Finn and Ezra’s Bar Mitzvah Time Loop
by Joshua S. Levy
Middle School    Tegen/HarperCollins    256 pp.
5/24    9780063248243    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780063248267    $8.99

Finn and Ezra, both thirteen, are destined to relive their bar mitzvah weekends, from Friday through Sunday afternoon, countless times. While their overlapping plights initially seem coincidental, as they progress through more and more inescapable loops, their stories become increasingly intertwined. On the surface, the boys are very different from each other, but through their trials trying to get to Monday, they discover commonalities and universal truths. Ezra’s life within an insular Orthodox community is presented in contrast to Finn’s more worldly outlook, and both boys grapple with judgment and occasionally with jealousy of each other. Many aspects of traditional Jewish life and culture are explained through the lens of Finn’s encountering them for the first time, with a lightly informative rather than preachy approach. Themes of trust, friendship, family, and growing up are thoughtfully interspersed with madcap adventures involving physicists, bank heists, and elaborate lies. Ethical dilemmas within a fantastical premise nonetheless raise real questions about how adolescents can decide what kind of people they want to be. An unexpectedly poignant resolution offers the main characters a chance to prove that they made the most of their time, while not-so-subtly encouraging readers to do the same.

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.