okay I wrote a really long thing and my phone deleted it so here is take 2 of my MASTERPOST OF NON-HOLOCAUST-CENTRIC JEWISH MCâs:
âAll Other Nightsâ by Dara Horn - Jewish spy for the union in the civil war
âShylockâs Daughterâ by Marjam Pressler - retelling of the Merchant of Venice with a sympathetic Shylock and a historically accurate look at the Ashkenazi AND Sephardic Jewish community in 16th century Italy
âThe Chosenâ by Chaim Potok - Hassidic + Modern Orthodox Jewish boys âfriendshipâ (lbr we all ship it)Â in 1945-1948 NYC
âMy Name is Asher Levâ by Chaim Potok - ultra-orthodox Jewish boy takes up art, paints a crucifixion scene, and sh*t hits the fan
âThe Museum of Extraordinary Thingsâ - Jewish photographer + (non-Jewish) daughter of a sideshow owner meet and fall in love in turn of the century Brooklyn, and also a subplot about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
âEscape from Egyptâ by Sonia Levitin - retelling of the Passover story
âDaniel Derondaâ by George Eliot - itâs like Jane Austen. With Jews! (And while everything is not all hunky-dory, itâs also not the antisemitic travesty Iâve come to expect from 19th century gentile writers).
âHacking Harvardâ by Robin Wasserman - 3 nerds take on a bet to get a slacker/stoner into Harvard (also a really nice critique of the college admissions process tbh)
âThe Pactâ by Jodi Picoult - (suicide tw) A tragedy hits 2 families. The novel centers on a trial and flashbacks to the event in question.Â
âSomeone to Run Withâ by David Grossman - set on the streets of Jerusalem, a boy tries to return a lost dog to its owner, a girl who has run away from home in search of her brother (this is the English translation, obviously, but if you can read novels in Hebrew I highly recommend reading the original, ŚŚ©ŚŚ ŚŚšŚŚ„ ŚŚŚȘŚ)
Urban Fantasy/Fantasy/SciFi
âThe Mediatorâ series by Meg Cabot - teenaged girl starts seeing ghosts / YA romance (although the fact that the MC is Jewish is not even remotely relevant to the plot, it is mentioned outright several times which is more than most books)
âThe Cureâ by Sonia Levitin - futuristic dystopian society tries to cure one young manâs appreciation of music by sending him to a Jewish shtetl in 13th century Poland (fair warning for dystopian fans, though, the middle 2/3rds reads like historical fiction, so.)
Childrenâs (Middle Grade) Books
âAll of a Kind Familyâ by Sydney Taylor - the classic â1920s NYC Jewish familyâ
âDave at Nightâ by Gail Carson Levine - boy sneaks out of an orphanage in early 20th century NYC
âWitnessâ by Karen Taylor Hesse - told in free verse, the KKK visits a small town  (Iâm including it because itâs not a Holocaust book, and itâs really good, but it still might  will set off your antisemitism sensors so fair warning)
âAre You There God? Itâs Me, Margaret.â by Judy Blume - Classic. (Also, takes on an interfaith family in a really interesting and nuanced way!)
âSamir and Yonatanâ by Daniella Carmi - two boys (one Israeli, one Palestinian) end up in the same hospital and learn that they have more in common than they thought
âAngels in Americaâ by Harold Kushner - I canât even begin to describe this one just google it. (or: Jewish and Mormon gay people in NYC during the AIDS epidemic, and also angels)
âThirteen: The Musicalâ by Dan Elish and Robert Horn, music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown - Jewish boyâs parents get divorced and he moves from NYC to Appleton, Indiana right before his Bar Mitzvah