Children’s / Teenage fiction: Religious and spiritual stories

Book Synopsis Amira loves chocolate so much that every night before she goes to sleep, she asks God to make everything chocolate. On Eid ul-Fitr, she wakes up to find a totally chocolate world! At first she loves her new world, but when she discovers that she misses all the beautiful colors in nature, she realizes that God, the Creator, knows best. Chocolate: it’s undeniably irresistible, and in one form or another, adored by many. If you appreciate the value of chocolate, then join Amira in her totally chocolate world. J. Samia Mair is a freelance writer whose work has been published in magazines, books, and scientific journals. She writes in several genres, including children’s fiction, short stories, essays, book reviews, scientific articles, and poetry. Prior to her current work, Mair was on the faculty of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She also practiced law for over eight years. Trade Review"We fall in love with Amira from the beginning of the book. Like many children, she wishes for something without thinking of what it means and what would happen if the world really was made of chocolate. This book provides an opportunity to reflect on all the things in our lives that we should appreciate." Muslim Kids books

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewIt is a viably arguable point that some of the most endearing stories ever told to us began with “once upon a time” well, such is the case with Richard’s Too Many latkes, a wonderfully-illustrated storybook about the deeper meaning of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah. The story starts out on the first evening of Chanukah at the Small’s household. They live in a small –somewhat lived-in– house in a big city. Dad Small works for the Tip Top Pencil Company, while Mom cares for their two children, Tamara and Ronen. Dad is the supervisor of the company’s quality control department, making sure that all of the pencil’s erasers are on tight. Unfortunately, things are tight, and well, Dad finds himself standing on a street corner, broke, and unable to afford a decent Chanukah celebration for his family. A stranger approaches him and offers him a unique present, which will demonstrate the true magic of Chanukah. The item in question is a single potato, which the strange old man hands over to Dad, and then wanders off. Not knowing what else to do, Dad takes the potato home and the magic begins. Dad heads for home and presents his wife with the potato which she makes into five latkes for the first night of Chanukah; everybody has one latke leaving the fifth in the pan overnight. Well, as can be expected, this latke came from no ordinary potato and during the night the latke magically begins to replicate itself at an astonishing rate, dramatically increasing the number of latkes in the pan exponentially. In fact, there are so many of those delicious magical potato pancakes that they soon flood the house. Mom and Dad try to make their way to the kitchen stove to stop the latkes from reproducing but soon a mountain of Latkes forms under the beds of the still sleeping children, lifting their beds up and out the window.The children are quickly lifted out of reach even as dad and the neighbors attempt to rescue them. Soon, the mountain of latkes is taller than the house, and emergency rescue crews are called in, but the mountain quickly grows beyond the ability of even the fire department’s hook and ladder to reach. A police helicopter is called in to rescue the kids but the mountain itself dodges all of the chopper’s attempts to save them. It is at this point that the old man who gave Dad the potato in the first place shows up and suggests a novel method of rescuing the children.“Let's eat!” He says. So, gathering all the neighbors, rescue crews, and bystanders together, everyone begins to dig into the enormous mountain of latkes, slowly diminishing the mountain and eventually gently lowering the kids to the ground where they awake, safe and sound.This modern day fable is a delightful tale that is best read by the light of the Menorah, and just like the traditional holiday dish itself, you simply can’t get enough of it. Too Many Latkes is told with gentle humor and an eye towards entertainment. Condor’s cartoonish art is amusing and charming making this a wonderful holiday-themed bedtime story for youngsters (especially if read along by their parents and/or grandparents). – Robert Sodaro, Comic Books Examiner

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Book SynopsisFelix and Zelda have escaped the death camp train, but where do they go now? They''re two runaway kids in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. Danger lies at every turn of the road. With the help of a woman named Genia and their active imaginations, Felix and Zelda find a new home and begin to heal, forming a new family together. But can it last?Morris Gleitzman''s winning characters will tug at readers'' hearts as they struggle to survive in the harsh political climate of Poland in 1942. Their lives are difficult, but they always remember what matters: family, love, and hope.

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Book SynopsisSynopsis coming soon.......Trade ReviewThis guttural rendition of Noah’s Ark becomes an intriguing piece of historical fiction in the hands of master storyteller Napoli. Sebah, the daughter of a Canaanite farmer in the third millennium BCE, is swept up into the devastating flood, first surviving on a small peak and then a raft before stowing away on the ark. Sweeping the reader directly into an action-packed story, the book begins on “Day 1” and continues through the 40 days of rain and the 330 days of receding water. The first person present tense and gritty survival story will resonate with fans of The Hunger Games, but Napoli packs deeper themes into the murky depths of this tale. The reader comes to know Sebah quite intimately, and the author creates a wonderfully immersive experience. The chapter titles sometimes indicate a range of days, while the action continues in a present tense, producing an awkward sense of pacing. Napoli includes the critical aspects of Noah’s and Sebah’s different faiths while sidestepping discussion of religion. The extensive author’s note, time line of biblical verses, and bibliography in the back support the tale’s foundation. Storm features frank but inexplicit discussions of sex, rape, and childbirth. Despite the radically different culture and unique circumstances, teens will connect with this remarkably courageous girl in her primal fight for family and survival. * School Library Journal *4Q 4P J S Napoli, Donna Jo. Storm. Simon & Schuster, 2014. 368p. $17.99. 978-1-4814-0302-3. While living peacefully in Canaan, sixteen-year-old Sebah spends her days cultivating bean pods for her brothers to sell in the market. One day, it begins to rain and it does not stop. The flood takes her home and the lives of her family members. To escape the rising waters, she climbs higher through the mountains, clinging to tree branches and surviving on the meat of animals that float by. Her only companion is a swamp kit until she crosses paths with Aban, another survivor. Together they work to protect and feed each other. When the waters reach their highest, Sebah and Aban are forced to flee their shelter in a tree and float on a makeshift raft. Aban becomes increasingly weak and survival seems hopeless until one day, their raft becomes snagged on a rope. At the other end of the rope is a boat of behemoth proportions—an ark. Sebah’s only choice is to climb the rope to save their lives. What she does not know is just how different life is about to become. In this retelling of the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark, Napoli takes readers on a journey of “what if.” What if others had survived the flood, too? Most of the story takes place in a single setting, the ark; however, Napoli is able to keep the momentum at a swift and sometimes frightening pace. What happens inside the ark seems greater than what is happening outside of it. Readers will feel all the anxiety, anticipation, fear, and hopelessness along with the people confined to the ark. The strained relationships among those aboard the ark are just as fascinating as the relationships between the humans and the animals. In the end, a global tragedy brings about enlightenment in ways unexpected by the characters. This is a tale of survival, empathy, and having faith.—Erin Segreto. * VOYA *Young, newly pregnant Sebah manages to survive the great flood on a small raft before she bumps into Noah’s humongous ark. Crawling into a porthole for safety, she finds herself in a cage with a pair of bonobos who care for her and hide her from Noah and his family. While trapped aboard, Sebah feels the despair of a ruined world and the stir-craziness of confinement right along with all the animals, with whom she deeply empathizes. But in the midst of the hopelessness of the deluge, Sebah delights in the playfulness of her animal friends and the affections of a handsome fellow stowaway, and she resolves to look forward to the future, despite the grief for the life she left behind. Napoli (Skin, 2013) draws from the book of Genesis for a basic outline, but she takes ample liberties with the rest of the story, presenting an obstinate, guilt-ridden Noah and an angry family resentful over their wretched circumstances, all through the eyes of a clever, headstrong young girl who learns to thrive on hope. * Booklist *The rains come without warning, and before 16-year-old Sebah can do anything to stop it, everything in her life is swept away by the flood --- her family, their farm, their home and the Canaan that she knows. The storm rages on as she climbs to higher ground with a scrawny kitten named Screamer and a fisher boy named Aban, all three sustaining injuries and near-starvation as they try to build a life together in a doomed world. Sebah, Screamer and Aban slowly weaken as the rain pours ceaselessly on and the water levels rise. But even the highest cedar trees cannot keep them above the rising waters forever, and even the raft they built cannot sustain them for long. When an enormous ship floats by, Sebah realizes it is her only chance for survival. With her kitten, she abandons the raft. Hiding onboard, Sebah befriends a clever pair of bonobos and begins piecing together the struggles of the family living on the ark, a family led by a prophet named Noah. ...as the destructive waters roll ceaselessly around her, Sebah's journey is one of profound hope and personal growth. Through 40 days and 40 nights of rain and the months of a flooded world afterward, Sebah's struggles and triumphs are intriguing and real. Donna Jo Napoli's proclivity for well-researched settings shines here, as we see the cultural influences of ancient Canaan alongside the life-or-death expediencies of stowing away on a boat when the other inhabitants would throw interlopers overboard. The plot is slow and subtle, as can be expected in a novel with such a small space for action. Yet as the destructive waters roll ceaselessly around her, Sebah's journey is one of profound hope and personal growth. STORM, an intimate reimagination of the biblical flood, shows the triumph of one determined human spirit in the face of a divine catastrophe. * Teensread.com *This guttural rendition of Noah’s Ark becomes an intriguing piece of historical fiction in the hands of master storyteller Napoli. Sebah, the daughter of a Canaanite farmer in the third millennium BCE, is swept up into the devastating flood, first surviving on a small peak and then a raft before stowing away on the ark. Sweeping the reader directly into an action-packed story, the book begins on “Day 1” and continues through the 40 days of rain and the 330 days of receding water. The first person present tense and gritty survival story will resonate with fans of The Hunger Games, but Napoli packs deeper themes into the murky depths of this tale. The reader comes to know Sebah quite intimately, and the author creates a wonderfully immersive experience. . . . Napoli includes the critical aspects of Noah’s and Sebah’s different faiths while sidestepping discussion of religion. The extensive author’s note, time line of biblical verses, and bibliography in the back support the tale’s foundation. Storm features frank but inexplicit discussions of sex, rape, and childbirth. Despite the radically different culture and unique circumstances, teens will connect with this remarkably courageous girl in her primal fight for family and survival. * School Library Journal *The rain starts like any other rain with a dark cloud and a few drops, but then the deluge relentlessly continues. By the third day, sixteen-year-old Sebah has lost her brothers and her home to the flooding; by the second week, she is starving and stranded in a tree until a boy from her village finds her, they build a raft, and he claims her, with her consent, as his wife. By the end of the month, however, he too has been swept away and, before meeting the same fate herself, she manages to climb aboard a giant ark. Yes, it is indeed Noah’s ark and since she’s aware that her status as a stowaway on the ship defies Noah’s plan, Sebah decides her best bet is to hide with the animals below. As the rains continue, however, and Sebah’s belly grows heavy with a baby, her survival may depend on revealing herself. Napoli mines the Biblical story—one of the original apocalyptic tales—to find a different spiritual subtext, transforming it from a tale not about obeying the will of God but about how the very act of survival is sometimes the greatest leap of faith of all. The book depicts Noah as a man struggling with an enormous burden, and his strict reliance on his faith acts as a direct foil to the non-religious Sebah, whose reasons for living are bound both literally and figuratively to the fertile earth (she’s a gardener in addition to being pregnant). There is room, and perhaps requirement, for both types of faith in Napoli’s interpretation, and the ultimate survival of Sebah’s and Noah’s families underscores that message. Fans of Life of Pi will find a similar blend of gritty survivalism and spiritual contemplation in this maelstrom of a tale. KQG -- BCCB, March 2014In this amazing story of Noah and the Flood, Donna Jo Napoli uses ancient Midrash as well as her own modern Midrash to realistically take us to the antediluvian world as it was moments before the rains began. We follow Sebah, a sixteen-year-old girl, who runs out of her house to find her brothers when the rains begin. She immediately gets caught by a flash flood and is carried far down her local river before she can grab onto a ledge. Keeping hold of her pet cat, she scales upward in search of food, avoids wild animals, and watches the world disappear. Eventually, she meets a young boy, Aban, who “takes” Sebah as his own. They stay alive until they manage to reach the top of the tallest tree and when lightning strikes, they build a raft. Instead of dying, they come in contact with an enormous ship! When all their cries for help go unheeded, Sebah climbs a rope dangling from the side of the ark. Promising to survive, she leaves the weak and dying Aban on the raft. Sebah finds shelter and safety on the ark, inside the cage housing the bonobos. With the apes’ assistance, she manages to survive. A series of interesting and entertaining events take place while Sebah lives “invisibly” on the ark, including her discovery of another stowaway. The writing is exceptional. Well-crafted and engaging, it is difficult to put the book down. Chapters are headed by the rain count (e.g. “Day 24”, “Night 85”, “Days 357-370”). Descriptions of the strain on Noah and his family, as well as the animals’ behavior as they react to being “stuck” on the Ark are vivid and realistic. There is some sexual content, although not particularly graphic as well as some fairly explicit violence. The world before the Flood was not a kind one and survival was not for the weak of heart. Superb writing and a unique story combine to make this a recommended purchase for Jewish libraries. * Association of Jewish Libraries *Sixteen-year-old Sebah, a Canaanite girl, survives a massive flood that kills her family. As the rains continue for weeks on end, she and another survivor, Aban, are forced to build a raft to escape the rising waters. Barely alive, they encounter a giant boat—Noah’s ark, as it turns out—but only Sebah is strong enough to climb the rope someone has let down from a porthole. Exhausted and grief-stricken, Sebah finds herself in a cage with a pair of bonobos, with whom she soon bonds and names Queen and The Male. Bonobos, readers learn, are capable of compassion and empathy (hence the rescue and their decision to keep Sebah hidden from Noah). Bonobos are also known to be very, very sexually active; thankfully, Queen decides she is Sebah’s protector and that the girl is off-limits for The Male. (Phew!) Napoli’s story thoroughly humanizes Noah and his family—loyal to God but traumatized by the human devastation and frustrated with their fate. Readers witness the emotional and physical toll, on both humans and animals, of weeks of darkness and rain, then months of captivity, and will admire resourceful Sebah’s ability to make the best of an oppressive situation. The characters (including the loyal bonobos—and another human stowaway) that Napoli creates to flesh out her retelling of the classic story of survival and faith add both veracity and depth. * The Horn Book *

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