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TAKE NOTE: The Library is open for browsing and borrowing during building hours.

November and the Jewish month of Kislev have arrived. Both months are filled with special days and celebrations

Jewish Book Month runs until Hanukkah. Hanukkah this year begins just a day or two after Thanksgiving. It’s not quite Thankgivakkah, which occurs rarely, but close enough to extend the sense of awe and miracle.

More Hanukkah and Thanksgiving ideas  and links will follow in the next library column. For now these may whet your reading appetite. 

A favorite Thanksgiving book is Molly’s Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen. It’s also available as a video. Another charmer is Not this Turkey by Sternberg.

Hanukkah books to enjoy include the now classic, award winning Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel and for the adults a fun romance to rival any Hallmark Christmas Movie The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer.

National Family Literacy Day was on November 1. But it’s never too late to read together as a family. Check out the Folktale (398.2) or Juvenile Fiction sections in the library for some great family read alouds. My grandchildren loved  The inquisitor's tale, or, The three magical children and their holy dog  by Adam Gidwitz. It’s long but worth it.

November 7 is Book Lover’s Day. Interesting  books are always on display in the library or contact the librarian for suggestions  such as Turtle Boy by Evan Wolkenstein or  City of a Thousand Gates: a novel by Rebecca Sacks.

Young Readers have their day on November 9. The library has the best of the best classic and recent children’s and young adult books. Come in with your kids, take a look at the library’s selection and take one home. Some suggestions include   Dancing at the Pity Party: a dead mom graphic memoir by Tyler Feder (YA GRAPHIC);  Sweep: the story of a girl and her monster by Jonathan Auxier; and  Ketzel, the Cat who Composed by Leslea Newman. These are all Sydney Taylor Award winners.

Feel the chill in the air? It’s just the right time for Chicken Soup for the Soul Day. Oh, so many cookbooks with so many chicken soup recipes. Try one.  (641.5)

November 15 and the following few days celebrate schools and teachers. Send a teacher a note of thanks. That teacher will remember you and your child forever.  Books to mark this week might include  Open Your Hand: teaching as a Jew, teaching as an American by Ilana Blumberg (BIO) or On One Foot by Linda Glaser (E).

On November 7, the world will remember Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass, which showed the fury of Nazis against the Jewish citizens of Germany and Austria. It is generally considered the official start of the Holocaust. Commemorations are held in most communities. This is a good chance to visit the Holocaust section of the library where you will find factual books on the history of the period. (940s) There is also a wide selection of Holocaust themed historical fiction

Fugitive Pieces by Michaels (FIC) is one of the most sensitive , beautifully written Holocaust themed novels that I have read recently. Kirkus a review periodical said of this 1997 book “A moving tale of survival becomes a grave and stately hymn to the revivifying qualities of language and learning… A stunning work, quite beautifully written, and a lovely homage to the imperiled yet indomitable culture and individuals it celebrates. “

British poet/ storyteller Michael Rosen has written the story of his quest to find family members lost int he Holocaust. Simple but not simplistic it gives the reader from middle school through adult a poignant overview of the events of the war and its affects on those who lost loved ones.

Michael Rosen, The Missing; the true story of my family in World War II. (J940.53) Short evocative poems add to the emotional feel of the book.

Finally, here’s the description of and a link to a Kristallnacht program recommended by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

 November 7, 2021, 3 PM      THE NAZIS CALLED IT KRISTALLNACHT

“As we remember the horrific events of November 9-10, 1938, find out why the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and other historians and scholars prefer to use the name “November Pogrom” rather than Kristallnacht. This event is sponsored by The Generations After and will feature survivor testimony and discussions of the events in Germany by Dr. Michael Brenner of American University, in Austria by Dr. Ilana Offenberger of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and in Czechoslovakia by Lukas Pribyl, Counsellor at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, DC, heading the Public Diplomacy Department. Music, poetry, and a film clip of the burning of a synagogue in Buhel, Germany, on November 9, 1938, will also be shown. The program will end with a shofar blast by a child of Holocaust survivors as a symbol of hope. “

The program is free, but individuals must register via this link in order to get the Zoom invitation to the event: https://www.cognitoforms.com/GenerationsAfter1/Kristallnacht2021