With All My Heart, with All My Mind: Thirteen Stories about Growing Up Jewish

Encircled with a paper sash identifying it as an ideal bar or bat mitzvah gift, this anthology of original stories features Jewish boys and girls in coming-of-age scenarios. In Jacqueline Dembar Greene's ""David's Star,"" the heroine keeps quiet about her Jewish identity until the anti-Semitism of her boss at an ice-cream parlor rouses her to action. The 13-year-old protagonist in Phyllis Shalant's ""Pinch-Hitting"" comes to terms with the anger, fear and sorrow elicited by her grandmother's case of Alzheimer's. Not all settings are contemporary: one story takes place at Masada; another takes place in 1930s Poland; and yet another imagines a futuristic society. Even so, the collection is fairly homogeneous, with most resolving conflicts a little too easily and reducing them to a single insistent message. There are two notable exceptions: Eric Kimmel's ""Willow,"" which successfully juxtaposes a solemn story about faith in a concentration camp with a funny family story about purloined Passover dishes; and Susan Beth Pfeffer's ""Cain and Abel Double-Date,"" a witty fantasy involving the sons of Adam and Eve. Asher (But That's Another Story: Favorite Writers Introduce Popular Genres) follows each entry with a brief interview with the author, plus a biography. This apparatus, unfortunately, may flatten the reading experience: the authors echo one another a little too closely as they speak of the importance of tradition and religion, and the interview questions hammer home the lessons of the stories. Ages 10-14. (Nov.) FYI: A portion of the proceeds from sales of this title will be donated to MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger.