Hélène Jawhara Piñer, Cherry Orchard Books, 9781644695319

Fiction

All the Things We Don't Talk About: A Novel
Amy Feltman, Grand Central Publishing, 9781538704721

Happy for You: A Novel
Claire Stanford, Viking, 9780593298268

The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family
Joshua Cohen, New York Review Books, 9781681376073

Graphic Novel

Chunky Goes to Camp
Yehudi Mercado, Katherine Tegen Books, 9780062972828

The Unfinished Corner
Dani Colman, Rachel “Tuna” Petrovicz (Illus.), Whitney Cogar (Color.), Jim Campbell (Lett.), Rebecca Taylor (Ed.), Wonderbound, 9781638490111

Judaism

Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World
Roberta Rosenthal Kwall, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 9781538163641

Middle Grade

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk
Mari Lowe, Levine Querido, 9781646141258

Coming of Age: 13 B'nai Mitzvah Stories
Jonathan Rosen (Sel.), Henry Herz (Sel.), Albert Whitman & Company, 9780807536674

The Button Box
Fawzia Gilani-Williams, Bridget Hodder, Harshad Marathe (Illus.), Kar-Ben Publishing®, 9781728423968

Nonfiction

The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner
Marissa Moss, Abrams Books for Young Readers, 9781419758539

Picture Book

Big Dreams, Small Fish
Paula Cohen, Levine Querido, 9781646141265

I Hate Borsch!
Yevgenia Nayberg, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 9780802855800

Young Adult

From Dust, A Flame
Rebecca Podos, Balzer + Bray, 9780062699060

This Rebel Heart
Katherine Locke, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9780593381243