Aviva vs. the Dybbuk

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk is a compelling chapter book that blends realistic fiction with a touch of the supernatural. It follows Aviva, an isolated girl in a close-knit Jewish community, who is the only one who can see a mischievous dybbuk. As the dybbuk's actions escalate, Aviva is blamed, leading to social tension and bullying. The story sensitively explores Aviva's deep grief over her father's past death, her mother's struggles with depression, and the community's experience with antisemitism, including a swastika incident. It's a tender story about finding courage, healing, and the power of friendship and community.

A long ago "accident." An isolated girl named Aviva. A community that wants to help, but doesn't know how. And a ghostly dybbuk, that no one but Aviva can see, causing mayhem and mischief that everyone blames on her. That is the setting for this suspenseful novel of a girl who seems to have lost everything, including her best friend Kayla, and a mother who was once vibrant and popular, but who now can’t always get out of bed in the morning. As tensions escalate in the Jewish community of Beacon with incidents of vandalism and a swastika carved into new concrete poured near the synagogue...so does the tension grow between Aviva and Kayla and the girls at their school, and so do the actions of the dybbuk grow worse. Could real harm be coming Aviva's way? And is it somehow related to the "accident" that took her father years ago? Aviva vs. the Dybbuk is a compelling, tender story about friendship and community, grief and healing, and one indomitable girl who somehow manages to connect them all.