What has roots, leaves, and stories all over? Your family tree!
PJ Library loves telling stories. But some stories we can’t tell — only you can. These are the stories of your family, passed down from generation to generation or ones you’re creating year after year as you raise your children. PJ Library is delighted to offer a family tree kit to subscribers ages four to eight this December to help tell your family stories. Our younger subscribers will receive a special memory book.
Here are videos, websites, books, and songs to help you dig deeper and learn more.
Watch
The videos below review terminology about lineage and geneaology and also talk about all the ways people make families.
Brush Up On The Basics:
What Makes a Family a Family? via Tab Time
Blended Families via Sesame Street in Communities
Research
There are tons of online resources that can help you dig deep as you plant your family tree. We suggest the following:
- General Genealogy Research:
- Specialized Jewish Genealogical Sites and Organizations:
Tell Your Stories
As you create a family tree and share stories, check out StoryCorps, the public service project aimed at gathering and sharing stories to build connections between people and create a more just and compassionate world. In addition to featuring beautifully told stories, the website offers a list of Great Questions to elicit family stories.
To ask a grandparent:
Where did you grow up?
What was your childhood like?
Do you remember songs you used to sing mom/dad growing up?
For a child to ask you:
Do you know what my name (or nickname) means?
What was I like when I was younger?
What is your favorite memory with me?
Read
PJ Library Books:
Jillian is wary of spending any time with Bubbe, her new stepdad’s mom. What will her Noni and Gram think? But Bubbe’s matzo ball soup sparks an idea to bring everyone together, and Jillian learns there’s always room for more family.
Poor Leon! He thinks his name is old-fashioned, and he wants to go by a new one. But then Saba shares with him a book about the long line of Leons in his Sephardic family. Maybe there’s more to Leon’s name than he knew…
Mira’s wish for a baby in the family comes true, but who knew how much noise she would make? No matter what Mira and her parents do, the baby’s reaction is WAAAA. On the day of her simchat bat (Jewish welcoming ceremony for a baby girl) Mira finallyfinds the answer to all the wailing!
Mr. and Mrs. Stein and their two sons eagerly adopt a baby girl from Vietnam into their Jewish home.
PJ Our Way Titles:
Bubbe’s famous matzo ball soup isn’t just delicious and comforting –Ellie’s pretty sure it's also magical. But will Ellie’s wishes over the soup pot be enough to save her family’s deli?
His mom calls him Yaakov. His dad calls him Jacob. He answers to Jake when he’s with his friends. Regardless of his name, Jake's ready to escape his complicated life for an awesome summer at Camp Gershoni and he’s got just the plan to pull it off…
As the only Black girl at Hebrew school, Imani’s less than curious about her adoptive family’s Jewish history, and more than a little curious about her own. How can she find out about her birth family without hurting her mom’s feelings?
It’s going to be tough for Reuven to face a new year at school and his new teacher — especially now that his best friend has moved away. Luckily, there’s a new kid in Reuven’s class. And there’s something very familiar about him…
Listen
Sing and dance to songs about family! Hit "play" on our playlist below:
More
Books That Celebrate All Types of Families
Talk it Over: What Makes a Family?
What is L'dor V'dor?
August 29, 2024