Summer is unofficially over as of Labor Day, although there are still about 3 weeks until the seasons officially change.

Kids want summer to go on forever; their parents are happy to see school on the horizon;  and older folks are amazed at how fast the summer has flown by.

We welcome fall in the Shomrei library with a selection of books about back to school, learning, finding one’s place in the world, making new friends, and how to face challenges.

For many additional titles, check the online catalog.

Blumberg, Ilana. Open Your Hand seeks to answer the question of how teachers deal with the issues of the 21st century. (NONFICTION)

Hiranandani, Veera. The Whole Story of Half a Girl. Sonia,half-Jewish and half-Indian, must find a way to adjust to a new school when her father loses his job and she goes to a public middle school. (JFIC)

Jules, Jacqueline. Drop by Drop:the story of Rabbi Akiva. Encouraged by his wife, 40-year-old Akiva learns to read. (PICTURE BOOK)

Kaufman, Bel. Up the Down Staircase. First published in 1964, this fictionalized look at a year in a New York City high school is a funny, poignant, modern classic written by a granddaughter of the famed Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem. (FICTION)

Littman, Sarah. Some Kind of Hate. Freshman Declan injures his pitching arm. In his anger, he becomes involved with white supremacists and turns against his Jewish friend. When violence occurs, Declan has to decide what side he’s on. (YAFIC)

Oren, Dan. Joining the Club: a history of Jews and Yale. Covering the years 1809 when the first Jew graduated from Yale to 1988, this book was the first analysis of anti-semitism in an American university. It is both a history of Yale and a study of the social mores of the time period. An interesting read in light of what is happening at universities now. (NONFICTION)

Polacco, Patricia. The Bee Tree.  An expanded tale of the old custom of spreading honey on the letters of the Aleph-Bet as a child first learns to read, this beautifully illustrated story shows the close relationship of a grandfather and his young granddaughter. (PICTURE BOOK)

Schroeder, Peter. Six million paper clips: the making of a children’s Holocaust memorial. In order to help understand the Holocaust, middle school students in a small all white, Protestant town in Tennessee collected 6,000,000 paper clips. The ultimate result was The Children’s Holocaust Memorial. (JNF) (https://www.southeasttennessee.com/holocaust-memorial/)

Weatherford, Carole Boston. Dear  Mr. Rosenwald. Seen through the eyes of Ovella, the reader learns the story of Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, who funded scores of schools in the South and the impact these schools had on the communities  they served. (PICTURE BOOK) (https://savingplaces.org/places/rosenwald-schools)

Wiemer, Liza M. The Assignment. When they protest an ill-conceived class assignment to debate Hitler’s Final Solution, Seniors Cade and Logan involve the entire community in the  controversy. Based on a real in incident from 2017. (YAFIC) (//www.timesofisrael.com/ny-bans-school-project-asking-students-to-argue-in-favor-of-holocaust/)