Miri’s on a mission

Meet Miri McVitie, 14, facing a selfconscious teenager’s worst nightmare — the prospect of being a bridesmaid twice in one summer. Miri is the main character in my new book for teenagers, Say No to the Dress. It’s a novella for the publisher Barrington Stoke, specialist in books for dyslexic and reluctant readers, and it’s an examination of self-confidence and friendship and family, says the blurb. But that’s not all. Miri is part of my personal mission, to educate British teenagers about Jews and Judaism. And what better way to do it than by making Miri Jewish (via her mother) with an older halfsister who is more religious than she is, and who is opting for a Modern Orthodox wedding, preceded by a vort, plate-smashing and all.

Non-Jewish readers will learn a bit about Yiddish and a bit about Jewish culture and religion and society. And my hope is that things Jewish will feel a bit more familiar and less strange and that one day they will go to a Jewish friend’s wedding (or maybe even have one themselves) and have an idea about what to expect. And if they identify with Miri and her struggles with bridesmaid’s dresses and friendships and puberty, they will also see Jewish people as less ‘other’ and more like them.

Jewish kids might also like to see someone like them in a book — someone who isn’t a victim of the Nazis, and whose experience of Jewishness isn’t oppressive or frightening. When I was growing up I very much wanted to see someone like me in a book — but I rarely did. Jews in books were generally foreign and either sinister and weird, or persecuted and sad. The only character I found to identify with was Miranda West, in a series of school stories by Antonia Forest. I loved these books — which are excellent, and have stood the test of time. And I loved Miranda especially — the way she deftly explained her Jewish identity, the way she hinted at antisemitism from others without ever being cowed by it. She was (and is) a great role model, and it is no accident that my new character is called Miri.

There are remarkably few characters like Miri in British children’s literature, but I’m glad to say that I’m not alone — there is a growing number

When I was growing up I very much wanted to see someone like me in a book — but I rarely did

of British Jewish writers choosing Jewish themes and creating Jewish characters. And, inspired by an American anthology, It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories, I’ve joined with two other authors, Miriam Halahmy and JC columnist Emma Shevah, and librarian and bookseller Joanna de Guia, to create our own version. We’re hoping to create a book of stories that show the incredible diversity and richness of contemporary British Jewish life, representing Jews of many backgrounds and reflecting the lives of modern Jewish teens.

We’ve already recruited some bestselling writers to join us, and we’re planning to talk to publishers soon. We’re excited about the prospect of writing Jewish characters who are not conforming to external ideas about Jews, nor limited by fear of subjects being deemed inappropriate (Israel, of course).

Miri isn’t the first Jewish character I’ve written — she joins Theo, Kitty and Ethan (This is Not a Love Story); Esther (The Disconnect), and Evie, Lottie, Hannah and Noah (What We’re Scared Of). I hope she — and they — make some sort of a difference in the way Jewish teens are seen and see themselves.