Pamela Ehrenberg

Hanukkah can be celebrated in many different and delicious ways.

As Hanukkah approaches, a young boy is reluctant to let his little sister, who loves to climb, help make dosas, a fried Indian delicacy. The boy attends Hebrew school—his father is Jewish—and shops for Indian food with his Indian mother and grandmother. The only way to get his little sister, Sadie, down from chairs at home and stacks of canned food in the market is to sing a variation of the dreidel song: “I had a little dosa; I made it out of dal.” He is happy in his blended family, happy to help with the food preparations, and happy to keep singing the song to Sadie. A warm-spirited double-page spread of the family unfolds with the many pots and pans needed to fry the dosas sitting on the stove and little Sadie wearing her dreidel costume. When the family goes outside to greet guests, the door locks behind them, and only one small girl can get inside to open the door. The illustrations are bright and cheerful with endpapers that are a mouthwatering display of ingredients for Indian food.

A delightful culinary adventure celebrates traditional Indian food as part of a Jewish holiday. (recipes) (Picture book. 3-6)

-Kirkus Review… (more)

I had a hard time wanting to continue reading this book because it wasn't my type of book. I like mystery/action packed books. This book wasn't action packed at all and I has a hard time tying the title in with the book. The title is "Ethan, Suspended" ,but he wasn't technically suspended. His mom just wasn't ready to be a mom at the time. I kind of thought it would be refeing to the trouble he got into at school, but the school didn't suspend him his mom made him live with his grandparents for a while. Over all, I didn't like this book because I hate reading books that tell stories about their life mostly centered around school. This book would apply to someone with special interests. Q3P2 AHS/Kierra M… (more)

This is a very good sophomore effort by author Pamela Ehrenberg, describing the story of an arson on a house in a remote Appalachian town, and how it affected the rest of the community. Although there were many narrators, each had a distinct voice and I had no trouble keeping track of them. I thought the voice and character of Albert, a teenager with high-functioning autism, was particularly well done. (I've got Asperger's Syndrome myself.) The author also made excellent use of the rural West Virginia setting -- so many YA books are set in a Generic Suburb Near You.

This is the first of Ehrenberg's books I've read, but her second published novel. I will keep an eye out for her other one and hope it will be as good as this one.… (more)