Ellie's Deli: Wishing on Matzo Ball Soup!

By: Lisa Greenwald, Galia Bernstein - illustrator

Narrated by: Gail Shalan

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

From Lisa Greenwald, the beloved author of the TBH and Friendship List series, comes a new series about a girl trying to save her family's deli. Ellie’s family owns the town deli. Its official name is Lukshen Deli, but everybody calls it Ellie’s Deli. When a restaurant group threatens to move in and take over, tenacious Ellie and her BFFs must prove that matzo ball soup and sour pickles are here to stay, in this adorable new middle grade fiction series with recipes and illustrations throughout.

When Ellie accidentally overhears that her family deli is most likely going to close, she does the only thing she can think of. She makes a wish on matzo ball soup.

Eleven-year-old Ellie is feisty, determined, and a little bit anxious. She considers Lukshen Deli part of the family—after all, it’s been around for four generations, ever since her great-grandmother opened it. Along with her BFF, Ava; her sisters, Anna and Mabel; her lunch buddies, Aanya, Brynn, Nina, and Sally; and her grandparents, Bubbie and Zeyda, Ellie is determined to prove that old fashioned Jewish delis can get with the times—but if her plan doesn’t work, the deli will be sold for good.

Ellie’s Deli: Wishing on Matzo Ball Soup contains over 30 charming black-and-white illustrations and 14 recipes for quintessential Jewish American deli food, like challah, chicken soup, blintz souffle, and ruggelach. It’s a delightful story about sticking up for what you believe in, business ownership, friendship, and family.

"A cute and concretely Jewish take on a classic storyline." - Kirkus Reviews

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Lisa Greenwald (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"In this series opener, 11-year-old Ellie Glantz loves her family’s kosher deli almost as much as she loves her grandparents Bubbie and Zeyda....[R]eligious practices and Yiddish words suffuse the story with a lived-in Judaism—unrelated to a specific holiday—that does not often appear in mainstream children’s books. In buoyant middle-grade fashion, Ellie and [her best friend] Ava join forces to rally the community and update the business in an effort to save the deli....A cute and concretely Jewish take on a classic storyline."

"A fun sto­ry with believ­able char­ac­ters and solv­able prob­lems, this easy-to-read, mid­dle-grade book will hold the reader’s inter­est and pro­vide excel­lent, humor­ous enter­tain­ment along the way." (Michal Hoschander Malen)

"I loved, loved, loved the happy ending, especially because it made sense and the problems were solved realistically." (Karen Yingling)

FANTASTIC

This is so authentic, a blend of traditional and modern in it's wonderfully voicedain character. I loved the authentic words to the Jewish deli culture, and they are explained. This author is delving into an area she obviously knows well,.it rings true. Going to get myself a matzo ball soup!