Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins Sunday night, and this time of year, it seems there’s always a Jewish holiday either coming or going. Here are a few books to help observe, celebrate, and/or explain some of this season’s Jewish holidays. 

For Rosh Hashanah (and beyond), Richard Ho’s Two New Years (Chronicle), illustrated by Lynn Scurfield, compares a family’s celebrations of the Jewish New Year and of Lunar New Year. Megan Hoyt’s Tzimmes for Tzipporah (Apples & Honey/Berhman), illustrated by Christine Battuz, is about a girl who helps with the tzimmes for her family’s holiday dinner, from start (harvesting the sweet root vegetables) to finish (eating!) 

See Big Bad Wolf’s Yom Kippur (Apples & Honey/Berhman), by David Sherrin, illustrated by Martín Morón, for a fairy tale character’s seasonally apt personal growth. And for intermediate and middle-school readers, keep an eye out in November for Mari Lowe’s The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman (Levine Querido) — Yom Kippur ties in closely with its themes of atonement. For grownups, we're not sorry to re-recommend Friend of the Horn Book Marjorie Ingall's book about apologies, renamed (in paperback; Jan 2024) Getting to Sorry: The Art of Apology at Work and at Home. 

For Sukkot, which this year begins the night of September 29, Leah Rachel Berkowitz’s The Moving-Box Sukkah (Apples & Honey/Berhman), illustrated by Sharon Vargo, gives inspiration for improvising a sukkah under any circumstances. And in Kayla and Kugel’s Silly Sukkot (Apples & Honey/Berhman) by Ann D. Koffsky, the titular girl and dog return to build a more traditional version of the holiday’s temporary huts, with some antics along the way. 

…And then come Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah…and then come lots of other holidays. For a look at Jewish holidays throughout the year, check out Beth Kander’s Do Not Eat This Book!: Fun with Jewish Foods & Festivals (Sleeping Bear), illustrated by Mike Moran; and Beni’s Tiny Tales: Around the Year in Jewish Holidays (Ottaviano/Little, Brown) by Jane Breskin Zalben. 

Shana tovah!