Julian Edelman’s Children Book Gets A Jewish Makeover
Image by Getty Images
BOSTON (JTA) — If New England Patriots star Julian Edelman retires from the NFL anytime soon, he could clearly have a promising second career as a Jewish children’s book writer.
In front of about 400 children and their families Tuesday night at the Newton Centre flagship of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Boston, the 31-year-old wide receiver and past Super Bowl hero read a special edition of a children’s book he co-wrote last year.
Unsurprisingly, Edelman, who has Jewish ancestry on his father’s side and has identified as Jewish in recent years, was treated like a rock star.
“He’s a really good receiver and I hope I like his book,” Ilan Sherman Kadish, one of Edelman’s many young fans in attendance, said before the star player spoke.
The event was organized by PJ Library, the Massachusetts-based global Jewish children’s book giveaway program supported by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in partnership with other philanthropists and local Jewish community organizations. Twenty-five thousand copies of Edelman’s book “Flying High,” a semi-autobiographical story about an endearing squirrel named Jules who is determined to play football, are being mailed this week to five-year-olds in Jewish homes across North America through the PJ Library program.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
