When an old man starts show­ing up to week­ly bar/​bat mitz­vah lessons, young Sarah thinks it a bit strange. How­ev­er, lit­tle by lit­tle, she comes to under­stand that Mr. Katz nev­er had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn for his bar mitz­vah at the typ­i­cal age. He grew up in Rus­sia dur­ing the years that the Sovi­et gov­ern­ment banned all forms of Jew­ish edu­ca­tion and life, clos­ing Hebrew schools and syn­a­gogues. Sarah and Mr. Katz begin to enjoy one anoth­er’s com­pa­ny and form a close bond. She attends his bar mitz­vah with pride, and a long-term friend­ship ensues.

Col­or illus­tra­tions show­ing expres­sive facial expres­sions and body lan­guage enhance this sweet sto­ry. An author’s note high­lights that inter­gen­er­a­tional friend­ships are devel­oped through patience and under­stand­ing. He also sum­ma­rizes the his­to­ry of Sovi­et Jew­ry, expos­ing today’s youth to the tri­als and tribu­la­tions expe­ri­enced not all that long ago by Jews who resided in the for­mer Sovi­et Union. Mr. Katz is based on the author’s grand­fa­ther, who immi­grat­ed in 1980 to the Unit­ed States, where he could prac­tice his reli­gion with­out fear. Chil­dren will be intro­duced to a moment in his­to­ry that their par­ents will per­haps remem­ber. The val­ues of empa­thy and car­ing shine bright­ly on every page.