Brother’s Keeper and Toledano in the Press!

I was thrilled to see Brother’s Keeper listed on Erika Dreifuss’ “My Year in Jewish Books”, alongside so many other towering works. Erika described our book as “an exquisite creation”. Wow! Very cool!  Erika is the author of Birthright: Poems (2019) and Quiet Americans: Stories, a short-story collection inspired by the experiences of her grandparents, German Jews who escaped Nazi persecution and immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s.  She is also the editor and publisher of The Practicing Writer, a popular free e-newsletter that features opportunities and resources for writers and poets.

I was also thrilled to see José and the Pirate Captain Toledano highlighted in Miranda Lapides’ The Shabbat Drop, her weekly newsletter, in a recent post highlighting five works of Jewish fiction she particularly enjoyed in 2023.  Ms. Lapides wrote: “Pirates, adventure, and Jewish pride.  What more could you ask for?!  I almost didn’t buy it because it looked like it was geared towards kids, but I was so intrigued by the story, I had to read it!  Set against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition, this exciting story with colorful illustrations will capture your heart and make you proud to be Jewish, and effectively, different.  It also made me want to do a deep dive on Jewish pirates, perhaps for a future Drop?!”

Ms. Lapides had previously mentioned José and the Pirate Captain Toledano in an article she wrote for Jewish Unpacked about some of her discoveries at JewCE, the Jewish comics convention in New York City this past November!  She highlighted three books she found at JewCE that she thought were particularly special, one of which was Toledano!!  She wrote that this “adventure teaches readers about the real forgotten Jewish pirates of history — when Jews turned to piracy to escape persecution — and also imparts a valuable lesson about finding one’s purpose and forming bonds in unlikely places.”

And, in case you missed it, I was recently a guest on Torah Smash: The Podcast for Nerdy Jews, talking Loki season 2 and its Jewish connections and parallels!  I hope readers of this blog will give it a listen!!  You can find Torah Smash wherever you listen to your podcasts!  (Be sure to stay tuned until the very end to hear the TVA’s favorite hamentaschen flavor…!)

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