2024 Picture Book Winner
Two New Years by Richard Ho
A multicultural family celebrates the traditions of two New Years–the Jewish Rosh Hashanah in the autumn, and the Asian Lunar New Year several months later.
2024 Middle Grade Winner
The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe
Helping her popular next-door neighbor Gayil set up what she thinks are harmless pranks, 12-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl Shaindy must figure out how to stop them before she becomes the next target when the pranks escalate and turn malicious.
2024 Young Adult Winner
The Blood Years by Elana K. Arnold
Based on the true experiences of her grandmother’s childhood in Holocaust-era Romania, … author Elana K. Arnold weaves [a] tale of love and loss in the darkest days of the twentieth century–and one young woman’s will to survive them.
2024 Honor(s):
Picture Book Honor(s):
- Afikomen by Tziporah Cohen
- Hanukkah Upside Down by Elissa Brent Weissman
- Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust by Elisa Boxer
Middle Grade Honor(s)
- Don’t Want to Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton
- The Jake Show by Joshua S. Levy
- Not So Shy by Noa Nimrodi
- A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer
Young Adult Honor(s)
- Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust by Neal Shusterman
- Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler
- Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe by Steve Sheinkin
- Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoro
2023 Winner(s) & Honor(s):
Winners in bold
Picture Book Honor(s):
- The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana Stiefel
- Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen,
- The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda by Shoshana Nambi
- Sitting Shiva by Erin Silver
Middle Grade Honor(s)
- Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe
- Honey and Me by Meira Drazin
- Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack
- Ellen Outside the Lines by A. J. Sass
Young Adult Honor(s)
- When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
- My Fine Fellow: A Delicious Entanglement by Jennieke Cohen
- Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman
- Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds
Past Winners & Honors from 2016-2021
Winners in bold
2016
Picture Book:
- Ketzel the Cat who Composed by Lesléa Newman
- Shanghai Sukkah by Heidi Smith Hyde
- Everybody Says Shalom by Leslie Kimmelman
Middle Grade:
- Adam and Thomas by Aharon Appelfeld
- Hereville: How Mirka Caught a Fish by Barry Deutsch
Young Adult:
- The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
- Stones on a Grave by Kathy Kacer
- Serendipity’s Footsteps by Suzanne Nelson
2017
Picture Book
- I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy
- A Hat for Mrs. Goldman: A Story About Knitting and Love by Michelle Edwards
- Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy by Richard Michelson
Middle Grade
- The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
- Dreidels on the Brain by Joel Izzy
- A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Young Adult
- Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit
2018
Picture Book
- The Language of Angels: A Story about the Reinvention of Hebrew by Richard Michelson
- Drop by Drop: A Story of Rabbi Akiva by Jacqueline Jules
- Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams
Middle Grade
- Refugee by Alan Gratz
- The Six-Day Hero by Tammar Stein
- This Is Just a Test by Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang
- Viva Rose! by Susan Krawitz
Young Adult
- The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
- The Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke
- Almost Autumn by Marianne Kaurin
- To Look a Nazi in the Eye: A Teen’s Account of a War Criminal Trial by Kathy Kacer
2019
Picture Book
- All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins
- Through the Window: Views of Marc Chagall’s Life by Barb Rosenstock
- A Moon for Moe and Mo by Jane Breskin Zalben
Middle Grade
- Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier
- All Three Stooges by Erica S. Perl
- The Length of a String by Elissa Brent Weissman
Young Adult
- What the Night Sings by Vesper Stamper
- You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon
2020
Picture Book
- The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come by Sue Macy
- Gittel’s Journey: An Ellis Island Story by Leslea Newman
- The Key from Spain: Flory Jagoda and Her Music by Debbie Levy
Middle Grade
- White Bird: A Wonder Story by R.J. Palacio
- Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
- Games of Deception: The True Story of the First US Olympic Basketball Team at the 1936 Olympics in Hitler’s Germany by Andrew Maraniss
Young Adult
- Someday We Will Fly by Rachel DeWoskin
- Dissenter on the Bench by Victoria Ortiz
- Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
2021
Picture Book:
- Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail by Lesléa Newman
- I Am the Tree of Life: My Jewish Yoga Book by Mychal Copeland
- Miriam at the River by Jane Yolen
Middle Grade:
- Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein
- Anya and The Nightingale by by Sofiya Pasternack
- The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman
- No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen
Young Adult:
- Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder
- They Went Left by Monica Hesse
2022
Picture Book:
- The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel
- Nicky & Vera : a Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued by Peter Sís
- Dear Mr. Dickens by Nancy Churnin
- The Christmas Mitzvah by Jeff Gottesfeld
Middle Grade:
- How to Find What You’re Not Looking For by Veera Hiranandani
- The Genius Under the Table : Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Eugene Yelchin
- Linked by Gordon Korman
Young Adult:
- The Summer of Lost Letters by Hannah Reynolds
- The Last Words We Said by Leah Scheier
- Whistle: A new Gotham City Hero by E. Lockheart
*Descriptions are taken from publishers, book summaries and/or the library’s catalog*