From the Lampert Library
It’s finally arrived-winter that is – in all its beauty and danger. The roads may be treacherous and the sidewalks slick, but it’s warm and cozy inside. The weather’s perfect for a good book.
Here’s a selection of books linked only by the fact that they have some connection to winter, cold, or snow. These and other snow themed books are available at either the synagogue or public library.
For young readers:
Da Costa, Snow in Jerusalem is fairly rare but the snow helps two boys, one Jewish and one Muslim, figure out that they have been caring for the same cat. (Fiction)
Hautzig, The Endless Steppe: growing up in Siberia tells the tale of the five years the author and her family spent in exile because they were “capitalists” in Communist Russia. A prize winner.Kerr, The Winter Horses showcases Katrina’s bravery as she tries to save the Przewalski’s horses from the Nazis. (Fiction)
Kimmelman, Sam and Charlie and Sam, Too, Return is an episodic look at the adventures of two friends through both secular activities and Jewish holidays. There are two other books about the same kids. (Fiction)
Lasky, Marven of the Great North Woods takes place in the winter of 1918 when influenza raged. Marven, who lives in Duluth, is sent to a logging camp far from home for safety and learns how to adapt his Jewish diet to the camp’s menu. Based on the experience of the author’s father. (Fiction)
Manushkin, How Mama Brought the Spring by rolling out “golden circles…like sunflowers against a blue sky” that become delicious blintzes to chase the long winter day away is a scrumptious family story. (Fiction)
Shulimson, Lights Out Shabbat occurs when a rare Georgia snowstorm causes a power outage during the weekend that a young boy spends with his grandparents. Even the lights need their Shabbat rest, he thinks. (Fiction)
For adults:
Albright, Prague Winter: a personal story of remembrance and war 1937-1948 is former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s story of her formative years in Czechoslovakia and the beginning of the Cold War. The winter may be symbolic but its effects are as chilling as real cold. A well told memoir.
Hamill, Snow in August is next to impossible but in this book which explores the unlikely friendship between a young rabbi who is a Holocaust survivor and an 11-year-old Irish kid obsessed with baseball, there is true magic. (Fiction)
Klein, All but My Life: a memoir is the author’s story of her six year ordeal as a Nazi prisoner and how the hiking boots that her father insisted she take with her saved her life on the January to April 1945 death march.
Moorehead, A Train in Winter of 1943 took 230 female French resisters of all ages and from all walks of life to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they showed the strength of their friendship and their will to survive.
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