In The Syn­a­gogue Speaks, a 166-year-old build­ing tells its his­to­ry. The per­son­i­fied build­ing is full of emo­tions. It is hap­py when it is full, used and it sees chil­dren. At one point, half of the synagogue’s first con­gre­ga­tion dis­agrees with the move to allow women to have a more involved role in the con­gre­ga­tion. They leave and build their own tem­ple a block away. Their break embar­rass­es the build­ing. The build­ing is child­ish­ly con­fused and hurt by the demo­graph­ic changes that make its Ger­man-Jew­ish, then Chris­t­ian Ortho­dox Lithuan­ian, then Ukrain­ian- Jew­ish pop­u­la­tions leave the build­ing and neigh­bor­hood to search for what they believe are bet­ter lives in green­er and, pre­sum­ably, wealth­i­er areas. It is an inter­est­ing approach to tell the many-lay­ered eth­nic his­to­ry of Bal­ti­more, Mary­land and the Unit­ed States through the point of view of a build­ing wit­ness­ing life around it. Baltimore’s demo­graph­ic shift of Jews out of the city is expert­ly explained by the asso­ciate direc­tor of the Jew­ish Muse­um of Mary­land. It is a sto­ry repeat­ed often as Jews move out of urban cores. Read­ers any­where can use the book to reflect on demo­graph­ic shifts in their own area and the dynam­ics and his­to­ry behind them as told by build­ings which were often torn down, turned into church­es or, some­times, made into muse­ums. The sepia toned, well-researched images clear­ly con­vey by-gone eras. Many, though, are dark. The illustrator’s paint­ing tech­nique ren­ders the fig­ures over­ly splotchy and awk­ward. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 4 – 10.