Your PJ Our Way Books for April
PJ Our Way is proud to offer four amazing books this month. Follow along as Tori pretends to be her own identical twin in order to make a new friend, read the story of a young boy and lone wolf who are struggling to find their ways after a forest fire, learn the little-known Jewish history of Marcel Marceau, the world’s most famous mime, and laugh along with the antics of Hershel of Ostropol.
Be sure to have your reader choose their book by April 10th!
Masters of Silence
by Kathy Kacer
Ages 10+
272 pages
Alternating chapters follow German Jewish siblings Helen, fourteen, and Henry, ten. Their father has been taken by the Nazis and their French-born mother, desperate to keep them safe, has brought them to a convent in France. Like the other Jewish children there, they must assume new identities and pretend to be Catholic orphans. Both children are afraid and overwhelmed, but Henry especially so; rendered mute, he pours all his thoughts into a secret notebook. A bright spot in their lives is when a teenage mime named Marcel Marceau visits the convent to entertain the children. Marcel teaches Henry how to mime–a skill that becomes crucial for their survival when Marcel leads the children on a six-day journey to the Swiss border. This is a suspenseful yet ultimately uplifting story.
Double Trouble
by Joanne Levy
Ages 9+
144 pages
12-year-old Tori lives with her father and grandmother. Her best friend has moved away, making this the most boring summer ever. One day, on her way home from a bar mitzvah, Tori meets Jazzy, her neighbors’ granddaughter who is visiting for two weeks. Jazzy admires Tori’s sense of style, not knowing that Tori can’t stand dressing up. A few hours later, Jazzy finds Tori working in her garden, wearing dirty overalls and handling worm casings (aka poop). Jazzy doesn’t seem to recognize Tori, so Tori tells her that the girl she met earlier in the dress was her twin sister, Vicky. Over the next two weeks, Tori tries to keep up the charade of being her own twin in order to sustain her friendship with Jazzy.
Wayward Creatures
by Dayna Lorentz
Ages 10+
304 pages
Seventh grader Gabe feels like his friends and family don’t have time for him anymore, so, desperate to impress his friends, he sets off fireworks in the woods, causing a fire that destroys acres of land. While in a restorative justice program in which he must clean up the forest and repair the damage he caused, Gabe meets Rill, a young lone coyote who had run away from her family and was injured in the fire. Alternating between Gabe’s and Rill’s points of view, their developing friendship helps boy and coyote learn to accept responsibility and make amends for the harm their actions caused.
The Adventures of Hershel of Ostropol
by Eric A. Kimmel
Ages 9+
64 pages
Hershel of Ostropol is modeled after a clever, irreverent, and poverty stricken Jewish prankster eking out a living by his wits in Eastern Europe in the 1900s. Kids (and adults) of all ages will be charmed by Hershel’s antics in this kid-friendly, easy-to-read adaptation of traditional Yiddish folktales.
Note: Quantities of each title are limited! If you see another book offered for selection this month, head over to Story Central to check it out.