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Jewish Characters (Teen)

These young adult titles feature Jewish protagonists or secondary characters.

The book thief by Markus Zusak

Trying to make sense of the horrors of World War II, Death relates the story of Liesel--a young German girl whose book-stealing and story-telling talents help sustain her family and the Jewish man they are hiding, as well as their neighbors

You'll miss me when I'm gone by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Eighteen-year-old twins Adina, a viola prodigy, and Tovah, a future surgeon, find their relationship tested when they learn that one of them will develop Huntington's, the degenerative disease ravaging their mother.

The devil's arithmetic by Jane Yolen

Hannah resents the traditions of her Jewish heritage until time travel places her in the middle of a small Jewish village in Nazi-occupied Poland

Code name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must do to survive while keeping secret all that she can

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

"Suzette returns home to Los Angeles from boarding school and grapples with her bisexual identity when she and her brother Lionel fall in love with the same girl, pushing Lionel's bipolar disorder to spin out of control and forcing Suzette to confront herown demons"--

The upside of unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Avoiding relationships to protect her sensitive heart, plus-sized Molly supports her once-cynical twin, Cassie, when the latter has her own bout of lovesickness, a situation that is complicated by sibling dynamics and an unexpected romantic triangle.

What if it's us by Becky Albertalli

Told in two voices, when Arthur, a summer intern from Georgia, and Ben, a native New Yorker, meet it seems like fate, but after three attempts at dating fail they wonder if the universe is pushing them together or apart.

Color me in : a novel by Natasha ( Natasha E Diaz

Fifteen-year-old Nevaeh Levitz is torn between two worlds, passing for white while living in Harlem, being called Jewish while attending her mother's Baptist church, and experiencing first love while watching her parents' marriage crumble.

It's a whole spiel : love, latkes, and other Jewish stories

"From stories of confronting their relationships with Judaism to rom-coms with a side of bagels and lox, It's a Whole Spiel features one story after another that says yes, we are Jewish, but we are also queer, and disabled, and creative, and political, and adventurous, and anything we want to be"--

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens agenda by Becky Albertalli

"Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity--and that of his pen pal--will be revealed"--

Isla and the happily ever after : a novel by Stephanie Perkins

Isla has had a crush on classmate Josh since their freshman year at the School of America in Paris, but after a chance encounter over the summer in Manhattan they return to France for their senior year where they are forced to confront challenges every young couple in love must face.

Just one year by Gayle Forman

After spending an amazing day and night together in Paris, Just One Year is Willem's story, picking up where Just One Day ended. His story of their year of quiet longing and near misses is a perfect counterpoint to Allyson's own as Willem undergoes a transformative journey, questioning his path, finding love, and ultimately, redefining himself

Just one day by Gayle Forman

"Sparks fly when American good girl Allyson encounters laid-back Dutch actor Willem, so she follows him on a whirlwind trip to Paris, upending her life in just one day and prompting a year of self-discovery and the search for true love."-- Provided by publisher.

Me and Earl and the dying girl : a novel by Jesse Andrews

Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

If I stay : a novel by Gayle Forman

While in a coma following an automobile accident that killed her parents and younger brother, seventeen-year-old Mia, a gifted cellist, weighs whether to live with her grief or join her family in death.

Paper towns by John Green

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night, dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q; until day breaks and she vanishes

Nick & Norah's infinite playlist by Rachel Cohn

High school student Nick O'Leary, member of a rock band, meets college-bound Norah Silverberg and asks her to be his girlfriend for five minutes in order to avoid his ex-sweetheart

Are you there God? It's me, Margaret by Judy Blume

Faced with the difficulties of growing up and choosing a religion, a twelve-year-old girl talks over her problems with her own private God. It is the story of twelve-year-old Margaret Simon who is worried she'll never have anything to put in her bra, won't know how to kiss a boy when the time comes, and worst of all, will be the last in the PTS club to get her period. As if all that weren't enough, she's getting used to a new home and a new school. Her private talks with God are special to her, but is she supposed to be Jewish or Christian?

Hush by Eishes Chayil

After remembering the cause of her best friend Devory's suicide at age nine, Gittel is determined to raise awareness of sexual abuse in her Borough Park, New York, community, despite the rules of Chassidim that require her to be silent

Today tonight tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon

"Throughout the years both Rowan and Neil have been at competition with one another on everything from who has the best ideas for school functions to which one will be their graduating class's valedictorian. However, in the twenty-four hours left they have as high school students, the two learn they share something much deeper than a rivalry"--

Sick kids in love by Hannah Moskowitz

When Isabel, who has rheumatoid arthritis, meets Sasha, a boy with a chronic illness, she considers breaking her no dating rule for him.

The diviners by Libba Bray

Seventeen-year-old Evie O'Neill is thrilled when she is exiled from small-town Ohio to New York City in 1926, even when a rash of occult-based murders thrusts Evie and her uncle, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, into the thick of the investigation

Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

When nonbeliever Michael transfers to a Catholic school in eleventh grade, he quickly connects with a secret support group intent on exposing the school's hypocrisies one stunt at a time

Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli

Captures the hardships and cruelty of life in the ghettos of Warsaw during the Nazi occupation of World War II, through the eyes of a Jewish orphan who must use all his wits and courage to survive unimaginable events and circumstances

Recipient of the National Medal, the nation's highest honor for libraries.