Bubbie and Zadie, two magical characters, bring the spirit of Hanukkah to a Jewish family on the first night of the holiday.

The Righteous Few is a remarkable true tale of courage, compassion, and rescue during the Holocaust. It is the story of a young married Christian couple, Frans and Mien Wijnakker, living in the Netherlands during World War II. When their country was under Nazi German occupation, they were firsthand witnesses to the horrific acts of violence inflicted upon thousands of innocent people, especially Jews. Refusing to sit back and do nothing, they chose to put their own lives at great risk by hiding their Jewish neighbors. By the end of the war, they had managed to save more than two dozen countrymen from certain death. Their heroism later earned them a special recognition of “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Frans and Mien were Catholics who led a simple life in the countryside of southeastern Holland. They had four small children of their own. But a simple yes in response to a call for help during a business trip to Amsterdam profoundly changed Frans’ and his wife’s lives. In a two-year period, they took many Jewish refugees into their own home and organized a rescue network that placed refugees in other people’s homes, as well. As their rescue work increased, so did the many risks and dangers associated with it. They faced one of their most difficult challenges when they took in a young pregnant Jewish woman and her husband. How do you help someone who has to give birth in hiding? Through this and many other stories, The Righteous Few draws a vivid picture of two extraordinary people who shined the light of hope during one of history’s darkest periods.

Christmas is not everybody’s favorite holiday. Historically, Jews in America, whether participating in or refraining from recognizing Christmas, have devised a multitude of unique strategies to respond to the holiday season. Their response is a mixed one: do we participate, try to ignore the holiday entirely, or create our own traditions and make the season an enjoyable time? This book, the first on the subject of Jews and Christmas in the United States, portrays how Jews are shaping the public and private character of Christmas by transforming December into a joyous holiday season belonging to all Americans. Creative and innovative in approaching the holiday season, these responses range from composing America’s most beloved Christmas songs, transforming Hanukkah into the Jewish Christmas, creating a national Jewish tradition of patronizing Chinese restaurants and comedy shows on Christmas Eve, volunteering at shelters and soup kitchens on Christmas Day, dressing up as Santa Claus to spread good cheer, campaigning to institute Hanukkah postal stamps, and blending holiday traditions into an interfaith hybrid celebration called “Chrismukkah” or creating a secularized holiday such as Festivus. Through these venerated traditions and alternative Christmastime rituals, Jews publicly assert and proudly proclaim their Jewish and American identities to fashion a universally shared message of joy and hope for the holiday season. See also: http://www.akosherchristmas.org

Watch the Clouds is a compelling memoir about forgiveness and the responsibility for one¿s own life. It is an inspirational story and has the power to lift the reader, if that is what the reader wants. The book is riveting and will not let go of you from the first page. It is a story of devotion, understanding, strength of character and love. The author has an engaging narrative voice and has written this memoir to the reader in the form of a letter, which makes this a truly personal read. She writes from her heart and you can hear her speaking to you. This is a book that will add value to your life.

“[A] graceful and brilliant novel . . . leads the reader on a journey through childhood autism that proves enlightening as well as fascinating.” —ForeWord Magazine Burton Rembrandt has the sort of perspective on life that is almost impossible for adults to understand: the perspective of an eight-year-old. And to Burt, his parents and teachers seem to be speaking a language he cannot understand. This is Burt’s story as written in pencil on the walls of the Quiet Room in the Children’s Trust Residence Center, where he lands after expressing his ardent feelings for a classmate. It begins: When I was five I killed myself . . . In this rediscovered modern classic from “one of France’s best-loved contemporary writers,” Howard Buten renders with astounding insight and wry language the tale of a troubled—or perhaps just perfectly normal—young boy testing the boundaries of love and life (Time). “Buten uses his wit like a whip to get at the heart of this boy’s own story . . . bringing some shock and some power to that delicate line between youth and the rest of the world.” —The Austin Chronicle “This psychologically intense tale moves quickly, and the difficult task of creating a child’s voice with authenticity and depth proves Buten a gifted stylist and storyteller . . . [an] imaginative and provocative book.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Certainly Buten offers some insight into a troubled child’s mind.” —The New York Times Book Review

Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Detroit, Mike Rabin continually hopes for a better future. Wanting to be a free spirit, Mike drops out of Cass Tech's art program in the eleventh grade. But in his neighborhood, he is more likely to end up as a street hustler instead of something more prestigious, a fact that makes him feel pessimistic on more than one occasion. Strongly influenced by his family roots, Mike also feels burdened with wartime angst. During World War II, he wasn't old enough to join the service and avenge the Jewish people, not to mention participate in one of the biggest events of his generation. But when the Korean War breaks out, eighteen-year-old Mike eagerly enlists in the U.S. Navy and is sent to Hospital Corps School. Even though he frequently volunteers to be a fleet marine corpsman, Mike spends the entire Korean War never seeing combat. But Mike's cultural roots and his relationships with the people he meets in the navy influence his attitude-an attitude that pushes him toward hope and away from the cynical pessimism of his youth. Rub Up: Musings of a Navy Corpsman is one sailor's inspiring journey of self-discovery.