With All My Heart, With All My Mind: Thirteen Stories About Growing Up Jewish [Unknown Binding]

Sandy Asher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

Benjy has nightmares about his upcoming Bar Mitzvah ceremony. Rachel's grief over Grandma Hannah's illness turns her away from her temple. Jaci wrestles with peer pressure by day and angels by night, and when Cain and Abel double-date... well, growing up has never been easy.

As these and nine other stories in With All My Heart, with All My Mind demonstrate, growing up Jewish adds its own twists and turns to the challenge. As we approach the end of the millennium, what does "growing up Jewish" mean? How can young people reconcile centuries of tradition with the modern world? Can they embrace their religion "with all my heart, with all my mind"?

Award-winning author and editor Sandy Asher posed these and other questions to thirteen Jewish writers: herself, Eve B. Feldman, Merrill Joan Gerber, Jacqueline Dembar Greene, Johanna Hurwitz, Eric A. Kimmel, Sonia Levitin, Carol Matas, Gloria D. Miklowitz, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Ruth Minsky Sender, Phyllis Shalant, and Jane Breskin Zalben. From the last days of Masada to the future colonization of the moon, these stories provide unique and personal insights. in the interviews following each story, the authors discuss their own experiences growing up Jewish.

These are stories that will make you laugh, cry, think, and above all, help you to explore what it means to be a Jew.

A portion of the money generated from the sale of this book will be donated to MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Encircled with a paper sash identifying it as an ideal bar or bat mitzvah gift, this anthology of original stories features Jewish boys and girls in coming-of-age scenarios. In Jacqueline Dembar Greene's "David's Star," the heroine keeps quiet about her Jewish identity until the anti-Semitism of her boss at an ice-cream parlor rouses her to action. The 13-year-old protagonist in Phyllis Shalant's "Pinch-Hitting" comes to terms with the anger, fear and sorrow elicited by her grandmother's case of Alzheimer's. Not all settings are contemporary: one story takes place at Masada; another takes place in 1930s Poland; and yet another imagines a futuristic society. Even so, the collection is fairly homogeneous, with most resolving conflicts a little too easily and reducing them to a single insistent message. There are two notable exceptions: Eric Kimmel's "Willow," which successfully juxtaposes a solemn story about faith in a concentration camp with a funny family story about purloined Passover dishes; and Susan Beth Pfeffer's "Cain and Abel Double-Date," a witty fantasy involving the sons of Adam and Eve. Asher (But That's Another Story: Favorite Writers Introduce Popular Genres) follows each entry with a brief interview with the author, plus a biography. This apparatus, unfortunately, may flatten the reading experience: the authors echo one another a little too closely as they speak of the importance of tradition and religion, and the interview questions hammer home the lessons of the stories. Ages 10-14. (Nov.) MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Grade 6-9-This uneven collection ranges from historical fiction to science fiction, although most of the stories are in the realm of realistic fiction. From a story about a boy during the battle at Masada, to one about standing up to anti-Semitism, to the diary entries of a boy about to become bar mitzvah, to a boy on his way to colonize the moon, to a girl who must come to terms with her grandmother's Alzheimer's disease, these stories run the gamut of human experience. Some of the selections stand out, with lyrical writing, good plotting, and interesting stories. Unfortunately, many of them seem incomplete, more like vignettes; in several cases, the Jewish theme overwhelms the plot and characterization. The authors include Johanna Hurwitz, Sonia Levitin, Carol Matas, Gloria Miklowitz, and Susan Beth Pfeffer, and not all of them seem comfortable within the confines of the short story. Each selection ends with an interview with the author; some are fascinating, while others are self-indulgent or inconsequential. Although there are some gems here, this is truly a mixed bag, and only libraries with a strong need for Jewish-interest titles will want to add it to their collections.
Amy Lilien-Harper, Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Unknown Binding: 176 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689820127
• ISBN-13: 978-0689820120
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,891,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sandy Asher grew up in Philadelphia, PA, and now lives in Lancaster, PA, with husband Harvey, dog Rudy, and cat Friday. After Philly and before Lancaster, she lived in Springfield, MO, where she wrote many of her award-winning books and plays (as Sandra Fenichel Asher), served as writer-in-residence at Drury University and co-founded the Web site America Writes for Kids. Sandy enjoys visiting schools and has taught writing workshops from Anchorage, Alaska, to St. Petersburg, Florida. Little known fact: "Fenichel" is pronounced FENN eh shell. Easy when you know how!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good idea for a book - which succeeds, November 29, 1999

By 

Larry Mark, editor of MyJewishBooks.com (Scranton, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With All My Heart, With All My Mind: Thirteen Stories About Growing Up Jewish

Thirteen years of age, the time of Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, on the cusp of young adulthood, when you are able to make tentative decisions for yourself. Asher captures this time with these 13 original stories. What can I add to what has been said above? Not much, except that Susan Beth Pfeffer's (Little Women) "Cain and Abel Double-Date" is priceless and I think most readers will relate to it. Another shining story is Eric Kimmel's (Magic Dreidels) story of stolen Pesach dishes, and faith in a Nazi concentration camp (it sounds weird, I know, but you have to read it).