Just A Hat
Joseph Nissan’s bar mitzvah kicks off a turbulent school year in 1979, the year when Americans were taken hostage in revolutionary Iran. Joseph’s parents immigrated to America from Iran, and the mystery of why is a problem for Joseph to solve in their small Texas town. Joseph learns more about his parents, what it means to be an Iranian Jew born in America, and that people are not always what they seem, even the bullies. Action-packed, humorous, and a little sad, "Just a Hat" considers the challenges to immigrants, but more pointedly, second-generation children who find themselves “translators,” claimed and defined by two impossibly different cultures.
Finalist for the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards in the YA category
Kirkus starred review and Kirkus Best Reviews of 2023
Winner of the Writer's League of Texas Discovery Award
Tablet Magazine Best Jewish Children's Books of 2024
Recommended by Book of Life for Jewish American Heritage Month 2024
Top Reads of 2023: The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature.
Just A Hat
Joseph Nissan’s bar mitzvah kicks off a turbulent school year in 1979, the year when Americans were taken hostage in revolutionary Iran. Joseph’s parents immigrated to America from Iran, and the mystery of why is a problem for Joseph to solve in their small Texas town. Joseph learns more about his parents, what it means to be an Iranian Jew born in America, and that people are not always what they seem, even the bullies. Action-packed, humorous, and a little sad, "Just a Hat" considers the challenges to immigrants, but more pointedly, second-generation children who find themselves “translators,” claimed and defined by two impossibly different cultures.
Finalist for the 73rd National Jewish Book Awards in the YA category
Kirkus starred review and Kirkus Best Reviews of 2023
Winner of the Writer's League of Texas Discovery Award
Tablet Magazine Best Jewish Children's Books of 2024
Recommended by Book of Life for Jewish American Heritage Month 2024
Top Reads of 2023: The Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature.