The Boston Chocolate Party
New England, December 1773… it’s time to celebrate the Janucá holiday!
Joshua Mendes is excited to light the menorah, eat fried dough buñuelos, and taste the new hot chocolate drink he and his family have been making to sell to curious colonists. But he’s also a bit sad, because times are tough and his best friend moved away amid a brewing fight for American independence.
Readers Say
Reading to our grandchildren is one of my favorite pastimes, and I’m glad I bought a copy of The Boston Chocolate Party. It’s a great book to read to them. Our granddaughter, who is in 2nd grade, figured out and understood that the struggle the Colonists faced was similar to the struggle Jews faced during Maccabean times. She loved Joshua and how he was able to help Isaac and his mother. But the chocolate element in the story is what she loved the best. She wanted to make your recipe for hot chocolate and drink some hot chocolate when we finished it! … Thank you for writing this book!
…I enjoyed sharing this book with [my children] because it’s about kindness, helping those in need, and families that look different from ours. But what really talked to me now, when there is so much antisemitism, is that this book shows that American Jews were in this country from the very beginning. It means we played a role, we belong, and I want my boys to know that.
Reading Guide
Use these questions and activities to preface and conclude a reading of this book with children. Encourage them to share their observations as you read the book together, and take time to linger on pages or spreads that generate more discussion.
Rabbi Deborah Prinz speaks by zoom and in-person for scholar-in-residence weekends, adult learning programs, auxiliaries, fund raisers, donor programs, and food festivals
The next time you pick up a piece of chocolate or bread, consider that you are partaking in aspects of our Jewish heritage. Rabbi Deborah Prinz writes about the connections between people, chocolate, and Jewish celebratory breads.
Those interested in the connectedness among peoples will crave this unique approach. Delight your mind and your taste buds as this book unscrambles the mysteries of religions and chocolate along a trail of economic development spanning cultures, countries, centuries, continents, and convictions.
Rabbi Deborah Prinz is the author of On The Bread Trail, On The Chocolate Trail, and The Boston Chocolate Party.
The Boston Chocolate Party Blog Posts
Sweet Treat: Chocolate and the Making of American Jews
You may wonder: how did chocolate help define American Jews? Through chocolate, we see that Jews were part of America since its earliest days. Well, since 1701 at least, Jews in the Colonies made part of their living through chocolate. Several Sephardim, leaders of...
Exhibit Opens! Sweet Treat! Chocolate & the Making of American Jews
Sweet Treat is a delicious gastronomic adventure into the history and resilience of American Jewish chocolate making. This exhibition invites you to follow the chocolate trail to America, a scrumptious journey through time and place. Chocolate gives us a lens...
Jewish Heritage Month: Baseball & Chocolate!
When I nibbled on chocolate at the Cyclones Game in Coney Island the other day, I felt as though I had hit a triple header of Jewish life in America. Not only was it Jewish Heritage Night at Maimonides Stadium (resonant of Jewish greats like Hank Greenberg and Sandy...