Kibitzers, dreamers, medieval travelers and dybbuks are among the wide array of heroes, heroines and mystical villains in this season\’s crop of Jewish children\’s books, as publishers expand their offerings beyond holiday books and biblical retellings.
Like her protagonist Sophie Katz, Kyra Davis has skin the color of a \”well-brewed latte.\” That\’s why she has spent a large portion of her life fielding comments about her ethnicity.
There was her supervisor at a clothing store, for example, who asked about her Star of David necklace, since how could Davis be Jewish when she looks black? Or all the times people have assumed she\’s Puerto Rican and lecture her on taking pride in one\’s heritage when they discover she can\’t speak Spanish.
\”Occasionally, when people ask me where I\’m from, I\’ll make up some country in Africa and act really offended if they say they never heard of it,\” Davis said.
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