Sword Catch­er by Cas­san­dra Clare

“Among the dif­fer­ent peo­ples of Castel­lane are the Ashkar, who are required to dress dif­fer­ent­ly and live sep­a­rate­ly. The Ashkar were once the peo­ple of Aram, back when mag­ic was still avail­able to all. After the Sun­der­ing, Queen Adas­sa of Aram removed mag­ic from the world. The only mag­ic left — known as​‘Gema­try,’ and con­sist­ing of tal­is­mans, charms, and heal­ing — is per­formed by the Ashkar.” ‑Inger Saphire-Bernstein

Check out the sequel: The Rag­pick­er King!

The Sins on Their Bones by Lau­ra R. Samotin

“This is a world in which the Ashke­nazi and Slav­ic cul­tures of the Russ­ian Empire have been col­lapsed into one fan­ta­sy cul­ture (the cap­i­tal city is called Rav-Mikhail­burg, rather than St. Peters­burg; the vocab­u­lary is a mix of Russ­ian and Hebrew; and Alex­ey gains pow­er through a Rasputin-esque cor­rup­tion of kab­bal­is­tic mys­ti­cism). But the real pur­pose of the set­ting is to pro­vide a height­ened aes­thet­ic back­drop for the tor­ment­ed romance between two men with fun­da­men­tal­ly incom­pat­i­ble goals.” ‑Sacha Lamb

And check out the sequel: The Lure of Their Graves!

A Prac­ti­cal Guide to Dat­ing a Demon by Han­nah Reynolds

“What should you do when you’ve acci­den­tal­ly con­jured your hith­er­­to-fake demon boyfriend? Han­nah Reynolds’s newest young adult fan­ta­sy nov­el drops read­ers into pro­tag­o­nist Naomi’s predica­ment imme­di­ate­ly. A new stu­dent at the Lyceum, a mag­i­cal col­lege based in the bustling city of Talum, Nao­mi is strug­gling to fend off suit­ors who pur­sue her because of her aunt’s high posi­tion in the gov­ern­ing body, the San­hedrin.” ‑Simona Zaretsky

The Pome­gran­ate Gate by Ariel Kaplan

“This first book of the Mir­ror Realm Cycle series, Ariel Kaplan invites read­ers into a com­plex, ful­ly real­ized uni­verse. Com­bin­ing his­to­ry and fan­ta­sy, the nov­el fol­lows Jew­ish char­ac­ters who are reject­ed and relent­less­ly pur­sued by the world of Chris­t­ian Spain. A young Jew­ish woman named Toba enters the realm of the Maziks, mag­i­cal crea­tures with pow­ers men­ac­ing enough to rival those of the Inqui­si­tion.” ‑Emi­ly Schneider

The Unfin­ished Cor­ner by Dani Col­man, illus­trat­ed by Rachel Petrovicz

“A school trip for four pre­teens morphs into a mys­ti­cal mis­sion to com­plete the leg­endary unfin­ished cor­ner of the world. Why does this cor­ner even exist? In the words of Kotzk­er Rebbe,​“God left one lit­tle cor­ner in dark­ness so that we may hide in it!” Accord­ing to Jew­ish eso­teric texts includ­ing midrash (Hebrew scrip­ture com­men­taries) and kab­bal­ah (Jew­ish mys­ti­cal writ­ings), the cor­ner is a cold, dark, drea­ry, demon-infest­ed place that needs some fix­ing up.” ‑Helen Weiss Pincus

Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydoros

“Root­ed in folk­lore and mys­ti­cism, Wrath Becomes Her cen­ters on Jew­ish fight­ers and insists on sur­vival.” ‑Jaime Herndon

The Lost Ryū by Emi Watan­abe Cohen

“The nov­el takes place in 1960s Japan, where ten-year-old Kohei Fuji­wara is try­ing to make sense of his dam­aged fam­i­ly: a father who died, a moth­er under stress, and an ill, angry grand­fa­ther. When an Amer­i­can girl of mixed Japan­ese and Jew­ish ances­try moves into their build­ing, he learns that he is not alone in his con­fu­sion.” ‑Emi­ly Schneider

The Wolf and the Woods­man by Ava Reid

“Rich with vivid descrip­tion, fan­tas­ti­cal mon­sters, and mag­ic unmatched by most oth­er books for its pure phys­i­cal­i­ty, this sto­ry may be strong­ly influ­enced by Jew­ish folk­lore — but the voice is orig­i­nal, per­haps as it’s refresh­ing­ly female. What will con­tin­ue to strike a chord with read­ers long after they have put the book down is the deter­mi­na­tion of the pro­tag­o­nist to flour­ish regard­less of per­son­al cost.” ‑Hazel McNul­ty Czapsky

A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma

“Through­out the nar­ra­tive Bina strug­gles with feel­ings of betray­al toward her moth­er. Bina repeat­ed­ly tries to reach out to her despite the anger she feels, believ­ing her mother’s weak­ness is to blame for her present sit­u­a­tion. The book exam­ines the com­plex­i­ties of a moth­­er-daugh­­ter rela­tion­ship bur­dened by past mis­takes. We are left with the feel­ing that, only by accept­ing the faults of oth­ers, can we embrace the future.” ‑Hazel McNul­ty Czapsky

The Way Back by Gavriel Savit

“In Gavriel Savit’s mag­i­cal real­ist nov­el The Way Back, two young Jews, Yehu­da Leib and Bluma, strug­gle to return from the thresh­old of death, and to under­stand the mean­ing of los­ing loved ones who will not suc­ceed in this escape. Set in a shtetl and pop­u­lat­ed by every vil­lage type — from the wise rab­bi to the sin­is­ter col­lab­o­ra­tor who kid­naps Jews for the Tsar’s army — the nov­el envelops read­ers in a thick tapes­try of the Ashke­naz­ic past.” ‑Emi­ly Schneider

Anya and the Drag­on by Sofiya Pasternack

“Anya Miroslavov­na Kozlov con­fronts sev­er­al moral dilem­mas as a Jew­ish girl liv­ing among Chris­tians in tenth cen­tu­ry Rus­sia. Accord­ing to tra­di­tion, she is respon­si­ble for her actions, as she is soon to turn twelve years old and become a bat mitz­vah; the choic­es she must make weigh heav­i­ly on her young shoul­ders. Some seem straight­for­ward — bak­ing chal­lah is def­i­nite­ly more impor­tant than hunt­ing drag­ons.” ‑Emi­ly Schneider

Spin­ning Sil­ver by Nao­mi Novik

“Miryem is the daugh­ter and grand­daugh­ter of money­len­ders, but her father’s inabil­i­ty to col­lect his debts has left his fam­i­ly on the edge of pover­ty — until Miryem takes mat­ters into her own hands. Hard­en­ing her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a rep­u­ta­tion for being able to turn sil­ver into gold.” ‑From the Publisher