PJOurWay books review thread

amother

Sand

Tue, Feb 01 2022, 8:01 pm

Amelia Bedelia wrote:

Not crazy over any of the selections. I think I will choose the last two but no idea if any are appropriate.

The $150,000 Rugelach and
Upstaged

In case it becomes available again, we (myself and dds 11&15) found $150,000 Rugelach quite enjoyable. It was funny, and not at all anti religious. Fun, light read. Definitely recommended.

becky2345

Tue, Feb 01 2022, 10:10 pm

amother [ Sand ] wrote:

In case it becomes available again, we (myself and dds 11&15) found $150,000 Rugelach quite enjoyable. It was funny, and not at all anti religious. Fun, light read. Definitely recommended.

I ditto this!! Was a great pj book

seeker

Tue, Feb 01 2022, 11:17 pm

amother [ Sand ] wrote:

In case it becomes available again, we (myself and dds 11&15) found $150,000 Rugelach quite enjoyable. It was funny, and not at all anti religious. Fun, light read. Definitely recommended.

Thanks! I think I actually got that one and still have it set aside because I didn't have time to screen it.

mfb

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 2:20 pm

Hashemlovesme1 wrote:

How does this work? I signed up my kids but they’re little. The books we got in the mail are weird! We don’t have a choice of books.
Do they have to be a certain age to start choosing them?

Yes I think at age 8 or 9 maybe they get to start choosing. (Not always is there anything to choose from)

Hashemlovesme1

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 2:45 pm

mfb wrote:

Yes I think at age 8 or 9 maybe they get to start choosing. (Not always is there anything to choose from)

Thanks. Is it worth staying on before my kids reach that age? Are any of the younger kids books good?

Amelia Bedelia

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 2:53 pm

The February selectionThe Doughnut Fix was a great, fun read! The Thirty-Seven Days at Sea also seems to be a very decent book, despite being published by Kar Ben Publishing.

This month I chose The Summer We Found the Baby- Amy Hest's books are usually great- and Alley & Rex. The book about Raoul Wallenberg is probably good and educational but I thought the others were more exciting to read.

happy chick

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 3:59 pm

Hashemlovesme1 wrote:

Thanks. Is it worth staying on before my kids reach that age? Are any of the younger kids books good?

I mentioned this before, but its worth mentioning again. when kids go to overnight camp for the first time, there is a grant from pj library that pays $1,000 towards your camp tuition. I got for more than one of my kids.

some of the younger age kids books are cute, some are silly and some land in the trash. you have to monitor all the books that come from them.

happy chick

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 4:04 pm

Amelia Bedelia wrote:

ezdt

agree. any thoughts on the other two?

wallenberg - seems like theres a lot of holocaust material, might be a bit much for an 11/12 yr old.

detour ahead - im trying to figure out how exactly gilah is preparing for her bat mitzvah. it does mention her torah portion, so im wondering if to let that go. it also says about an "age-appropriate crush" on whatever the boys name is.

amother

Razzmatazz

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 5:35 pm

Amelia Bedelia wrote:

Do you expect the summer we found the baby to be clean? I’m not familiar with other books by this author.

tryinghard

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 5:46 pm

amother [ Blonde ] wrote:

We just got the most religiously pareve book I've ever seen about keeping Shabbat. It's fine--nothing offensive--and it's the regular PJ Library, not "Our way." It's about Farmer sarah with a tractor named yitzie that shuts down at sunset Friday and celebrates Shabbat with her. She sells it to a neighboring farmer who, when the tractor stops working Friday evening, thinks there's something wrong with it. Farmer Sarah explains that Yitzie rests on Shabbat. Thereafter, the two farmers share the tractor, using it on alternate days, and all three rest together on Shabbat.

It's fine. I'm keeping it. I'm in awe of how they managed to convey a message about keeping Shabbat with no mention of G-d, religion, Creation, Judaism or commandments. Completely pareve. I couldn't have managed it if I'd tried. Probably a wonderful way to introduce the idea of Shabbat to people who don't observe and would be instantly turned off by the mention of G-d, religion, Creation, Judaism and commandments. With some people you have to start slowly. Veeeeeeeery slowly.

Actually this is a spin on a story from the Gemara (I think??) about a man who sold his donkey to a non-Jew. But the ending in the original just had the first owner buy him back.

Hashemlovesme1

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 6:00 pm

happy chick wrote:

Thank you!!! I’ll definitely stay on then, and just get rid of the books I don’t like.

Amelia Bedelia

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 6:40 pm

amother [ Razzmatazz ] wrote:

Do you expect the summer we found the baby to be clean? I’m not familiar with other books by this author.

I haven't read it yet, so can't say for sure, but yes, I do expect it to be clean. It's historical fiction.

happy chick

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 6:42 pm

happy chick wrote:

agree. any thoughts on the other two?

wallenberg - seems like theres a lot of holocaust material, might be a bit much for an 11/12 yr old.

detour ahead - im trying to figure out how exactly gilah is preparing for her bat mitzvah. it does mention her torah portion, so im wondering if to let that go. it also says about an "age-appropriate crush" on whatever the boys name is.

Anyone have any thoughts on these two? Any of them appropriate for our young minds?

becky2345

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 7:35 pm

I'm choosing Alley and Rex this month. The summer we found the baby would be my second choice.
I would not choose detour ahead .
As happy chick said- the parents guide says that the girl has lessons to prep for her bat mitzvah, and talks about her parsha and talks about an "age-appropriate crush" ...

becky2345

Tue, Mar 01 2022, 7:41 pm

happy chick

Wed, Mar 02 2022, 8:54 pm

happy chick wrote:

they removed this book, possibly they decided it was too traumatizing for young kids.