On All Other Nights: A Passover Celebration in 14 Stories

Reading Level: 4th − 5th Grade

On All Other Nights is a joyful middle-grade anthology centered around Passover--from an exciting array of bestselling and award-winning Jewish creators!

Welcome to Passover, a Jewish holiday that has been celebrated for thousands of years. The heart of Passover is the seder--a meal full of rituals, special foods, and songs--where we gather together to retell the story of the Exodus, when the Jewish people achieved freedom from Egypt. And yet this story is about more than the ancient past. The seder's themes of freedom, joy, tradition, and more, are timeless and universal, for all. In this unprecedented collection of short stories, 14 bestselling and award-winning authors each reimagine a different step of the seder for today's young readers. Through historical and contemporary fiction, verse and prose, fiction and nonfiction, these gifted writers from different Jewish traditions and backgrounds gather around the seder table and invite everyone to join them.

The full list of On All Other Nights contributors includes:

  • Chris Baron (The Magical Imperfect)
  • Ruth Behar (Lucky Broken Girl)
  • Adam Gidwitz (A Tale Dark and Grimm, The Unicorn Rescue Society)
  • Veera Hiranandani (The Night Diary)
  • Amy Ignatow (The Popularity Papers, Jedi Academy)
  • Sarah Kapit (Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen)
  • Joshua S. Levy (The Jake Show)
  • Mari Lowe (Aviva vs. the Dybbuk)
  • Naomi Milliner (Super Jake & The King of Chaos)
  • Soifya Pasternack (Black Bird, Blue Road)
  • R. M. Romero (The Dollmaker of Kraków)
  • A. J. Sass (Ana on the Edge)
  • Laura Shovan (The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary)
  • Laurel Snyder (Orphan Island, Charlie & Mouse)

Includes black-and-white illustrations

Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

ALA/Booklist

A festive reflection of Judaism's limitless range.

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7--Fourteen short stories follow the 14 steps of the Jewish Seder. From Kadesh to Nirtzah, each step is described and accompanied by four questions. These thought-provoking queries invite readers, regardless of their religion, to pause and connect with the steps of the Seder. Then, a story inspired by that step begins. The stories are diverse in genre and written by a collection of notable Jewish authors. Each one offers a different glimpse into how Passover is celebrated in America. The use of Hebrew terms throughout the book may necessitate some work on the part of a non-Jewish reader, but this is no reason to discount the title and its robust collection of stories. VERDICT A strong candidate for strengthening and diversifying school and public library's holiday collections.--Jessica Caron

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

[W]elcoming and buoyant anthology...This who's who of contemporary middlegrade Jewish literature, with a stockpile of Sydney Taylor Book Awards among the authors, offers stories in formats and tones consistent with their popular work and joyously reflective of the variety of their backgrounds and own Jewish traditions. A festive reflection of Judaism's limitless range. — Booklist
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781419767296
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Amulet Books
Publication date
March 26, 2024
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV033020 - Juvenile Fiction | Religious | Jewish
JUV038000 - Juvenile Fiction | Short Stories
JUV017120 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Passover
Library of Congress categories
Passover
Judaism
Fasts and feasts

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