TIA FORTUNA’S NEW HOME: A JEWISH CUBAN JOURNEY
Read More…
New Year, New Beginnings: Picture Books for Children and Adults to Enjoy on the High Holidays
Read More…
Letters from Cuba is included in the Kirkus list of 7 Stellar Middle-Grade Reads for Young Feminists by Laura Simeon, March 23, 2022
Read more…
Ilana Bensussen Epstein, Ruth Behar: An ‘Anthropologist of Homesickness’, February 6, 2022
Read more…
Tía Fortuna’s New Home by Ruth Behar: A glowing memento of Cuban-Jewish Miami and Sephardic History by Hannah S. Pressman, February 3, 2022
Read more…
Tía Fortuna’s New Home is included in Kirkus Reviews List of 40 Most Anticipated Books of 2022
Read more…
Tía Fortuna’s New Home is on the January/February 2022 Kids’ Indie Next list
Read more…
Tía Fortuna’s New Home is included in The 2022 Ultimate List of Diverse Children’s Books by Here Wee Read
Read more…
Roger Sutton’s Five Questions for Ruth Behar
Read more…
Reading With Your Kids Podcast Interview With Ruth Behar
Read more…
A conversation about being Cuban-American writers with Margarita Engle:
Read more…
A fascinating look at the story behind the story! Learn what inspired Ruth to write Letters from Cuba:
Read more…
A fascinating look at the story behind the story! Learn what inspired Ruth to write Letters from Cuba:
Read more…
Ruth is elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, April 22, 2021.
Read more…
Yiddish Book Center: “Geographies of the Soul” with Marjorie Agosín and Ruth Behar
Read more…
Ruth Behar in the cross maps of a grandmother and her granddaughter
Read more…
Alan Gratz, author of Refugee, Interviews Ruth Behar, author of Letters from Cuba! in School Library Journal
Read more…
Letters from Cuba is on the Kirkus list of Best MIddle Grade Historical Fiction of 2020
Read More…
Letters from Cuba is on the Chicago Public Library List of Best Fiction for Older Readers of 2020
Read More…
Letters from Cuba is on the Kirkus list of Best Middle Grade Fiction of 2020
Read More…
Letters from Cuba is on the list of Antiracist Reading For All Ages, a resource from the Penguin Classroom:
Read More…
Middle Grade Fiction
New deals for November 10, 2020
Pura Belpre Award-winning author Ruth Behar’s THE STORY I SING TO YOU, in which daughters from several generations of a family seek freedom during revolutionary times – from 15th-century Spain to 20th-century Turkey and Cuba, ending in 21st century Miami, to Nancy Paulsen at Nancy Paulsen Books, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2022, by Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media Group (NA).
Ruth Behar is the author of Letters from Cuba, a new middle grade novel for kids.
Read more…
A Lesson in Hope: Children’s Authors Who Are Teachers During Covid-19
Read More…
To Cuba, With Gratitude: Local Author Recalls the Island as a Haven for Jews in New Book
Read More…
A Lesson in Hope: Children’s Authors Who Are Teachers During Covid-19
Read More…
Ruth Behar on How Being a Lucky Broken Girl Made Her a Best-Selling Author
Listen Here…
Otra Vez Más: Explaining My Cuban Jewish Identity by Ruth Behar
I have been explaining my identity ever since I arrived as a child immigrant to New York in the early 1960s.
Read More…
Ruth’s picture book, Tía Fortuna’s New Home, was bought at auction by Karen Greenberg at Knopf and will be illustrated by Devon Holzwarth. The book follows a Sephardic Jewish girl and her great-aunt who is leaving her beloved Miami home to begin a new chapter of her life. Publication is scheduled for Spring, 2022. Alyssa Eisner Henkin at Trident Media represented the author, and Nicole Tugeau at Tugeau 2 represented the illustrator.
Read More…
Mentoring an ESL student by reading Lucky Broken Girl during the pandemic
Minnie is an adorable girl in ninth grade. We have been working together on English as a second language for about a year. Minnie had about a fourth grade level in English when we first started.
Read More…
The William Allen White Children’s Book Award has selected Lucky Broken Girl as one of its nominees for the 2019-2020 award!
In this unforgettable multicultural coming-of-age narrative—based on the author’s childhood in the 1960s—a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie’s plight will intrigue readers, and her powerful story of strength and resilience, full of color, light, and poignancy, will stay with them for a long time.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is a Nominee for the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award for 2019-2020!
Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro’s Cuba to New York City. Just when she’s finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English –and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood’s hopscotch queen – a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined to her bed for a long recovery.
Read More…
Ruth Behar has received The 2018 Pura Belpré Author Award for Lucky Broken Girl !
The Pura Belpré Awards are co-sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), and REFORMA, the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking. Established in 1996, the awards are presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth. Read More…
Ruth Behar reacts to the news of the Pura Belpré Author Award for Lucky Broken Girl Click for video!
Lucky Broken Girl is featured on this 2019 NYPL reading list to #ReadHarder! It’s under the category “A book by a woman and/or AOC (Author of Color) that won a literary award in 2018.”
Read More…
Writer Spotlight: Ruth Behar Finds Herself
Read More…
18 Diverse Jewish Children’s Books to Read for MLK Day — and Every Day
Read More…
Ypsi Family Read: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl selected by Association of Jewish Libraries for “Love Your Neighbor” book list:
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl included in list of books to read if you loved Wonder!
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is about so much more than you think… An Interview with Ruth Behar.
Read More…
Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar A book that is almost entirely told from the perspective of a young girl stuck in a full body cast for months upon months should be boring.
Read More…
Book Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl has been recognized as an Honorable Mention for the 2018 Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. The winning books will be honored at a ceremony on September 28, 2018 during Hispanic Heritage Month at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is a finalist for the 5th Annual New York Historical Society Children’s History Book Prize. Read More…
Children’s History Book Prize Finalist: Ruth Behar on Lucky Broken Girl Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is an ALA Notable Children’s Book.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl has been chosen to be on the 2018 list of Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People. This is an annual reading list of exceptional books for use in social studies classrooms, selected by social studies educators through the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council (CBC).
Read More…
Antropóloga de U-M gana premio por libro destacando experiencia Latinx, February 16, 2018.
Read More…
Click here for more information.
2018 Youth Media Awards Announced, February 15, 2018.
Top books, video, and audiobooks for children and young adults revealed at Midwinter in Denver.
Read More…
U-M Anthropologist earns award for book highlighting Latinx Experience, February 15, 2018.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is on VOYA’s Top Shelf Fiction List for Middle School Readers.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is a PJ Our Way Selection.
When Ruthie moves to New York from Cuba the other kids think she’s stupid because she doesn’t know much English. Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl has been selected for the Children’s Book Council showcase “Be Brave, Persist, Survive!”
We are showcasing stories that remind kids of how brave they are every time they face their fears and save themselves. Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is a 2017 National Jewish Book Award Children’s Literature Finalist!
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is included in “A Mighty Girl’s 2017 Books of the Year”.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is one of @ShelfAwareness’ Best Middle Grade Books of 2017!
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl chosen as one of the “100 MUST READ CHILDREN’S BOOKS SET IN NEW YORK CITY” by Book Riot, December 13, 2017.
Read More…
The Best Jewish Children’s Books of 2017, December 8, 2017.
Read More…
These books can help build strong girls — and boys — for today’s world, December 4, 2017.
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is named one of the Best Middle-Grade Family Stories of 2017 by Kirkus Reviews:
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is included in the Evanston Public Library’s 101 Great Books for Kids List:
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is included in a list of 25 Middle Grade #ownvoices books:
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is on Barnes and Noble’s Best of the Year list:
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl is a best book of 2017:
R.J. Palacio and our reviewers share their favorite picks for the holidays.
Read More…
The Little Crooked Cottage, October 24, 2017.
Lucky Broken Girl review by Anika Denise
Read More…
Lucky Broken Girl, Wesleyan magazine 2017.
Lucky Broken Girl is based on the author Ruth Behar’s own experience as a young Cuban immigrant growing up in Queens.
Read More…
Lilith, Fall 2017.
Great Girl Protagonists in Books For Young Readers
Read More…
School Library Journal, September 13, 2017.
23 YA and Middle Grade Books To Honor Hispanic Heritage Month
Read More…
Librarian Leaps, August 14, 2017.
It all began at PS 117 for Ruth Behar and me…
Read More…
School Library Journal
Click here for video.
Ruth Behar On Diverse Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Read more…
Anansesem, August 7, 2017.
[Interview] Ruth Behar: Finding Wholeness in the Age of Multicultural Childhoods
Read more…
★ Starred Review
Jewish Book Council
Lucky Broken Girl review by Dina Weinstein
Read more…
WLRN, July 24, 2017.
A Child’s Path From Cuba (And A Body Cast) To A Life In Books.
Read more…
Celebrating Debutantes 2017, July 15, 2017.
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar (Playlist + Giveaway)
Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
Click here for more news about Lucky Broken Girl.
Ruth Behar, author of Lucky Broken Girl, kicks off our Girls of Summer List author interviews this year.
Read more…
The Buffalo News, June 22, 2017.
Books in Brief: ‘Lucky Broken Girl’ by Ruth Behar, ‘Exploring Space’ by Martin Jenkins
Read more…
5 Middle-Grade Books Perfect for Summer, June 16, 2017.
Curl up with your child and enjoy these warm-weather reads together!
Read more…
Girls of Summer
Lucky Broken Girl included in Girls of Summer List, 18 Books for Strong Girls
Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl Meet-the-Author Book Reading, June 16, 2017.
Ruth Behar introduces and shares some of the backstory for creating Lucky Broken Girl.
Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar, June 14, 2017.
This was a beautifully written story!.
Read more…
Guest Blogger: Ruth Behar, June 12, 2017.
TeachingBooks.net is delighted to welcome author and cultural anthropologist Ruth Behar as our featured guest blogger this month..
Read more…
Una novela juvenil narra la experiencia del exilio cubano desde la perspectiva de los niños, May 25, 2017.
Inspirada por eventos de su niñez, la escritora y antropóloga Ruth Behar ha escrito “Lucky Broken Girl”, una novela para lectores jóvenes sobre la experiencia del exilio desde la perspectiva de los más chicos.
Read more…
Childhood accident inspired writer’s career and newest book, May 16, 2017.
Ruth Behar’s main character in “Lucky Broken Girl” spends a year in a body cast.
Read more…
Ruth Behar is the author of Lucky Broken Girl, a new middle grade novel about finding the inner and outer strength to move through life’s obstacles.
Ruth Behar on Being Broken and Finding Strength.
Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar, May 5, 2017.
This novel has a ring of authenticity to it. I felt as if I was reading a memoir, probably because the author based the story on her own childhood.
Read more…
UM professor relives childhood accident, long recovery in YA novel, May 2, 2017.
Read more…
Five Family Favorites With Ruth Behar, author Of Lucky Broken Girl, April 30, 2017.
I read many books to my son Gabriel when he was a little boy. Read more…
Q&A with Ruth Behar, April 27, 2017.
Ruth Behar is the author of a new novel for older kids, Lucky Broken Girl Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl (review), April 24, 2017.
Easily the best thing about the book is the writing, it’s written in the voice of a young Ruth and it reads as if a child her age actually is writing it.
Read more…
The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2017.
Scholars Talk Writing: Ruth Behar Read more…
WGVU, April 20, 2017.
Michigan Author Ruth Behar joins TMS to discuss her book, ‘Lucky Broken Girl.’ Read more…
★ Starred Review
Books & Books, April 14, 2017.
When Ruthie Mizrahi moves from Cuba to Queens, N.Y., and starts fifth grade, she has two goals. Read more…
Barnes & Noble, April 12, 2017.A Tale of Spirit in Ruth Behar’s Lucky Broken Girl. Read more…
Librarian’s Quest, April 3, 2017.
We all know what it’s like to start over. It may be a new grade level at the beginning of a year. Read more…
Miami Herald, March 15, 2017 (print version, March 30, 2017).
The assimilation of a Jewish Cuban girl to the U.S. and the recovery of the lost island. Read more…
Cuba Counterpoints.
Ruth Behar’s Lucky Broken Girl. A review by JULIE SCHWIETERT COLLAZO Read more…
El Nuevo Herald, March 10, 2017.
La integración de una niña cubanojudía a EEUU y la recuperación de la isla perdida. Read more…
Lucky Broken Girl, Feb. 22, 2017.
Live Chat with Ruth Behar. We will begin our live online chat at 5 pm, Eastern with Ruth Behar the author of the novel Lucky Broken Girl, to be published by Nancy Paulsen Books on April 11, 2017. Read more…
★ Starred Kirkus Review of Lucky Broken Girl
In the 1960s, Ruthie Mizrahi, a young Jewish Cuban immigrant to New York City, spends nearly a year observing her family and friends from her bed. Before the accident, Ruthie’s chief goals are to graduate out of the “dumb class” for remedial students, to convince her parents to buy her go-go boots, and to play hopscotch with other kids in her Queens apartment building. But after Papi’s Oldsmobile is involved in a fatal multicar collision, Ruthie’s leg is severely broken. Read more…
Publishers Weekly Review of Lucky Broken Girl
Set in 1966, this strongly sketched novel, adult author Behar’s first for children, focuses on a 10-year-old Cuban immigrant whose injury forces a prolonged convalescence and rehabilitation. The story begins with Ruthie Mizrahi moving up from the “dumb class” (where she learned English) to the “regular fifth grade class” at her school in New York City. Read more…
A review of Lucky Broken Girl by the writer Padma VenkatramanThe ARC of Ruth Behar’s debut novel, Lucky Broken Girl, carries quotes from three remarkable writers whose work I deeply admire: Sandra Cisneros (author of the classic THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET), Margarita Engle (Newbery Honor-Winning Author of THE SURRENDER TREE) and Marjorie Agosin (Acclaimed poet and Pura Belpré winning author of I LIVED ON BUTTERFLY HILL). Read more…
Ruth was an invited writer for WriteOnCon
an online writers’ conference focusing on children’s books, February 2-4, 2017.
Read more…
Cover Reveal of Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
I was delighted when I saw the stunning cover art that Penelope Dullaghan created for Lucky Broken Girl. Rather than depicting my protagonist—a young girl who is temporarily confined to her bed—the cover portrays the lush beauty of her imaginative world. Dreams and hopes literally burst forth from the apartment in which Ruthie is confined as she slowly heals and her spirit finds ways to soar and flourish. Read more…
Penelope Dullaghan’s Bookcover, Lucky Broken Girl
The book is about 9-year-old Ruthie who gets into a car accident and breaks her leg so badly, she needs to wear a full-body cast for a year in order to heal. She gets depressed, being stuck indoors everyday, but has lots of multi-cultural neighbors and friends who help her through.
So my idea was to give an overall feel for Ruthie being stuck indoors, but surrounded by a flourishing neighborhood with people doing lots of things – biking, gardening, playing, reading. I wanted it to feel happy and bright as Ruthie is in the story, being surrounded by people who support her. I brought in flowers as a way to give a nod to her Cuban upbringing and to reference Ruthie’s growth and change throughout the story. Read more…