Jewish Books for Kids
Books about Judaism, Jewish holidays, culture, and history — from Hanukkah and Passover to the Holocaust and modern Jewish life.
68 books
This collection of 68 jewish books for kids spans picture books through Grade 8. Reading level alone doesn't tell parents whether a book is right for a child — text difficulty and emotional weight grow at different rates, especially for strong, twice-exceptional, or sensitive readers. HootRated rates every book on this list for both, so you can match to your child's actual readiness on both axes.
Across this list, 44% of the titles are rated Gentle or Mild — appropriate for sensitive readers or kids reading ahead of their emotional comfort zone. 4% are rated Intense or Very Intense, with heavier thematic territory for readers ready to tackle weighty subjects. Average content intensity for the list is 2.4/5.
Use the intensity badges (color-coded green → red) to filter by emotional readiness rather than just age. For more on what each intensity level means, see our rating methodology.
Stellaluna
Janell Cannon
Escape from the catsacks
Michael Teitelbaum
Joseph
Anna Fienberg
Picture Book of Anne Frank
David A. Adler
The Anne Frank Case
Susan Goldman Rubin
The Story of Anne Frank (Lifetimes)
Stewart Ross
Ultimate Passover Sticker Book (Ultimate Sticker Books)
Melanie Halton
How do dinosaurs say happy Chanukah?
Jane Yolen
A family secret
Eric Heuvel
Oy, feh, so?
Cary Fagan
Hanukkah bear
Eric A. Kimmel
My Grandma, major league slugger
Dan Greenburg
Sean Rosen is not for sale
Jeff Baron
The safest lie
Angela Cerrito
The white ram
Mordicai Gerstein
World History Biographies: Anne Frank
Ann Kramer
Night Before Hanukkah
Natasha Wing
A faraway island
Annika Thor
Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein
Amanda Peet
Engineer Ari and the Hanukkah mishap
Deborah Bodin Cohen
Sasquatch in the paint
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Little Red Hen and the Passover matzah
Leslie Kimmelman
The hero two doors down
Sharon Robinson
This is just a test
Madelyn Rosenberg
This is not the Abby show
Debbie Reed Fischer
Who was Anne Frank?
Ann Abramson
Beyond Lucky
Sarah Aronson
Kate
Jean Little
The cats in the doll shop
Yona Zeldis McDonough
Armstrong & Charlie
Steven Frank
The cats in Krasinski Square
Karen Hesse
Anne Frank
Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Are You There God? It's Me Margaret
Judy Blume
B.U.G.
Jane Yolen
Dreidels on the brain
Joel ben Izzy
Emil and Karl
Jacob Glatstein
Finding the worm
Mark Goldblatt
Friedrich
Hans Peter Richter
Good-bye to the trees
Vicky Shiefman
Goodbye Marianne (Flyways)
Irene N. Watts
Hanukkah (Holidays, Festivals, & Celebrations)
Trudi Strain Trueit
Independence Avenue
Eileen Bluestone Sherman
Jumping Jenny
Ellen Bari
Light
Jane Breskin Zalben
Number the stars
Lois Lowry
Quake!
Gail Karwoski
Remember Me
Irene N. Watts
Resistance
Carla Jablonski
The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah
Nora Raleigh Baskin
The devil's arithmetic
Jane Yolen
The lily pond
Annika Thor
Touched by fire
Irene N. Watts
Under the egg
Laura Marx Fitzgerald
When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit
Judith Kerr
Hitler's Canary
Sandi Toksvig
Someone Named Eva
Joan M. Wolf
The girl in the torch
Rob Sharenow
The mitten string
Jennifer Rosner
The secret of Gabi's dresser.
Kacer Kathy
The watcher in the shadows
Chris Moriarty
Viva, Rose!
Susan Krawitz
Confessions of a Closet Catholic
Sarah Darer Littman
Mukhtar's Children
Sally Watson
White Bird
R. J. Palacio
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
The winter horses
Philip Kerr
Spice and the Devil's Cave
Agnes Danforth Hewes
Orphan Monster Spy
Matt Killeen
For teens (ages 13+)
16 more books on this list are written for readers 13 and up. A few of them:
Believe
Sarah Aronson
Believe
Sarah Aronson
Since you left me
Allen Zadoff
Since you left me
Allen Zadoff
The war within these walls
Aline Sax
The war within these walls
Aline Sax
Lost
Jacqueline Davies
Lost
Jacqueline Davies
Paper hearts
Meg Wiviott
Paper hearts
Meg Wiviott
Starglass
Phoebe North
Starglass
Phoebe North
Blood for blood
Ryan Graudin
Blood for blood
Ryan Graudin
Girl in the blue coat
Monica Hesse
Girl in the blue coat
Monica Hesse
Max
Sarah Cohen-Scali
Max
Sarah Cohen-Scali
Prisoner B-3087
Alan Gratz
Prisoner B-3087
Alan Gratz
Ready to fall
Marcella Fleischman Pixley
Ready to fall
Marcella Fleischman Pixley
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak
Life, after
Sarah Littman
Life, after
Sarah Littman
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library)
William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library)
William Shakespeare
Genocide
Linda Jacobs Altman
Genocide
Linda Jacobs Altman
Questions parents ask about this list
- What's on this jewish books for kids list?
- Jewish Books for Kids contains 68 books spanning picture books through Grade 8. Books about Judaism, Jewish holidays, culture, and history — from Hanukkah and Passover to the Holocaust and modern Jewish life. Every book on the list is rated for reading level and content intensity so you can pick what matches your child.
- What age range is appropriate for this list?
- Books on this list span picture books through Grade 8. 30 (44%) are rated Gentle or Mild; 3 (4%) are rated Intense or Very Intense. Average intensity is 2.4/5. Match the intensity badge to your child's emotional readiness.
- How is this list curated?
- HootRated rates every book on this list for both reading level (text difficulty) and content intensity (emotional weight) — the two axes parents need to choose books. See our methodology for how books make a curated list.