16 Titles To Expand Jewish Representation in your Classroom Library

After scanning the shelves of my classroom library, I realized that almost all of the books by Jewish authors or featuring Jewish protagonists were connected to the Holocaust (similarly, a lower grades teacher might find that their books are all connected to the Jewish holidays). Since that realization, I have been working to expand the representation of Jewish experiences in my classroom library.

Below you'll find books by Jewish authors, recommended by middle and high school ELA teachers, for you to feature in your classroom library. Click on the Instagram handle of the person recommending the book to read their recommendation.

Themed Literature Circles: Facing Fear

Literature circles are a wonderful way to diversify the texts you are using in your classroom and incorporate student choice. Even just offering two choices instead of a whole class novel can be a nice change of pace. Literature circle texts can be chosen based on theme (growing up, testing friendships), genre (fantasy, memoir), or even an event in history (the Industrial Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement). When selecting texts, you’ll want to consider the number of choices you feel comfortable managing in your classroom. Once you’ve decided on a number, you’ll want to offer a range of reading levels, lengths and identities and experiences of the characters in the books. Below are the texts I’ve used in my sixth grade classroom with success for the theme of “facing fear.”