Historical Nonfiction

Compiled by antibias antiracist educator Liz Kleinrock and author Caroline Pritchard, this powerful intersectional anthology celebrates thirty-six Jewish heroes—from Tracee Ellis Ross, to Ezra Frech, to Angela Warnick Buchdahl. A first-ever collection that disrupts the narrative of how a Jewish person is perceived, What Jewish Looks Like includes authors' notes, a map, informational sidebars, accessible primers on important Jewish history, quotes, and much more!

"What does Jewish look like?" Well, there are over fifteen million Jews, which means there are more than fifteen million ways to look and be Jewish. It can look like setting out menorahs on tribal land, adding kimchi to the seder plate, cooking up Koshersoul, and living out loud. It can look like anything or anyone.

Shining a light on Paralympians and chefs, anthropologists and activists, dancers and dreamers, the individuals in these pages represent a range of identities. But they are threaded together by one unmistakable truth: They’re all Jewish people whose lives, work, and values have changed our world for the better.

These bold profiles and inspiring everyday stories come together to create a tapestry that beautifully reflects the multifaceted essence of the Jewish people.

As we come across books that are described as having Jewish main characters, we add them to this database. The creators of the Jewish Genre Reading Challenge have not read all (or even most) of the books in this database. We have gathered information from many sources and not all may be accurate. Inclusion of a book in our database does not imply endorsement or approval. There is always the possibility that antisemitism may be present in a book, either written into a character's experience or through malicious or ignorant caricature or stereotypical portrayal of Jewish characters and culture. Please take care of yourselves as you read.

Please let us know if you encounter a book in this database that does not have a Jewish main character, if you have corrections or additions for a book's genre categories, or if you have any other concerns about the inclusion of a particular book in this database.