Bracha K. Sharp

Bracha K. Sharp’s education informs her writing in articles, poetry, and children’s picture books--as well as in various other forms of writing. Her understanding of English literature and psychology is an important component in her writing process, but, overall, it is her desire to connect to others through the written word and to share this joy and love of writing that continues to propel her forward.

Bracha is a member of the SCBWI and the SSCBWI group (Shomer Shabbat Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators group) and has written numerous human-interest articles...Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review and The Birmingham Arts Journal and she placed first, on the national level, for her poem, in the 2016 Hackney Literary Awards.

She encourages all writers to follow their own wonderful and expansive paths and hopes that others will discover their own writing journeys, as a result.

When not writing, Bracha loves to spend time with her guinea pigs (both named after literary characters). She also hopes to someday make challahs that as good as the ones that her children's book character, Zlatah Leah, makes!

You can find out more about her various writing projects by visiting her website: www.brachaksharp.com

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“The illustrations [for The Challah Girl] are remarkably lovely and wondrous too, so it is just the kind of book that can repeatedly make bedtime a loving and cozy time to share with a precious child...[This book] also inspires children, in a delightfully creative way, to want to participate in challah baking experiences themselves. Even more subtly, this book instills the desire to show sensitivity and caring to others, as well as having confidence in one’s unique abilities to make a significant impact.”

— Bracha Goetz, Children's Book Author

"....The miss­ing ingre­di­ent is nei­ther flour, hon­ey, nor the prop­er num­ber of eggs. Zla­tah Leah’s recipe does the trick because she refus­es to let the many obsta­cles she faces deter her from her goal, and her most impor­tant ingre­di­ents are gen­er­ous help­ings of care and con­cern, accom­pa­nied by prayers for the prince’s wel­fare. The hap­pi­ly-ever-after end­ing, in which the young bak­er wins both a new job and roman­tic love, empha­sizes hard work and seri­ous­ness of pur­pose, remind­ing the read­er that even love between a prince and a loy­al sub­ject needs to be earned by hav­ing them get to know one anoth­er and by shar­ing a com­mon goal.

The pas­tel and mixed media illus­tra­tions show facial expres­sions, while evok­ing a far-away fan­ta­sy king­dom and sub­tly draw the read­er into this tale of love, gen­eros­i­ty, and delec­table, mouth-water­ing challah."

--Michal Hoschan­der Malen, Edi­tor of The Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and chil­dren’s book reviews