Non-Fiction

Buy for Kindle or print

Other Vendors

For many Jewish teens, religious education ends with the bar or bat mitzvah. But from my own experience, I know there's still so much to learn.

I wrote After the Party: A Jewish Teen’s Guide to Finding Your Path to provide a guide for curious teens, and a reference parents can provide to help their kids continue their Jewish journeys.

The book every Jewish parent wishes existed: A compassionate, inclusive guide to help teens stay connected to Jewish life after their bar or bat mitzvah.

The Problem: You’ve Done Everything Right… But Then What?

You sent your child to Hebrew school. You helped them prepare for their Torah portion. You planned the party. You lit the candles. You did the hard work of raising a Jewish child.

And then it ends with a thank-you speech, a hora, and a pile of gift cards.

Suddenly, there are no more classes. No structured next steps. And in the teen years—when identity is in flux and peer pressure peaks—there’s no obvious way for your child to stay connected to Judaism.

Maybe your teen says:

“I’m Jewish, but I’m not religious”  “None of my friends are Jewish.” “I’m not sure I believe in God.”

“It was all for one day. What now?” You’re not alone. And neither are they.

The Solution: A Jewish Guidebook for the Years That Matter Most

After the Party is the first book written specifically for contemporary Jewish teens navigating identity, values, and belonging in the crucial years after bar/bat mitzvah.

It answers the question every Jewish parent quietly asks:

“How do I help my teen stay Jewish—in a way that feels real, personal, and lasting?”

This book meets teens where they are—culturally, spiritually, and emotionally—with:

Smart, teen-friendly writing (no lectures, no guilt)

Inclusive content for LGBTQ+, multiracial, and interfaith families

Real guidance on friendship, social justice, antisemitism, Israel, and identity

Thoughtful reflection questions and real teen voices

Discussion guides for parents and Jewish educators

Your teen doesn’t have to go it alone. And you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to support them.

📚 What Makes This Book Unique

There is no other book like this on the market. It’s not a dry religious text or a parent’s how-to guide.

It’s a voice teens can trust—grounded in Jewish wisdom and cultural pride, offering guidance on:

✅ What it really means to be Jewish today.

✅ How to explore Jewish identity on their own terms

✅ Where to find community—even when they feel like the only Jew around

✅ How to bring Jewish values into dating, mental health, activism, and more

✅ Why their version of Judaism is just as valid as anyone else's

📚 Why This Book Matters to You, the Parent

“I want my teen to stay Jewish… but I don’t want to push.”

“I wish someone could explain Judaism in a way they’d actually read it.”

“We worked so hard to get to the bar mitzvah… and then there’s nothing.”

With After the Party, you’re not nagging, bribing, or lecturing.

You’re giving your child a tool they can use on their own terms—with guidance, empathy, and a nudge toward something meaningful.

Free parents' guide to engage teens at the Passover service, printable PDF.

https://dl.bookfunnel.com/zb7ekxeyu2

For many writers of genre fiction, structuring a book is a real pain point.

The Murder Beats solves that problem.

I have taken everything I've learned about structure in genre fiction, through my graduate studies, my own writing, my teaching at the college level, and lectures I've presented at conferences and to writers' groups about the mechanics of writing. In The Murder Beats, I demystify many different ways of structuring a book of genre fiction, focusing on element such as beats, scenes, acts, tropes and universal fantasies. Liberally studded with examples, The Murder Beats can take your nascent manuscript to the next level.

From Publishers Weekly: The companionship and unconditional love a dog provides can be of especially great comfort.

Bringing together conversations with more than two dozen notable men, including playwrights Edward Albee and Charles Busch, film director Jonathan Caouette and writers Victor J. Banis, Ron Nyswaner and Jay Quinn, this anecdotal anthology shows how dogs have given men love, confidence and support.

I joined with my friend, dog breeder and journalist Sharon Sakson, to bring together stories ranging from comic to tragic to sappy. The familiar joys and trials of sharing life with a dog are all here, including stories of comfort and "extraordinary lessons in how to cope with loss." The sincerity and warmth that comes through in each of these stories is infectious, and the inter-species relationships they describe provide unique perspective on the interview subjects as human beings.

Sharon is also the author of Brussels Griffons: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual and Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs and Paws to Protect: Dogs Saving Lives and Restoring Hope.