Here are 100 books that The Babka Sisters fans have personally recommended if you like
The Babka Sisters.
Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.
I’m a retired children’s librarian with years of experience choosing books and presenting storytimes. I’m also a picture book author. My first three published picture books were about holidays. I recently served on the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, so I had the opportunity to read all the Jewish picture books published from 2020-2023. Many were about holidays, and the books I selected are among my favorites because they are fun to read and they express the joy of these celebrations. (And yes, I consider Shabbat to be a holiday!)
There are so many Hanukkah books, but I especially like this one because it has the unique concept of showing how the holiday is celebrated on opposite sides of the globe.
Noah, who lives in New York, is getting ready for winter break, but his cousin Nora in New Zealand is about to start her summer vacation. They decide to have a contest to compare who has the best time celebrating the eight days and nights of Hanukkah.
I love the charming split-page illustrations that show how their days are different, but that they both light candles eat latkes and sufganiyot, sing songs, say prayers, play dreidel, and get presents in the evening. How wonderful to see that the holiday is universal, no matter where you live!
In this delightfully upside-down holiday story, cousins debate who can celebrate the best Hanukkah from opposite sides of the globe. Eight chances to prove it-may the best cousin win!"You'll have Hanukkah in summer? Talk about backwards.""Your Hanukkah's in winter? You're missing out."From their homes in New York and New Zealand, cousins Noah and Nora decide to have a competition. Winter versus summer: Who can have the world's best Hanukkah? But as the eight nights of Hanukkah go on, the contest proves tougher than they imagined. Even as each cousin celebrates the holiday with their own unique traditions, they realize they…
I’m a retired children’s librarian with years of experience choosing books and presenting storytimes. I’m also a picture book author. My first three published picture books were about holidays. I recently served on the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, so I had the opportunity to read all the Jewish picture books published from 2020-2023. Many were about holidays, and the books I selected are among my favorites because they are fun to read and they express the joy of these celebrations. (And yes, I consider Shabbat to be a holiday!)
I love this book because it’s full of puns, and the humorous character names reflect the cultures of the various forms of bread they represent. There’s Alfie Koman (a matzah who likes to hide), Mrs. Crust, and classmates Challah Looyah, Naan-cy, Cornelius Tortilla, Burnie Toast, and Loaf Sourdough.
Alfie tries to tell the story of Passover, but Loaf butts in and says that Pha-Roach (not Pharoah) enslaved the Hebrews and a superhero named Mighty Moses brings 10 plagues (including No Wi-fi and Indoor Recess Forever–horrors!)
I cheer when Alfie finally yells, "Let my story go!" and tells the real history. The cartoonish art is hilarious, and the book includes a glossary of Passover terms. This is a fun way to introduce the holiday to Jewish and non-Jewish kids.
From the creator of Meet the Latkes comes the zaniest retelling of the Passover story starring an earnest matzah and his bready friends!
What makes this Passover different from all other Passovers?
Meet Alfie Koman. He's a matzah who really likes to hide. But Alfie also has a great story to tell his class of how the Hebrews fled Egypt to freedom. Too bad Loaf, the school sourdough bully, turns Alfie's Passover story upside-down. A pharaoh who is a giant cockroach? Moses as a mighty superhero? And Ten Plagues that include "No Wi-fi" and "Chocolate-turned-to-broccoli"?
I’m a retired children’s librarian with years of experience choosing books and presenting storytimes. I’m also a picture book author. My first three published picture books were about holidays. I recently served on the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, so I had the opportunity to read all the Jewish picture books published from 2020-2023. Many were about holidays, and the books I selected are among my favorites because they are fun to read and they express the joy of these celebrations. (And yes, I consider Shabbat to be a holiday!)
A lot of board books are concept books, but I love this one because there is an actual story, and it’s delightful!
Eccentric Uncle Max visits his relatives and brings fun and laughter as they celebrate the birthday of the world. I like how the joyful illustrations show a diverse family hitting all the holiday highlights–watching the sunset, eating a holiday meal with a round challah, and dipping apples in honey. And, of course, they go to the synagogue to hear the blowing of the shofar.
Although the text is simple, I appreciate how the author explains the Hebrew words. This is a sweet book to introduce toddlers to the Jewish New Year.
Uncle Max is coming to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the birthday of the world, with the people he loves. They watch the sun go down, eat their holiday meal, dip challah and apples into honey for a sweet year, and listen to the sound of the shofar.
I’m a retired children’s librarian with years of experience choosing books and presenting storytimes. I’m also a picture book author. My first three published picture books were about holidays. I recently served on the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, so I had the opportunity to read all the Jewish picture books published from 2020-2023. Many were about holidays, and the books I selected are among my favorites because they are fun to read and they express the joy of these celebrations. (And yes, I consider Shabbat to be a holiday!)
I’m a big fan of fractured fairy tales, and this book about the Big Bad Wolf repenting on Yom Kippur works really well.
At first, Wolf agrees to go to the synagogue because he thinks it will be a giant lunch buffet. But the rabbi tells the congregants that anyone can become a better person and do good deeds, even Wolf!
I love how Wolf revisits the scenes of some of his baddest moments. He helps Little Red Riding Hood care for her sick granny instead of eating them. Rather than blowing down the houses of the three little pigs, he helps them make their homes more secure. Wolf ends up fasting the entire day and is invited to a break fast by his new friends.
I also like the expressive pictures of Wolf as his emotions change throughout the book. This is a great book to teach kids about…
"This sweet, humorous tale conveys the meaning of this important Jewish holiday in a way that's understandable for children. Its premise proves it's easy to err on the side of good; each of us has kindness within, and it's satisfying to let it show." --Kirkus Reviews
In this fractured fairy tale mash-up that explains the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Bid Bad Wolf struggles to understand whether he has the capacity for change, and in the process discovers friendship among those he once thought of only as tasty snacks.
When Racoon invites the Big Bad Wolf to Yom Kippur services,…
A Southern California-based author and screenwriter whose adventures in and around the film business have led to hundreds of feature stories for such magazines as Vibe, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, American Film, Smithsonian, and Movieline. My books include three dedicated to Disney animated classics and a volume on the art of American movie posters. The lovingly satirical book Bad Movies We Love, co-written with Edward Margulies, inspired a Turner Network movie marathon series. My next non-fiction book will be published in 2024.
It’s well worth digging up Henry Farrell’s grotesque, sadistic 1960 tale of two aging sisters – one a former kiddy vaudeville sensation, the other a movie star of the '30s and '40s -- living out their animosities and regrets in a faded Los Angeles mansion. It’s also fascinating to compare the novel to its crueler and less impactful 1962 film incarnation starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, let alone the miniseries “Feud: Bette and Joan” about those two ferocious dueling divas as they made the movie. Maybe most fun of all is speculating how Farrell may have fictionalized details from the lives of such Hollywood Golden Age real-life acting siblings as Lillian and Dorothy Gish and Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine. Farrell's penchant for all-out melodrama still packs a punch.
The literary classic that inspired the iconic film - the story of two sisters and the hell they made their home.
Once an acclaimed child star of vaudeville, Baby Jane Hudson performed for adoring crowds before a move to Hollywood thrust her sister, Blanche, into the spotlight. As Blanche's film career took off, a resentful Jane watched from the shadows as her own career faded into obscurity - until a tragic accident changed everything.
Now, years later, the two sisters live in a decaying mansion, isolated from the outside world. Crippled by the accident, Blanche is helpless under the control…
I'm a British writer of children’s books and poetry. The books I've chosen are picture books with vibrant illustrations, instantly pulling the reader into the story. The fascination children have with the sky, the planets, and stars, I discovered with my own children, and now my grandchildren, who gaze, star-struck, at the moon through the windows and doorways. As an ex-teacher I've found that books with a story will appeal to children who are discovering cultures other than their own. There are many picture books with sun and moon stories like the one in Chandra’s Magic Light, and I've chosen those I find particularly appealing, as a mother, grandmother, and teacher.
This is a lovely book about two celestial sisters, one is the sun and the other the moon. As siblings do, they argue about who is more important. They decide to swap roles and the sun begins to shine day and night so nobody can sleep and the earth and growing things suffer. Then the moon takes over and at first everybody is relieved. But gradually the lack of warmth and light makes the world an unhappy place. The sisters realize the importance of harmony in the world and in their relationship. The pictures softly reflect the hues of sun and moon. This would make a lovely bedtime story and the end picture shows the girls' love for each other.
“Redolent of folklore . . . A sweet morality tale of cosmic misadventures and sibling rivalry” by the author of The Cloud Princess (Kirkus Reviews).
The Sun and the Moon are sisters, and they rule and sky together peacefully. One day, however, each begins to wonder: who is more important? This friction leads them to make a powerful decision to switch roles, hoping that it will lead to a greater understanding of their powers. Soon, the Sun begins shining all through the night, and the Moon brings night to the day. In the end, the two sisters will learn an…
I am a professor of creative writing who knows when readers stop feeling, they stop reading. We all want to feel, to live vicariously. To experience the unimaginable. I’ve lived large. I’ve raced on the back of an ostrich, rode an elephant through the jungles of Thailand, raced catamarans in the Caribbean, and danced with the Shaka Zulu in Africa. The best books are those that feel like memories…that touch us…that make us feel.
I rarely read a book twice. I read this one three times. The romance between Ramelle and Celeste always makes me swoon and reminds me of the kind of love I want in my life.
Brown is an outstanding story-teller, and I loved all of the Southern malpropisms, traditions, and memes scattered throughout the novel. I enjoyed the romance, the mystery, and the characterization of the South, this book pushed me to visit Savannah, where her words came to life.
Perched right on the Mason-Dixon line, tiny Runnymede, Maryland, is ripe with a history almost as colorful as the women who live there—from Celeste Chalfonte, headstrong and aristocratic, who murders for principle and steals her brother’s wife, to Fannie Jump Creighton, who runs a speakeasy right in her own home when hard times come knocking. Then of course, there’re Louise and Julia, the boldly eccentric Hunsenmeir sisters. Wheezie and Juts spend their whole lives in Runnymede, cheerfully quibbling about everything from men to child-rearing to how to drive a car. But they never let small-town life keep them from chasing…
Ever since I was a kid, as the grandson of Italian immigrant farmers and the son of a Polish-immigrant father, I wondered how my family fit into the American story. As I grew older, I learned that the American story could not be limited to a single race, a single religion, or even a single generation. Rather, the essence of any culture lies in the story that gets passed down from one generation to the next. That is where my passion lies: tapping into the essence of multiple cultures by tracing the multigenerational family wisdom that is often imparted quietly, humbly, and painfully, which makes it durable, meaningful, and indelible.
An outpouring of kindness for families despite their flaws—or because of their flaws.
I miss the Hamiltons and Trasks because of the forgiving portrayal of their human limitations. One tragedy involving a brother and sister left a lasting impression on me precisely because of its gentle, restrained depiction, as if the tragedy were being viewed from the seat of heaven, with an infinite and eternal compassion.
California's fertile Salinas Valley is home to two families whose destinies are fruitfully, and fatally, intertwined. Over the generations, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the First World War, the Trasks and the Hamiltons will helplessly replay the fall of Adam and Eve and the murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel.
East of Eden was considered by Steinbeck to be his magnum opus, and its epic scope and memorable characters, exploring universal themes of love and identity, ensure it remains one of America's most enduring novels. This edition features a stunning new cover by renowned…
I have a great passion for fantasy books and from a very early age spent any time I could with my nose in a fantasy book traveling to fantastical worlds. In my teens, I got into dungeons and dragons and began creating my own worlds and stories until I took the next step and decided to write my own stories. I work as a prison guard and while too busy during the day to write or read much I have many nightshifts that allow me ample reading and writing time. I still run role-playing games once a week and am always searching for that next great book to read.
I chose this book because I have a love of Asia, especially Japan and this story has a rich Asian setting with martial arts, yakuza-like elements, and a magic system based around the precious stone, jade that provides the wearer with special abilities. I also like how the story is centered around a family and the complex relationships between the different members which you don’t see very often in fantasy novels. This complicated family saga had me engrossed as it racked up the tension with great pacing, awesome characters, and dialogue.
'An epic drama reminiscent of the best classic Hong Kong gangster films but set in a fantasy metropolis so gritty and well-imagined that you'll forget you're reading a book' KEN LIU
'Gripping!' ANN LECKIE, author of Ancillary Justice and The Raven Tower
'Lee's astute worldbuilding raises the stakes for her vivid and tautly-described action scenes' SCOTT LYNCH, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora
*****Shortlisted for the Nebula Awards, the Locus Awards, the Aurora Awards, the Sunburst Awards and an Amazon.com Best Book of the Month*****
I am a Child Psychologist and Author turned Parent Coach who often hears about the bickering, put-downs, jealousy, and conflict sapping families with multiple children. Telling them to “cut it out” clearly does nothing. Kids need not only the skills (how to talk, how to listen, how to manage feelings and resolve conflict) but also the motivation to use them, a combination I have spent my career thinking about, writing about, and teaching. All of the books I have written, and all that I recommend, include this winning combination of skills and motivation with the aim of helping children live happier lives.
This one is for parents, not kids, but I included it because what parents do (or don’t do), say (or don’t say) is such an important part of the equation when it comes to sibling rivalry. Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings teaches the basics of Emotion Coaching (introduced in Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by the same author), then walks readers through using this approach with multiple children. Grounded in brain science, pairing firm limits with genuine empathy, parents who take the time to learn/practice this way of parenting will undoubtedly see a significant reduction in sibling squabbles, and in conflict more broadly.
Popular parenting expert Dr. Laura Markham, author of PEACEFUL PARENTS, HAPPY SIBLINGS, has garnered a large and loyal readership around the world, thanks to her simple, insightful approach that values the emotional bond between parent and child. As any parent of more than one child knows, though, it’s challenging for even the most engaged parent to maintain harmony and a strong connection when competition, tempers, and irritation run high.
In this highly anticipated guide, Dr. Markham presents simple yet powerful ways to cut through the squabbling and foster a loving, supportive bond between siblings, while giving each child the vital…
Interested in
sibling rivalry,
sisters,
and
Jewish history?
10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them.
Browse their picks for the best books about
sibling rivalry,
sisters,
and
Jewish history.
