Leah is not a fan of change and does not want her grandfather, Zaide, to move into an assisted living home so she creates a golem to watch over him. In addition, Leah wants to fit in with the other students at her new school and worries that she will not due to the fact that she is Jewish and has a very large nose. However, things do not always work as planned. This story would be a great one to recommend to girls who are experiencing self esteem issues.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's for the opportunity to read this book*

It is Yom Kippur. I shouldn't be using technology but it is what it is this year. And in between Zoom services, small groups and walks, I read this entire book. And for me, this book was perfect.

I am a Solomon Schechter Day School kid. Or I was. I spent 11 years being a student at the very school Leah Nevins mentions leaving. I transferred, on my own terms, to a public school. (Unlike Leah's SSDS experience, mine did have cliques. And they could be brutal.) The transition was what I wanted, but it was still so hard. I had to explain the Holocaust. I had to explain every Jewish holiday, and we didn't talk excitedly about Purim or Hanukah, didn't have to keep kosher for lunch, etc. It was weird.

So right away, I identified with our main character.

Leah struggles to make new friends at her new school and struggles too when her parents tell her her beloved Zaide may have to go into an assisted living center because he has the beginning of Alzheimer's. Zaide, who plays chess with her, tells her partial stories of his past before/during the Holocaust, calls her Leah Roslyn with such love. How could he be sick?

So Leah creates a golum (a mythical creature often featured in Jewish stories in shtels, in Prague, etc.) from clay in her Zaide's backyard to protect her Zaide and keep him safe. And as one can imagine, it seems great at first, but doesn't end up that way. Leah has to learn how to defeat her creature before it's too late.

I recommend this to anyone who is Jewish or longed for a book that fought against stereotypes for middle schoolers. I suspect my library will purchase this one for sure (we have a large Jewish community).

Trigger Warnings: this book deals with mentions of antisemitism (asking if there are horns, 'looking Jewish', octopus stereotype, 'dirty Jews', 'money grabbers', etc). There are also brief mentions of the golem disintegrating (so a little gore?) as well as old gardener tools being used as weapons (pointy things in your face, ah!).

Leah Nevins and her family have just moved from their home back to live near her great-grandfather, Zaide, who is 93 years old. She had to leave her Jewish school and feels awkward and unable to make friends in her new school. The one thing she does love is getting together with her extended family on Saturday afternoons at Zaide's quirky home, which is an old telephone office. She plays chess with her great-grandfather and hangs out with her cousins. When her grandfather starts to have memory issues, she overhears her parents discussing sending him to a nursing home. Leah is not about to support that idea, so casts her net wide to find a solution. She latches onto a story that Zaide told her about making a golem back home in Poland, and when she comes across a bag of dirt with a piece of paper with a word written on it, she takes the ingredients, follows the instructions, and creates a golem of her own. It's name is Elsa, and it looks like a regular girl Leah's age. Leah is relieved that she can leave Elsa with her grandfather to make sure that he doesn't get into trouble. She is given pause when Leah shows up at her school during lunch and claims it is boring when Zaide is napping. Elsa seems to have more success making friends than Leah does. When Elsa becomes more and more unreliable, Leah learns a bit more about golems from Zaide and has to come to terms with the reality of his condition.
Strengths: I liked the close family connections, the religious practices, and was amazed at the fact that Zaide was still around; when my daughters were Leah's age, my grandmother would have been about 110! Hanging out with cousins, exploring the generations of things in Zaide's house, and dealing with friend drama at school all blend well together in this fast-paced, nicely plotted novel. Elsa is appropriately conniving and understatedly evil, and the twist at the end (which wouldn't be a twist if I were up on my golem lore!) was great. Even though a golem was involved, the rest of the details were very realistic. I enjoyed this one.
Weaknesses: With one exception: Leah was rather bratty. Yes, it's great that she loves her great-grandfather, but her parents are right-- it's adult business, and it doesn't help to have her stamping her feet and slamming doors. Sometimes the elderly need to be in safer environments, and Zaide could have bene moved BEFORE he broke his hip. In real life, this would most likely lead to his hastened death. Remember, my mother died of Parkinson's dementia in an assisted living facility five months ago, so I might be overly sensitive.
What I really think: The cover is great, it's a fast-paced book, and I don't have that many books where Jewish culture and religion is worked into a story that's about something else. This is similar to Respicio's Any Day With You. Still amazed by having GREAT grandparents around, though!