The Trouble with Good Ideas

Book excerpt: From author Amanda Panitch comes The Trouble with Good Ideas, a hilarious middle-grade novel with a magical twist about a girl, a golem, and her ailing grandfather, perfect for fans of The Fourteenth Goldfish. Twelve-year old Leah Nevins is NOT a fan of change. So when her parents start whispering about sending her beloved Jewish great-grandpa Zaide to an assisted living facility (hospital jail!), she is very resistant. Zaide’s house, where her family gathers on Saturday afternoons, is the only place where Leah feels like she truly belongs. Sending Zaide away would change everything. Luckily, Leah remembers a story Zaide once told her about building a golem—a creature from Jewish mythology made out of clay—to protect their family from the Nazis in Poland. So, of course, Leah decides to make a golem of her own to look after Zaide. The directions he gave her were pretty easy to follow, but there is one thing he never told her: what to do when a golem turns against its creator.