Taking selfies is not the exclusive preserve of millennials. In Selfies, the niece of French philosopher Simone Weil, also daughter of one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th c., gives a playful twist to the concept of self-representation: taking her cue from self-portraits by women artists, ranging from the 13th c. through the Renaissance to Frida Kahlo and Vivian Maier, Weil has written a memoir in pieces, that is yet unified. Each picture acts as a portal to a significant moment from Weil's own life (as schoolgirl, writer, daughter and mother) and sparks anecdotes tangentially touching on topical issues (from the Palestinian question to the pain of a mother witnessing her son's psychotic breakdown, to the subtle manifestations of anti-Semitism, to ageism, genetics, and a Jewish dog...). Switching from poignant to light-hearted, with Weil's trademark irony and self-deprecating humour, Selfies is a sophisticated, `delightful read', with heartwrenching tendencies. (Front cover photograph: VIVIAN MAIER, Self-portrait, New York, NY, 1955 copyright Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York. End page photograph of the author by Marc Riboud, courtesy of Catherine Riboud, Paris.)

Translated from the French by Benjamin Ivry, Simone Weil was one of the twentieth century's most original philosopher-critics, and as a result her legacy has been claimed by many. This memoir by Weil's niece is strong-willed and incisive and as close as we are likely to get to the real Simone Weil. Born into a freethinking Jewish family, Weil contributed many articles to Socialist and Communist journals and was active in the Spanish Civil War until her health failed.  In 1940 she became strongly attracted to Roman Catholicism and the Passion of Christ. Most of her works, published posthumously, continue to inform debates in ethics, philosophy, and spirituality surrounding questions of sacrifice, asceticism, and the virtues of manual labor. Massively influential, Weil's writings were widely praised by such readers as Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, Simone de Beauvoir, Pope John XXIII, Czeslaw Milosz, and Susan Sontag. Sylvie Weil recovers the deeply Jewish nature of Simone's thinking and details how her preoccupations with charity and justice were fully in the tradition of tzedakah, the Jewish religious obligation toward these actions.Using previously unpublished family correspondence and conversations, Sylvie Weil offers a more authentically personal portrait of her aunt than previous biographers have provided. At Home with AndrÉ and Simone Weil illuminates Simone's relationship to her family, especially to her brother, the great Princeton mathematician AndrÉ Weil. A clear-eyed and uncompromising memoir of her family, At Home with AndrÉ and Simone Weil is a fresh look at the noted French philosopher,mystic, and social activist.

The streets are eerily empty, and everyone in the Jewish community is terrified of Peter the Hermit. His men, the Crusaders, are moving through the town on their way to the Holy Land. They have been known to batter down doors and burn Jewish houses, all in the name of religion. This is not Nazi Germany but Troyes, France, in 1096, as seen through the eyes of funny, feisty, twelve-year-old Elvina. She is the granddaughter of the great rabbi Rashi, and she knows how to read and write-which is very rare for a girl of her time. She draws strength from this, as well as from her guardian angel, to whom she regularly speaks. On a cold Sabbath afternoon while Elvina is alone in the house, three soldiers pound at her door. One of them is wounded. Elvina has only a moment to make a difficult choice that could put her family and the entire community at risk. Can her guardian angel guide her and keep her safe? My Guardian Angel is a story of compassion and tolerance that speaks clearly to readers of all faiths. Elvina's voice lingers long in memory, and her courage and humor long in the heart.

2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award, Notable Book for Older Readers

The tale of Rashi's granddaughter, a young girl who defies her community to help a friend in need. In this sequel to "My Guardian Angel," Sylvie Weil continues the story of Elvina, the 14-year-old granddaughter of Rashi, the famous 11th-century French Bible and Talmud commentator. It is the spring of 1097 in the town of Troyes, in France. The Crusaders have been marauding their way through Europe, attacking Jewish communities. One evening, a mysterious family arrives in Troyes--German Jews forced by the Crusaders to submit to baptism. The townspeople shun the family, but Elvina befriends 11-year-old Columba. Columba's mad cousin, Ephraim, steals a mirror from a member of the Jewish community, believing it will let him see his family killed in the recent attacks. Elvina tries to help Ephraim rid his mind of the terrible images by bringing him her own mirror, in which she claims to see a positive future. Elvina's story brings the often-ignored world of Medieval European Jewry to life for young readers.

Ages 10 and up