Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where book bloggers are invited to share their top ten lists centered on a certain theme.
Last week I posted about Asian & Pacific American Heritage Month, but did you know that May is also Jewish American Heritage Month? This month is super special for me, because I am both Asian American and Jewish! This week I’m sharing my top ten books featuring Jewish characters! This list includes both favorites of mine, and unread books on my TBR!
1. Sick Kids in Love by Hanna Moskowitz: This YA novel with Jewish rep and chronic illness rep is one of my favorite YA romances! It’s so sweet and definitely a must-read.
2. What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter: If you follow me on IG or Twitter, you’ve probably already seen me screaming about how much I love this YA rom-com about a Jewish teen book blogger! I cannot say enough wonderful things about it, so I’ll leave it at this: it’s already one of my favorite books of the year and you NEED to read it!
3. Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon: The #OwnVoices Jewish rep in Rachel’s novels is always FANTASTIC and I’m so honored to be on the street team for this book! I have an eARC of this 24-hour enemies-to-lovers YA romance and cannot wait to dive into it!
4. It’s a Whole Spiel edited by Katherine Locke & Laura Silverman: This anthology of Jewish YA stories has been on my TBR for so long and I still haven’t had a chance to read it! I’m hoping to get to it soon because it features so many authors I love!
5. In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton: We definitely need more historical YA about Jewish characters that don’t just focus on the Holocaust! This one is a great addition that I’m always recommending to people.
6. Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert: Brandy is one of my favorite YA authors, and I love that this one is about Jewish identity, queerness, blended family, and mental health.
7. Recommended for You by Laura Silverman: I loved Laura’s Girl Out of Water and this YA rom-com about teen booksellers sounds so cute! It’s described as To All the Boys Ive Loved Before meets You’ve Got Mail, which has so super excited. Plus, look at that adorable bookish cover!
8. Color Me In by Natasha Diaz: This coming of age story about a half-Black, half-Jewish teen exploring her identity was such a valuable addition to YA! It’s such a moving story of family, self, privilege, race, culture, and first love.
10. Something to Talk About by Meryl Wilsner: I’m always on the lookout for more f/f romances, and I loved that this one featured a Jewish woman and an Asian American woman! It was super cute and I can’t wait to read more queer romance from Meryl.
10. Camp by L.C. Rosen: I’ve heard great things about this author, and I can’t wait to read this YA summer camp novel that has Jewish rep and queer rep!
What’s your favorite book starring a Jewish character?
Books. Libraries. Also, cats. 
I’m so glad you mentioned TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW because I LOVED that book! I hope you like it too.
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YESSSS I love all of Rachel’s books! I’m on the street team for TTT so I gotta shout it out as much as possible!
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Great list! I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of Something to Talk About – I’ll never say no to f/f romance – and In the Neighborhood of True sounds really interesting. I agree – we definitely need more historical fiction starring Jewish characters that doesn’t focus on the Holocaust.
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I hope you like Something to Talk About! Happy reading!
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This is a great list and I’ll definitely be adding some of these to my TBR!
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yay! Happy reading!
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These look great. Thank you for bringing them to our attention.
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Happy to share! Do you have a favorite book by a Jewish author?
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All of these books look like fun reads. 🙂
My TTT .
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Some of them are definitely on the heavier side–especially In the Neighborhood of True, since it deals with antisemitism. But a lot of the other ones are definitely fun!
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Recommended for You sounds amazing! I’ll definitely add it to my TBR.
My TTT: https://www.traversingchapters.com/top-ten-tuesday-the-last-ten-books-i-abandoned/
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Yay! Have you read anything else by Laura Silverman?
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I have Something to Talk About and I am so so so excited for it. Love your take on this week’s TTT.
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Yay I hope you like it! Happy reading!
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Absolutely LOVE this list! Sick Kids in Love and Color Me In were two of my favorite books last year…which is probably why I put them on my book list yesterday haha!
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YES YES YES
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This is such a great list! I’m definitely going to add Something to Talk About to my Pride Month TBR because I’m always on the lookout for more diverse F/F books 😀
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Yay I hope you love it! And I’m all for diverse f/f books!! Do you have a favorite f/f book?
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I read a really good book with Jewish representation in it. I want to say it was called Ready to Run or something similar. I wish I could remember! It was a thriller. I felt like I learned a lot from it.
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That’s so awesome! I definitely tend to stick to contemporary & romance books, so it’s great to hear that there are also thrillers out there with Jewish rep! I’m glad to see that that representation is appearing in different genres.
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I love all the books you have listed and I have been looking for some jewish representation in books. I am so glad you posted this and that I found your blog. Have a great day and stay safe 🙂
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Thank you so much for your kind words!! I’m so glad to share! Happy reading!
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Great list, Ari! So many of these are on my TBR so I’m happy to see you recommending them, especially Something to Talk About. I can’t wait to read it!
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Thank you!!! I hope you like Something to Talk About–it was SUCH a slow burn!
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