Before I dive in, I want to do a little housekeeping.
I meant to write and publish this review during May when it was Jewish American Heritage Month, but with starting a new job, too many family events occurring within two weeks, and the ghastly massacre in Udalve—obviously this got delayed.
Since then, it’s been sitting in my drafts box, waiting to be shared, and after publishing my special anniversary series along with my intermittent leave from posting, I have no idea where this week’s rotation lands. I have a funny feeling we should be on a regular musings post, but after the three part series, I felt a book review would be a nice change of pace to get back in the swing of things.
That said, let’s get on with it!
Anya and the Nightingale is a delightful middle grade book full of wonder and whimsy, chocked full of Jewish influences from religious traditions and folklore. It is also the second book in Sofiya Pasternack’s Anya series.
Why am I skipping book one then? Well, I first read Anya and the Dragon back in 2019, but unfortunately, as that was the same chaotic year of my wedding and hiatus, I did not share a review of that book. I think the thoughts I shared on Twitter speak for themselves as to how I felt about the first book in the series.
As excited as I was to read her second installment, Anya and the Nightingale was released during the middle of 2020, and like everyone, I’m still catching up with all that’s happened in the past decade—err, it’s only been two years—but oh, how I wished I had read this when the world started to fall apart!
The book begins with Anya preparing for Sukkot by building her family’s sukkah. However, her preparations get put on hold when she learns her father will not be returning from the war. She instead goes off on a quest to bring him home. Like any good fairy tale, though, her plans again get derailed when she is magically sent to Kiev and gets wrapped up with the princess’s need to capture the Nightingale who is terrorizing her citizens. When Anya and her friends learn the Nightingale is not what it seems, they uncover a dark secret about the tsar, but you’ll have to read it for yourself to learn whether our heroine’s misadventures bring her father home in time for Sukkot.
Sofiya masterfully writes a tale which would inspire any young tweener to stand up for what’s right, to be themselves, and also there is courage in allowing oneself to heal from the terrors of one’s past. I don’t think she had any idea her book with a heroine suffering from PTSD would release in the middle of a time when our children were suffering from unprecedented difficulties not expected at their ages brought on by something like a global pandemic. I think having someone to look up to like Anya, to read her story during such a scary time, would be comforting to know that their fears and struggles were as real as they felt and they, too, could heal.
There is also a character who is mute and can only speak through sign language. What’s excellent, though, is how the other characters adapt and try to communicate with him though they are unable to sign. It’s incredibly moving for me as someone who grew up with a mother who was hard of hearing, and who taught me sign language as she had studied it not knowing she might need it for herself one day. My husband, too, had a cousin would could only communicate through sign language, and we even use it some with each other when the need arises. It’s a language which I think needs more recognition because of the ease it allows you to communicate with one another, especially to bridge gaps to those with needs unlike our own so they can feel as included as everyone else.
What I love best about Sofiya’s Anya, though, is how unapologetically Jewish she is.
In each of her books, there is a blatantly Jewish moment where the main character must observe her Jewishness—and it all focuses on Shabbat. (It could be fan service of some kind, but I don’t care.)
In Anya and the Dragon, Anya teaches her friend Ivan how to braid challah as she makes it in preparation for Shabbat. In Anya and the Nightingale, Anya gets invited to a local rabbi’s house—by his extremely handsome son, Misha—for Erev Shabbat dinner. Both of these moments are two of my favourite chapters in all her books, especially the Erev Shabbat dinner scene when the local rebbetzin and yentas are kvelling over Anya, then someone slips and asks if she’s going to marry Misha. Reading that moment made me do a B”H that I’m married now and don’t have to endure that anymore. I cringed with second hand embarrassment for Anya!
Each book, too, centers around a different Jewish holiday: first Shavuot, then Sukkot. These are some lesser known holidays, and I enjoy seeing them represented as the joyful, familial celebrations they are.
I will note there are also some loose threads, I think, which could be setting up for a third book, which makes me extremely excited!
These are the books I wish I could have read as a little girl; full of danger and adventure and the power of friendship, of being true to yourself. They are the books I hope to read one day to my daughter (or son) so she can grow up in a world knowing she’s not alone.
If there is one thing I could tell Sofiya about how impactful her books are to me, even in adulthood, it’s that now whenever I’m baking my Shabbat challah, I find myself thinking of her analogy from book one of rolling the strands of dough into little snakes as I knead and braid my loaves. I can’t wait to share these books with my children one day. I’m sure they’ll love them even more than I have.
Thank you, Sofiya, for helping shape a better future for our tomorrows.
What book have you read lately that you wished you had discovered in your youth? Let me know in the comments below!
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What’s on my Shelf: In the Labyrinth of Drakes
An Opportunity for Heroism
Good Intentions
New Year Reflections
