It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories by various authors
From stories of confronting their relationships with Judaism to rom-coms with a side of bagels and lox, It’s a Whole Spiel features one story after another that says yes, we are Jewish, but we are also queer, and disabled, and creative, and political, and adventurous, and anything we want to be.
My Fine Fellow by Jennieke Cohen
Elijah Little has nothing to his name but a truly excellent instinct for flavors. London merchants won’t allow a Jewish boy to own a shop, so he hawks his pasties for a shilling a piece to passersby—but he knows with training he can break into the highest echelon of society.
Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero by E. Lockhart
Sixteen-year-old Willow Zimmerman has something to say. When she’s not on the streets advocating for her community, she’s volunteering at the local pet shelter. She seeks to help all those in need, even the stray dog she’s named Lebowitz that follows her around. But as much as she does for the world around her, she struggles closer to home–taking care of her mother, recently diagnosed with cancer. Her job as an adjunct professor of Jewish studies does not provide adequate health insurance–and Willow can see that time is running out.
The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros
Death lurks around every corner in this unforgettable Jewish historical fantasy about a city, a boy, and the shadows of the past that bind them both together. Chicago, 1893. For Alter Rosen, this is the land of opportunity, and he dreams of the day he’ll have enough money to bring his mother and sisters to America, freeing them from the oppression they face in his native Romania. But when Alter’s best friend, Yakov, becomes the latest victim in a long line of murdered Jewish boys, his dream begins to slip away.
Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin
In this alternate version of the 1950s, after the Axis powers win World War II, Yael, a Jewish skinshifter, fails in her mission to kill Hitler and finds herself being hunted while trying to finish what she started.
Lessons in Fusion by Primrose Madayag Knazan
Sixteen-year-old Sarah has a successful blog creating fusion recipes. When she’s invited to compete on Cyber Chef, a virtual cooking competition, her twists on her Baba’s recipes are not enough to pique the palate of the show’s producers. She is pushed to present dishes that represent her Filipinx culture, but these flavours are foreign to her since her parents raised her emphatically Jewish. To survive Cyber Chef and find her cultural identity, Sarah must discover why her mother turned her back on all things Filipinx, and learn the true meaning of fusion.
In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton
In the very white, very Christian world of Atlanta society in 1958, New York transplant Ruth decides not to tell her new high school friends and boyfriend that she is Jewish, but when a violent act rocks the city, Ruth must figure out where her loyalties lie.
Once More With Chutzpah by Haley Neil
Anxious eighteen-year-old Tally and her twin Max set off on a whirlwind high school exchange trip to Israel where she grapples with her Jewish identity, mental health, and sexuality.
Dinner at the Center of the Earth by Nathan Englander
A prisoner in a secret cell. The guard who has watched over him a dozen years. An American waitress in Paris. A young Palestinian man in Berlin who strikes up an odd friendship with a wealthy Canadian businessman. And The General, Israel’s most controversial leader, who lies dying in a hospital, the only man who knows of the prisoner’s existence. From these vastly different lives Nathan Englander has woven a powerful, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, even as the lives of its citizens become fatefully and inextricably entwined.
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Throughout the years both Rowan and Neil have been at competition with one another on everything from who has the best ideas for school functions to which one will be their graduating class’s valedictorian. However, in the twenty-four hours left they have as high school students, the two learn they share something much deeper than a rivalry.
Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.
The Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds
The discovery of a packet of old letters sends seventeen-year-old Abby Schoenberg to Nantucket to unravel a family mystery about her grandmother’s past, but things get complicated when Abby meets the cute grandson of a prominent family who wants to stop her from investigating.
They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman
At an exclusive prep school on Long Island, Jill Newman looks forward to her senior year as a member of the school’s most elite clique, the Players, until new evidence surfaces about the murder of her close friend Shaila.
You Asked for Perfect by Laura Silverman
Ariel Stone is the perfect college applicant until a failed calculus quiz sends his grades into a tailspin that can only be halted by a handsome tutor, but adding a burgeoning romance to his other commitments may push Ariel past his limit.
The Calculus of Change by Jessie Hilb
Overweight and pretty, high school senior Aden gets caught up in an exciting new friendship that quickly turns into unreturned love–at least on Aden’s side–even while it helps her get closer to her deceased mother’s heritage.
A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa B. Sheinmel
After her best friend, Agnes, goes into a coma as a result of a game of Truth or Dare, rising senior Hannah’s secrets begin to escape while she is locked in a psychiatric hospital.
Before We Were Blue by E.J. Schwartz
At Recovery and Relief, a treatment center for girls with eating disorders, the first thing Shoshana Winnick does is attach herself to vibrant but troubled Rowan Parish. Shoshana–a cheerleader on a hit reality TV show–was admitted for starving herself to ensure her growth spurt didn’t ruin her infamous tumbling skills. Rowan, on the other hand, has known anorexia her entire life, thanks to her mother’s “chew and spit” guidance. Through the drudgery and drama of treatment life, Shoshana and Rowan develop a fierce intimacy–and for Rowan, a budding infatuation, that neither girl expects. As “Gray Girls,” patients in the center’s Gray plan, Shoshana and Rowan are constantly under the nurses’ watchful eyes. They dream of being Blue, when they will enjoy more freedom and the knowledge that their days at the center are numbered.
Recommended for You by Laura Silverman
Shoshanna Greenburg loves her job at the bookstore, Once Upon, until Jake Kaplan joins the staff, a handsome non-reader who challenges her for a bonus she needs.
I Am Here Now by Barbara Bottner
1960’s. Maisie’s first day of high school should be exciting, but all she wants is to escape the world: an abusive mother and a father who is rarely there to help. Finding refuge in her art, Maisie meets Rachel and her mother, a painter. She catches a glimpse of a very different world– full of life, creativity, and love– and latches on. But as she discovers her strengths through Rachel’s family, Maisie finds herself risking new friendships, and the very future she’s searching for.
You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Eighteen-year-old twins Adina, a viola prodigy, and Tovah, a future surgeon, find their relationship tested when they learn that one of them will develop Huntington’s, the degenerative disease ravaging their mother.
Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Aspiring choreographer Sophie Orenstein, eighteen, wonders if seventeen-year-old Peter Rosenthal-Porter, gifted pianist, best friend, and secret crush, will love her back after receiving her kidney.
28 Days by David Safier
In Warsaw, Poland, in 1942, Mira faces impossible decisions after learning that the Warsaw ghetto is to be “liquidated,” but a group of young people are planning an uprising against their Nazi captors.
Devil Darling Spy by Matt Killeen
Sarah Goldstein–Jewish orphan turned secret weapon in the resistance against the Nazis–is hunting down a rogue German doctor whose germ warfare experiment could kill thousands with a single syringe. But her journey through Central Africa reveals the ravages of colonialism and exposes darker truths about her own allies than Sarah could’ve ever imagined.