There are lots of ways to kick off a sweet new year, and Rosh Hashanah has many traditional foods for doing so deliciously. In A Turkish Rosh Hashanah, written by Etan Basseri and illustrated by Zeynep Özatalay, we’re taken back to old Istanbul to join young Rafael and his cousins on a holiday errand. But what starts as a simple shopping trip for pomegranates and leeks becomes a more epic mission than the kids had planned.
We love sharing this story of Jews in old-world Turkey. Readers get a glimpse of a family’s plans for a Rosh Hashanah seder meal that involves wishes and fishes. Özatalay’s illustrations make the marketplace feel close enough to smell. Basseri has woven in some words of Ladino, the Spanish/Hebrew language many Sephardic Jews still proudly speak today. But far from being a social studies textbook, A Turkish Rosh Hashanah offers the fun, endearing story of kids facing fears, handling bullies, and meeting some … heroic stray cats?
We’re excited to share this book by Etan Basseri and proud to have him as one of the inaugural fellows of PJ Library’s Sephardic Stories Initiative.
August 6, 2026