(4.25 stars)
I’m not quite sure how to write about this fascinating book. I don’t read a ton of middle grade books but this one called to me, with its golem theme. And I loved it. While it is meant for a middle grade audience (8-12?), it’s a bit intense, so I would say it probably would be better for the older portion of “middle grade” readers.

Faye and Shiloh (11 and 13 years old) have a Japanese mother and an Ashkenazi Jewish father (much like the author herself). We never meet them in the story, but they are there in the background. They live in Boston and are estranged from their paternal grandfather so they mostly know their mother’s family members. However, they seem to have been given a solid Jewish education. Both of them have been bullied at school for their mixed heritage as well as their Jewishness. In fact, the book opens with Shiloh coming home with a black eye. A final Bar Mitzvah gift arrives at the house and it’s a big carton of clay, sent by their Jewish grandfather in New York City. Their parents decide it’s time for the kids to get to know their Zeyde, so they are sent off to NYC for spring break, with the big box of clay. Faye narrates the story.

It turns out that Faye and Shiloh are descended from golemcrafters. Note: For anyone who doesn’t know what a golem is - it’s an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud. (Thank you to Wikipedia for this brief definition.) Its purpose is to protect the Jewish people. It doesn’t have free will but will do whatever its master/mistress tells it to do. (A mixed blessing, as you may imagine.)

Their grandfather tries to teach them about golemcraft, and shows them how to model the clay. He also teaches them life lessons - the stories he told at the fairytale-themed amusement park disturbed me, even while I could see the truth in what he was explaining to the kids. Faye and Shiloh dream in their sleep and find themselves in other places and times; gradually they understand that they are not in a fantasy world but are witnessing some very traumatic moments in the history of the Jewish people.

I don’t want to say much more but this book will have me thinking about it for quite some time. The author has provided an extensive bibliography at the end, which shows how much research she did. I just may try to find some of those sources to read more about some aspects brought to life in this story.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient, and allowed me to continue with the story even when I could not sit down and read - or when I could not listen. The audiobook was well-narrated by the author herself.

Thank you to Levine Querido and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a review copy of this book and to Recorded Books for the opportunity to listen to a review copy of the audiobook version. All opinions are my own.

I really do appreciate the effort that went into this middle-grade novel about antisemitism and anti-Asian hate. Author Cohen weaves together facets of Japanese and Jewish culture in a way that is very organic and believable, giving readers a handful of decent characters and a narrative centered around justice and survivorship. That said, the story--which has myriad plot holes and is missing context in some places where it seems necessary-- is rough and uneven. The message is clear, but the overall presentation could be improved.

Eleven-year-old Faye doesn't fit in. Not with her Asian classmates (too Jewish for that), not with her Jewish classmates (too Asian), not with the others (they're jerks). To make matters worse, her older brother is dealing with explicitly anti-Semitic bullying, and they're not sure what to do about it. Then, for Shiloh's bar mitzvah, their estranged grandfather sends...a lump of clay. When he shows up, he tells them that the family is a long line of golem-crafters, and the time has come for them to learn the craft as well. In New York, the siblings learn about family history, Jewish history, and the art of golems, all while being transported to an alternate world in their dreams where people are in danger, and if they can learn golemcraft in time, they might just be able to save those people.
I really loved this one. Faye is an excellent narrator, snarky and silly and adorable. Shiloh and their grandfather are equally delightful characters. The author does a really good job of handling sensitive, horrifying history in a way that is easily accessible, even to a middle schooler. This book was crafted with so much love you can feel it in the pages.

Absolutely gorgeous, just like its cover. Emi Watanabe Cohen writes with such beautiful, earnest confidence; her characters feel utterly, utterly real. This is a love letter to storytelling and identity, about growing and learning and magic (despite all the violence of the world) and gah ... no words do this justice. Just read it. Trust me.

This is an incredibly powerful story! Faye and her brother Shiloh learn they are golemcrafters, a power inherited from their ancestors. They spend a week with their formerly estranged grandfather to learn more about their power. When Faye learns she has more power than her brother, she grapples with the responsibility and whether being a golemcrafter can make a difference, particularly in a time of increased antisemitism, which is something both she and Shiloh experience at school. I absolutely loved the parts of the story set in the present-day, and some of the scenes were hilarious. Some of the fantasy/time-travel scenes didn't hold my attention as much and they were quite intense, especially for a middle-grade reader. I think there's some contextualizing that an adult would need to provide for a young reader. Still, there is so much in this book that I related to, and I have no doubt that younger readers will as well. I am so glad this book exists, and I particularly loved that Faye's golemcrafting powers allowed her to connect with her Japanese ancestors as well as her Jewish ones. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well, it's different...heavy reading for kids the age of the main characters (11-13), but unusual. Yona and Shiloh are half Jewish and half Japanese Americans who dream in a privately invented language they call Effalese, which mixes Japanese and Yiddish words. As they enter their teens they learn that their Jewish grandfather has a magical talent he wants to share with them. They learn to shape clay figures that Yona and the grandfather are able to animate and use to do small tasks. In Jewish legend only a few adepts were even imagined to have made a golem do very much. In this story we learn that that's because golems run on ancestral memories. Soon the grandfather's kitchen is crowded with ancestral presences--"Not! Ghosts!" one of them insists--sharing their memories with the family. And at first the kids thought they'd been drawn into a portal fantasy story where they'd be able to rescue others from the danger they're facing, but they soon learn that their dreams are only dragging them through tragic memories. Golems were meant to help protect Jews from religious persecution. The ancestors who share their memories with Yona and Shiloh remember horrible things.

Some young adult stories are easier to recommend to adults than to teenagers. This is one. It's an original and well written fantasy adventure, but not at all what Oz and Narnia readers are looking for.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

When I was a child, I was very much an 'A Series Of Unfortunate Events' kid and not a 'Harry Potter' kid. It was only as I got older that I understood the reasons why. - the inherent Jewishness of the former, and the dearth of such in the latter. 'Golemcrafters' is an inherently Jewish book, and those kinds of books are vital to identity. Any book that gives us a sense of who we are, particularly one situated in a level of trauma, is a marvellously wonderful thing, and when it does not shy away from our cultural and historical context and trauma, it is even more valuable.

Topics like being called 'Anne Frank' in school and the feeling, particularly as a multicultural Jew, of never feeling 'Jewish' enough were points that resonated soundly with me. As an ethnic Jew, it can be so hard to feel connected to your identity, particularly when you're not raised with religion, so this was wonderful to see represented in a book. The storyline is strong too, with a sense of realism woven into fantasy, and a strong mythological base. The book is also impeccably researched and evidenced at the end, which was fantastic to see.

The main characters are well-developed as people, although I do wish we knew a little bit more about them from their surrounding previous context. The ending is not quite as neat as I would have liked, but it makes sense contextually - it would be fabulous to see this book continued in some fashion in the future.

This book is aimed at a YA audience, and while some may be uncomfortable with their children hearing about trauma and the kinds of things that have happened through history, that knowledge is also integral in building empathy and understanding. I really do recommend this for the audience that it is designed for- although, as an adult, I will say reading it was delightful too.

Faye and her older brother Shiloh are both dealing with bullying at school, partly due to their Jewish & Japanese heritage. When Shiloh receives a box of clay from their estranged grandfather, they learn that they come from a long line of golemcrafters. They set off to spend a week with their Zayde in his apartment in New York City to learn more about their family history. While they learn the basics of creating and animating a golem durning the day, at night they travel to what they think is a different world. This powerful book is intense and incredible and a must read for Jewish children grades 5 & up.

While I was familiar with most of what Faye learned, Zayde's lesson on the fairytales really shook me. I am grateful for the bibliography because I want to read more about that.

A bit of a slower start, but really ended up getting into it and enjoying it quite a bit. I found the main character to be a bit frustrating, maybe a little annoying, but had to remember that she's pretty young and her mind maturity makes more sense. I loved the exploration of their family and heritage and I loved learning more about those who are Jewish and their culture. I think the book did a good job with explanations not sounding textbook and integrating them into the story well. Overall, very sweet book. Very interesting and captivating with lovely and real characters. I think that even though the main characters are young, this is a great book for adults as well. I liked how they also added in some humor to break up the heartbreaking moments.

The book Jewish children need right now

Faye and Shiloh, of Jewish and Japanese heritage, come from a very special family: they and their ancestors are golem crafters. During the school holidays, they visit their Zeyde (grandfather) to learn how to make golems from clay, to protect them from bullies at school, snide remarks and antisemitism that is once again surging. A magical journey begins..

I really enjoyed this book. Emi Watanabe Cohen draws on her own mixed heritage and fuses the two cultures into a magical, mystical and very timely narrative. I think that, especially for kids who are facing or noticing the rise in antisemitism (or resurgence, more accurately), this book will be a helpful companion and give them hope and reassurance.

A special feature is the bibliography in the back, which will be very helpful to those wanting to do more reading on the topics discussed in the story.

Highly recommend!

What a unique and amazing read this was! I was attracted to the idea of a middle school book that combined being Jewish and Japanese since my own (adult) children happen to be that very combination. Like other adult readers, I had to remember that this is geared towards middle school readers and try and go with the flow in terms of fantasy. But our two main characters are very distinct and firmly rooted in their own sometimes difficult world. When they visit their Jewish Grandfather, he introduces them to the concept of the golem and the story evolves from there as it explores Jewish history and the importance of family. I wondered it it might not be too much for children of this age, but it is so cleverly thought provoking and it does end on a hopeful note. I hope that my 11 year old grandson will read it and guess what he's getting for Hanukkah this year!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It's excellent and I look forward to more from this author.

Golemcrafters by Emi Watanabe Cohen is a middle grade age children’s book full of fantasy and Jewish mythology. Shiloh receives a gift of clay from a grandfather he has never met. He and his sister, Faye, end up at their grandfather’s apartment in NYC for spring break for an adventure and week of instruction that they will never forget. When the kids drift off to sleep, they find themselves in parallel worlds where they are part of a group of people being pursued and persecuted. During the day, they learn how to fashion golems out of clay and bring them to life.

I would recommend this book for middle age readers and fantasy readers. Jewish and Japanese culture are explored throughout the book. The interactions between the kids and their grandfather show how family dynamics and culture are important to finding who you are.

Thank you Levine Querido and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow, what a hidden treasure of a book! This was incredible and I loved every minute of it. Emi Watanabe Cohen may be a new favorite! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC.

Eleven-year-old Faye Meisel and her older brother, Shiloh, are surprised when their grandfather sends Shiloh a slab of clay for his bar mitzvah. Their Zeyde is a golemcrafter, and he wants to teach his grandchildren the craft. The siblings are driven to NYC to spend spring break with Zeyde. But at night, Shiloh and Faye are transported into a strange parallel world where innocent people are facing violence and bigotry.

At first, the parallel dream-world that Faye and Shiloh visit seems fun, like something in a fantasy story. They meet people who speak to them in "Effalese," a pidgin language the siblings created that has elements of both Japanese and Hebrew. It turns out, though, that there is something much darker going on.

Overall, this was a wonderful, thought-provoking book that blends multiple genres. It's part magical realism, part portal fantasy, part historical fiction. There are a lot of references to fairy tales and other stories that Faye and Shiloh grew up on. I wish there was a better resolution to the bullying, but I'm glad the book didn't just focus on that. 4 and a half out of 5 stars.

This was a very sweet and emotional story, It did a very good job of conveying information and emotions in an easily understandable way, without veering into appearing as preachy or as if it were infodumping. The 3 main characters, Faye, Shiloh and Zeyde, were all very fleshed out and felt like real people, which helped the story feel very immersive. While the beginning was more of a medium pace, the rest of the story flowed very fast, which is ideal for middle grade readers.
My one main issue with the book is that some of the scenes in the 'Otherworld' are perhaps verging on being a bit too graphic, particularly the one that takes place the third night. However, the presence of the scene is instrumental to the story, as it leads to Faye realising what the Otherworld is. Additionally, it is necessary for middle grade readers to learn about even the most brutal parts of history, and the way it is handled in this book is very respectful and responsible. Portraying the atrocities suffered by Jewish people over history through the lens of a sympathetic, young protagonist also helps to highlight just how horrifying these events must have been much more than a simple history lesson ever could. Ultimately, I think it'd be beneficial to add a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that informs readers that there are some depictions of violence within the story.
Overall, I wouldn't exactly say that it was a joy to read, given its dark themes, but it definitely was very interesting and had me hooked from an early point.

"As long as we have our ancestors with us, we're never alone." I cannot think of a line from a book that has ever spoken to me more than that right there. Though I don't have as much in common with Shilo or Faye as I do with some other Jewish main characters, I was completely absorbed by this story and I never wanted it to end.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This book is the future of fiction for Jewish young people, the future of middle grade fantasy, the future of Jewish fantasy in general. I could see Golemcrafters becoming an enduring classic like Over Sea, Under Stone, and I’m going to do my best to help that happen by giving a copy to every Jewish tween and middle school library I have contact with. I want every Jewish kid who in my generation would go to the school library and only see themselves represented in Holocaust books to encounter this entertaining, magical, and powerful book instead. (Hopefully alongside other great ones like Benji Zeb, Finn and Ezra, Black Bird, and The Papercutter.) Not only is this book so deep and complex and beautiful when it comes to the topics of Jewish legacy and ancestry in general, it’s such a well-written page-turner that I read it in an afternoon.

The story is told from the POV of 11-year-old Faye, daughter of a Jewish dad and a Japanese-American mom, and sister to 13-year-old Shiloh, who has just become a Bar Mitzvah. The two siblings have been having a hard time finding their place at their Boston school, their peers declaring them too Jewish, not Jewish enough, too Asian, not Asian enough. Then Shiloh receives a strange Bar Mitzvah gift in the mail - a box of clay from an estranged relative, their father’s father, whom the children have never met. It turns out the clay relates to a special legacy that’s been in their family for generations, and the next thing they know, both siblings are off to New York with their Zeyde (grandfather) for a headspinning mixture of magic lessons and snore-inducing history lectures.

Every night when the children go to sleep, however, they wake up in another world. A world where the sun doesn’t stay fixed in the sky, where the place and time keep changing, and where some of the people speak Effalese, a made-up childhood language combining Japanese and Hebrew that only Faye and Shiloh know. There is fear and violence in this world, and Faye and Shiloh begin to wonder if their newly discovered family legacy is the key to setting things right.

So that’s the beginning of the plot but trust me, whatever you think is going to happen next in this story, there is no way you can predict it all! But every twist and turn still felt so cohesive, both from a literary perspective and as a Jewish reader journeying with Faye and Shiloh on a trip that involved as many internal shifts in identity and emotion as it did unexpected events.

I think this was a perfect book for an adult reader who is open to a young narrator; Faye’s voice felt youthful but in an old-soul kind of way (which is part of her character). The extent of the violence - there aren’t any really drawn-out graphic scenes but there are a significant number of Bad Things that happen (nothing close to SA though) - makes me wonder how young of a reader this would work for. But then I think back to all the Holocaust stuff I read when I was young and remember that kids can handle more than we think as long as it’s contextualized.

If you’re reading this review to decide about whether this book is appropriate for your middle grade or teen kid, I guess I would consider how much violence they’ve already been exposed to in books and television. To give you an idea, the most disturbing thing (in my opinion) that happens in the book is when some children who we don’t know are thrown off a roof and their bleeding bodies land next to Faye when she’s in the other world. But I have to say at the same time that none of the violence feels gratuitous and it’s very important to the unfolding of the story.

If I have to come up with a critique of the book, I would say that the conclusion might not be pat enough for some young readers who are seeking out stories where good always triumphs over evil and all problems can be solved with magic. But for me, this is one of the things that made Golemcrafters so unique and important. As a young Jewish reader I would have come away from this book with a LOT to think about.

Thank you to Levine Querido for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

I guess it's been a minute since I read a middle grade book because it took me a minute to get used to the quick acceptance of the supernatural and unusual. But don't let the middle grade genre fool you. There are some brutal moments in this book.

Faye and her brother, Shiloh, are surprised at a gift for Shiloh's bar mitzvah - a box of clay. They are even more surprised when their father's estranged father shows up. He is not happy that his grandchildren have not been brought up in the old ways, the traditions passed down for generations. Their mother convinces their father, however, to let them go with their grandfather because (how fortuitous) it is school break.

While their grandfather tries to teach them golemcraft and life lessons, Faye and Shiloh find that they are in another place, antoher time. Faye is determined to help her friends that they meet there, and once she finds that she is a powerful golemcrafter, her plan is to use that in the other place. But things don't go quite as planned, and Faye ends up not even wanting her talent.

Can her grandfather, her brother, and their ancestors convince her that she needs to use her talent, not shy away from it?

This ended up being quite the intense book, and while the character- and world-building may be somewhat lacking, I doubt many people don't know the history that led to this point in time, so it's not like it creates confusion. The real gem is the sibling relationship between Faye and Shiloh, which I thought was adequately and compassionately portrayed, from their rivalries to their protectiveness.

I do wish that there had been more closure regarding the father and the grandfather, and I wish that the golem(s) had played a bigger part, but it was a beautiful story nonetheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! This was very Jewish and very cute. I do have personal critiques (I wish this had more Jewish joy), but overall this is a must-read for ethnic and/or religious Jews, be it children or adults. It helped me feel more connected to my own Jewishness, even though I am mainly ethnically Jewish and not typically religious. I don’t know Hebrew, and I seldom go to temple, but I identify with our pain and our joy, and I think all of us can find something in here. Very cute, and I want my own golem, dammit. -4 stars (of David)

Golemcrafters: a magical tradition steeped in Jewish folklore, creating powerful golems from clay

Balancing struggles of fitting in at school with an adventure in another magical world
Explores heritage of Japanese and Jewish background.

Loved seeing a children's story with these elements!