Your PJ Our Way Books for May 2025

13 and 3/4
By: Lisa Greenwald

Ages 11+

352 pages

Best friends Ari and Kaylan make a list of things to do to help them feel connected while they’re apart the summer before eighth grade. Though excited about arts camp, Kaylan is also terrified about going to camp for the first time. Ari’s returning to her beloved Jewish summer camp, but she worries about Bubbie's health and that younger sister Gemma (a first-time camper) will cry and be homesick every day. In alternating chapters, the BFFs detail their camp interactions with friends, both girls and boys (Ari reunites with her camp boyfriend; Kaylan has her first camp kiss), as they each complete items on their list. “Keep a gratitude journal” results in two happy campers; “Sneak out of the bunk at night” has some unhappy consequences. There’s a bit of friendship drama involving Kaylan’s mother dating Ari’s camp friend Zoe’s father (Ari learns some big news and doesn’t tell Kaylan), but the girls work things out in time to bury a time capsule together (last item on their list) and declare their undying friendship once again. This is the fourth book in the Friendship List series that includes the PJ Our Way title 12 Before 13.

Linked
By: Gordon Korman

Ages 11+

246 pages

When a swastika shows up on the wall of the only middle school in the small town of Chokecherry, Colorado, everyone wants to know who did it. Was it Michael, one of the few students of color in the school? Was it Link, the popular athlete whose pranks sometimes go too far? Or was it Pouncey, whose grandfather was rumored to be a part of the local chapter of the KKK decades ago? In the midst of all of it, Dana, the only Jewish girl in school, feels singled out and totally confused.

Meanwhile, Link learns that his grandmother’s parents left her in a French orphanage before they were deported to a concentration camp. She was raised without any knowledge of her Jewish heritage, but when Link learns about it, he decides to have a bar mitzvah.

When more swastikas show up despite ongoing tolerance education, the kids decide to make six million paper links to represent the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. When a popular social media star comes to document Chokecherry’s drama and the town’s painful history, people from all over the community and the country step in to help them reach their goal.

Best Wishes
By: Sarah Mlynowski

Ages 9+

192 pages

In this first book in the Best Wishes series, fifth grader Becca lives in New York City with her mother and older brother. Her father has moved to California and, for the first time, won’t be there for her birthday. Then her best friend Harper ditches her for mean girl Olive just before Becca’s birthday party. When a magic bracelet arrives in the mail, it grants her one wish. Becca wishes for a bevy of friends, and suddenly she has over a hundred guests coming to her birthday party! Are they her real friends, though? This story about true friendship is light and humorous and will have readers eager to meet the next recipient of the magical bracelet in Book 2.

Ice Cream Town
By: Rona Arato

Ages 9+

192 pages

In 1920, following their mother’s death, 10-year-old Sammy Levin and his older sister Malka sail to New York City from Poland. They reunite with the father Sammy barely remembers and move into a tenement on the Lower East Side. While the Jewish immigrant community is busy and lively, Sammy’s excitement about living in America is dampened by peer pressure from a local gang, antisemitism, and frequent prejudice against immigrants. In addition, he and Malka must balance their new lives with Papa’s insistence on holding tight to their Jewish traditions. Relatable characters, vivid details and suspense, and Sammy’s discovery of his inner strength and bravery make this an engaging historical novel.