Best of the Season: Pesach 2022

Apr 06, 2022

Hey! Welcome to another issue of Frum Books, home of everything related to frum publishing. Pesach’s new releases come with shiny ads and intriguing summaries, but which ones are actually worth your time? Here’s a quick roundup of the best of this season’s releases. Top Picks are books that will be appreciated by the widest audience, read the short description to find the book that best matches your tastes.

Young Readers

3rd to 4th Grade

Time Rock: Will Shabbos Win? (also available on Amazon) - two siblings travel time to the Lower East Side in this adorable frum take on the Magic Treehouse series
Bubby Karp #2 (also available on Amazon) - Bubby and her grandkids fight crime together in a sweet and fast-paced mystery. Can read series out of order
The Story Box (also available on Amazon) - assorted short stories
Popcorn with the President and Jelly Eli Z - great for early readers, follows a third-grader in his amusing exploits
The Hole Truth (also available on Amazon) - 4th-grade boy’s antics get him in trouble until he learns about telling the truth

5th to 7th Grade Girls

Eureka (also available on Amazon) - family deals with a move and gets intertwined with lurking mysteries. Humor and science fiction sprinkled throughout
Catching the Sunrise (also available on Amazon) - classmates learn to support each other through challenges and triumphs
The Secret Diary (also available on Amazon) - high school girls on a Shabbaton tackle a mystery that brings them closer together

5th to 7th Grade Boys

23 Under 1 Roof #10: Scattered Schneiders (also available on Amazon) - massive family gets into hilarious escapades wherever they go, can read series out of order
Mystery at Nightlight Resort - spunky twins follow the clues of an intriguing mystery
Storm Chasers (also available on Amazon) - siblings deal with the aftermath of a hurricane and adventures that follow them
Gedolim in Our Time: Stories about R’ Chaim Kanievsky and R’ Gershon Edelstein (also available on Amazon)

7th to 11th Grade Girls

Out of Step (also available on Amazon) - spoiled teen learns hard truths, delightful, introspective and engaging coming-of-age
Detective by Design - female detectives unravel suspenseful mysteries in the delightful Victorian era
Between Two Worlds - characters fight to bridge the divide in an intriguing dystopian setting
Holding On (also available on Amazon) - sensitive teen learns to move past her grief Adult Fiction

Thriller

Double Agent 1 and Double Agent 2 - fast-moving spy thriller that perfects the “Mossad agent thriller” stereotype. Perfect for teenage boys
Don’t Look Back (also available on Amazon) - balanced version of a mystery/thriller, with female protagonists and some shidduch drama mixed in. From the author of teen novels Never Too Late, Where There’s a Will, Over the Gate
Deception & The Last Lie (also available on Amazon) - thriller with as much family drama as crime and cops. Best to read in order. (Last Lie expected release 4/6/22)

Historical Fiction

Rocking Horse (also available on Amazon) - exquisite writing and nuanced plot. Characters grapple with the incongruity between multiple worlds colliding in changing times. From the author of Map the Starlight, Chains, Sisters Under Seige.
The Last Slave (also available on Amazon) - historical fiction that adds deep emotional threads to a familiar setting. Sophisticated writing with unique and sensitive characters. From the author of Bullied. Intense emotions may not be appropriate for all ages.
Song of Redemption (also available on Amazon) - slow and steady family saga presenting history through four generations’ experiences from the first churban through times of Nechemiah. From the author of Dual Discovery.