Title: The Hebrew Kid And The Apache Maiden
Author: Robert J. Avrech
Publisher: Seraphic Press, Los Angeles, CA
Distributed by Jonathan David
Publishers, Middle Village, Queens, NY

 

 

A fascinating ‘coming-of-age’ story, The Hebrew Kid and The Apache Maiden is first in a series of young-adult novels written especially for young members of Torah-observant families. The book is a fable based upon real historical figures in Arizona’s ‘Wild West’ period just after the Civil War, and is written by the Emmy-award winning screenwriter of A Stranger Among Us. It represents his matzevah to his son Ariel who succumbed to cancer at the tender age of twenty-one.

As the story opens, we find that protagonist, Ariel, is not quite Bar Mitzvah, but already well versed in Torah and familiar with the ‘ways of the world.’ His family fled Czarist Russia for America after a pogrom decimated their village; they head west, winding up in Arizona.

In the Arizona desert, Ariel meets Lozen, the true-life Apache warrior-maiden who rides to battle with Geronimo. As the compelling fable unfolds, Lozen’s legendary brother Victorio; the notorious ‘Doc’ Holliday; and many other fascinating characters become greatly influenced by the young Torah scholar – and Ariel, in turn, is deeply affected by them.

This is a fascinating book that is difficult to put down, yet not too difficult for young adults to manage on their own. It is also sufficiently engrossing to read aloud to younger children.

Robert J. Avrech wrote The Hebrew Kid as a memorial to his own son named Ariel, a Ner Yisroel student, who tragically died of cancer at the age of twenty-two and encouraged his dad’s storytelling. As a tribute to Ariel (z”l), Avrech desires to share his love of Yiddishkeit, Jewish ritual and Jewish history with a new generation of observant Jews who yearn for quality literature. The premier publication of the newly formed Seraphic Press, will be the first of a series. Additional new titles are already in advanced publication stage for the series: The Shidduch Diaries by Rivkie (a pseudonym), Maccabbee and Me by Michael Levin, and My Shrapnel by Gila Weiss.

The author has significant resources available to him, and is already committed to publishing Seraphic Magazine, a literary journal. He is seeking material and suggestions and may be reached via his website: www.seraphicpress.com. The books will be available in Judaica bookshops and bookstores and libraries.
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