The Rooster Princess and Other Tales: Jewish Stories Re-populated with Spunky Heroines, Wise Women, Brave Crones, and Powerful Prophetesses

Memoirist Zaslow (Bringing Bubbe Home) and other members of the Jewish Women’s Storytelling Collective put a modern, feminist spin on Jewish folklore in this eclectic anthology. Contributors excel at preserving the morals of the originals, swhile fleshing out the protagonist’s backstory and character, as in Gail Pasternack’s “Sarika and the Magic Pomegranate Seed,” which features a young Moroccan girl who faces execution for stealing to feed her family. Pasternack provides one of the collection’s cleverest alterations in “Hannah and the Moon,” which follows a determined milkmaid who unites the townspeople of Chelm (a legendary town of fools in many Jewish folktales) for an impossible mission—and reveals in the process the value of togetherness, no matter the goal. Lisa Huberman’s title story is one of several about acceptance; in this case, a princess learns the value of occupying several identities by briefly turning into a rooster. As Huberman notes, the story originated with Rebbe Nachman of Breslov and reflects how the author, “a queer person who wrestles with neurodivergence,” learned to stop conforming to rigid, binary roles. Creative, witty, and sly, these stories do valuable work in energizing an ancient storytelling tradition. (Sept.)