Yaffa Ganz, who lives in Jerusalem, has written more than 40 books for children, and she never stops creating interesting works for 9 to 13 year olds.

This book is an updated combination of two works published earlier, one about each of the children in the Levi family. Each of the first 13 chapters is a self-contained story focusing on Jeremiah, or Jeremy, who is 11 years old when the book begins. The second half of the book of 14 chapters deals with Heddy, who is 11 when the stories shift to her. The progress of the book covers about six years in their lives. Adventures is a good title for this book because Jeremy and his best friend Sammy do get themselves into all kinds of trouble.

Avi Katz provides black and white drawings.

Children 9 to 13 will find this volume a true picture of how modern Orthodox families live and how children learn and practice various Jewish values in an appealing way to both Orthodox and non-Orthodox readers.

The publisher calls the stories "zany" and "hilarious," and there is no doubt their pranks are extremely funny.

Sybil Kaplan
The Jewish Post and Opinion
September 24, 2003

Originally published in the 1980's in two separate books, the Adventures of Jeremy and Heddy have been combined in a single volume and re-illustrated by Avi Katz. Hebrew and Yiddish words are now defined in the text, eliminating the need for a glossary and making the book more accessible to non-Orthodox or non-Jewish readers. The text has been very slightly modernized with mentions of cell phones but remains essentially the same as in the original.

The first half of the book is Jeremy's story, which is told in the first person; Heddy's story follows and is written in third person. The two sections depict different time periods in the life of the Levi family, as the siblings are about five years apart and in each volume the main character is approaching the age of b'nai mitzvah. While the fit between the two books is somewhat forced, it is convenient for fans of the Levi family.

Each chapter tells of a separate adventure experienced or lesson learned. The stories are humorous, rather like a Jewish version of the classic Homer Price, but more values-driven. While mildly didactic, the tales are lively and entertaining. The children really enjoy their own Jewishness and participate in it with gusto, whether learning Hebrew, performing mitzvoth, or making decisions based on Jewish values. They cheerfully use Judaism to provide structure for their daily activities and their emotional and spiritual lives in a way that few characters in children's fiction seem to do; also unusual is the fact that the stories are NOT centered around Jewish holidays! The black and white line drawings are competent if not inspired, and are definitely an improvement over the more cartoony style of the original illustrations. Faces are expressive, and the scenes selected for depiction are satisfying. All in all, this is a kid-friendly set of stories that will be reaffirming for Orthodox readers and enjoyably accessible for others. For ages 8-11.

Heidi Estrin
Jewish Book World
Winter 2003