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My children (BH) are avid readers, enjoy fiction and happily read books of considerable length. I am looking for books, novels, fiction, historical fiction that are interesting (primarily for teens) and contain strong/positive Jewish messages e.g., with Jewish characters/stories based on tradition/history, based on Jewish values, etc. I think this would be a great asset in contributing towards their chinuch.

From the little that I've seen online, there seems to be nothing/little of such a description; there are some holocaust-related historical fictions and Anne Frank's diary. There are plenty of good (and terrible) children's books, but nothing more serious and high quality for older children/teens or adults. It would be wonderful if my kids could (re-)direct their time to reading books which are compelling and interesting but also have a strong Jewish message.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions?

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    I don't think this qualifies as on topic for this site. But there are many novels written by and for Jews. Check out Yair Weinstock, Libbey Lazewink etc.
    – N.T.
    Commented Aug 15, 2023 at 17:35
  • @N.T. recommendations for Jewish books with Jewish contents for the purposes of chinuch is off topic?
    – bondonk
    Commented Aug 15, 2023 at 21:52
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    I assue you are familiar with Avner Gold's Strassburg series, 12 books, which I overall found of very high quality
    – mbloch
    Commented Aug 15, 2023 at 22:47
  • @bondonk I wouldn't trust those books with chinuch. If you want to give your kids something to read that's not full of non-Jewish values, that's ok, but I wouldn't trust novel writers with actual "chinuch". Best case scenario, they're just regular people out to make a living. Worst case scenario, Chaim Walder ym"sh. And a lot of them have plots ripped out of non-Jewish books. I once read a book with its main plot taken from Agatha Christie's Destination Unknown.
    – N.T.
    Commented Aug 16, 2023 at 0:55
  • bondonk It's definitely not off topic, but I think it is Primarily Opinion Based which is a close reason provided, cc @N.T.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Aug 21, 2023 at 1:20

2 Answers 2

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There are a plethora of options available courtesy of the Jewish publishers, you just need to know where to look.

Feldheim have a section for 13-18 year olds here featuring fiction (e.g No. 186, A Tale of Two Sisters) and historical fiction (e.g. Akiva, Bustenai) etc.

On the Artscroll site you can also filter books for older kids here

Mosaica Press you can likewise filter here including a historical novel of Yonah and fictional novel entitled Royal Challenge

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I've found the books of Rabbi Meir Uri Gottesman to be a fantastic read. They are written as fiction, but contain many pearls of Yiras Shamayim and kedushah. He liberally adds thoughts of chasiddus and kabbalah throughout his works. My personal favorites are Deep Blue and The Morning Star. You will not be disappointed.

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