Interesting premise, vivid historical setting, and thought-provoking matters of family and politics

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A historical fiction novel written from the point of view of a 12 year old Jewish girl called Ariel Goldberg whose family is facing business troubles with their family bakery, while her sister Leah elopes in an interracial marriage with an Indian man (Raj) as these marriages are banned by the US Supreme Court in 1967, in the midst of the Civil Rights movement.

A surprisingly diverse range of topics for a book aimed at a somewhat younger, middle school audience. I was very impressed by gravity of subject matter. The books tackles subjects like family strife, financial insecurity, institutional racism, matters of faith, and love. While this may seem like rather heavy material for a middle school and up aimed novel, it is also written in a style that would appeal to someone of a certain range and of course the historical setting is an unusual one for a novel aimed at that age.