In Cobalt, by Sue Klauber (Troika, £8.99), we meet again the brave Jewish siblings George, Eva and John, from Klauber’s debut, Zinc, set at the start of the Second World War. Now it is 1942, and athletic George is parachuting into occupied Poland (enduring the Warsaw ghetto and sewers), while Eva is dangerously trapped in Hungary. Codebreaker John’s work in Cairo is the most fascinating, because it’s the least familiar: his team is setting up a fake battle force to mislead Rommel. Klauber ably handles the challenge of creating empathy for an adult cast in a book that is more suitable for teenagers than children, using flashbacks and reminiscences, and demonstrating how the siblings’ contrasting personality traits, evident since childhood, enable them to help the war effort. Age 13 up.
Other babies are born “cooing and pooing” but genius Dexter Procter speaks up and chooses his own name in the delivery room. By the age of ten, he’s a doctor. Dexter Procter the 10-Year-Old Doctor (Penguin Random House, £) is Adam Kay’s funniest children’s book yet, and readers can learn snippets of biology, the Hungarian for slug and other handy nuggets as they go. With a diagnosis style akin to Sherlock Holmes interpreting clues, Dexter finds his niche in paediatrics but requires vast quantities of baked beans and a hi-tech moustache to defeat arch-enemy Dr Drake. And what is making the teachers at Dexter’s old school ill? Dexter is on the case. A rollicking good tale, enhanced by Henry Paker’s entertaining illustrations. Age seven up.
The fascination of seeing Sesame Street characters living Jewishly never grows old. Ever wanted to see Grover wearing a kippah? Then Shabbat Shalom Grover by Joni Kibort Sussman (Kar Ben, £7.50) is the board book for you. The blue furry monster and his family clean the house, set the table, make brachot and enjoy Shabbat dinner, with easy-to-read sentences beneath Tom Leigh’s bright and friendly illustrations.
Miri is moving house, and her Yeh-Yeh (Mandarin/Cantonese for paternal grandpa) and Zeyde are helping her get used to the idea. Miri’s Moving Day by Adam R. Chang and Stephanie Wildman (Kar Ben, £) is a comforting story about coping with change. It celebrates families with dual heritage, while introducing the concepts of a mezuzah and of Chinese guardian lion statues (touchingly, Yeh-Yeh gives Miri the mezuzah; Zeyde, the lions). Dream Chen’s illustrations are full of enchanting domestic detail. Age up to seven.
