The Sweetest Rosh Hashanah: Festivals of the World by Aura Lewis, Mara Bergman
ISBN: 1536244716
Genres: Holiday
Format: Picture Book Fiction
Goodreads

The Sweetest Rosh Hashanah is about a girl named Ellie who is celebrating Rosh Hashanah with her family. The illustrations are beautiful and engaging and do a wonderful job of welcoming readers into the holiday and the main character’s home. Readers and librarians looking for more diverse holiday titles or who want to learn about Rosh Hashanah will appreciate the representation of the Jewish holiday.

Other than the holiday, the main storyline is the tension between Ellie and her cousin, Laura. The previous holiday, Laura took Ellie’s paints without asking, which made Ellie understandably upset. Elle wasn’t looking forward to seeing Laura and wouldn’t greet or look at her when she arrived. Her parents and family were confused because Ellie never told them about the incident. Laura does apologize, and Ellie is able to forgive her in the spirit of the holiday.

Some readers may be concerned that Laura is the only character of color and representing her as Black and a thief may unintentionally reinforce negative stereotypes and biases against Black people. For this reason, this was unfortunately a two-star read for me. Reviewed by Katy Jones, Gardiner Area High School Library, Gardiner