No Vacancy

by Tziporah Cohen Narrated by Rachel Botchan

Overview

When her parents decide to buy and move into the run-down Jewel Motor Inn in
upstate New York, it's not exactly eleven-year-old Miriam Brockman's dream. She
misses her familiar routine and life in Manhattan, especially Shabbat dinners with
friends and family.

It turns out that running a motel is a lot of hard work, but it's also a bit of an
adventure. Miriam befriends Kate, whose grandmother owns the diner next door,
and finds comfort in the company of Maria, the motel's housekeeper, and Father
Donovan, the local priest.

But when it becomes clear that only a miracle is going to save the Jewel from
bankruptcy, Jewish Miriam and Catholic Kate decide to create one of their own ...

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2020-06-03
Is it a bad thing when a Jewish girl fakes an apparition of the Virgin Mary?

Miriam, a white, Jewish 11-year-old from Manhattan, is plunked into a ramshackle motel upstate when her father loses his job. Now she’s helping them turn the dilapidated old place into a functional business. But nobody has a reason to visit Greenvale, New York (population 514), so nobody stays in the motel. Miriam’s finally settling in—she’s made friends with the Mexican American hotel cleaner and with a white girl whose grandparents own the diner next door. It’s a little uncomfortable being in an apparently all-Catholic town, but Miriam just tells people she’s a vegetarian to avoid being served bacon. That’s normal, right? And it’s probably OK to encourage people to see the face of the Virgin Mary in a rust stain at the old drive-in. After all, it’s for a good cause: The flocking faithful bring business to the diner and motel. The gentle shenanigans that ensue progress like a predictably wholesome after-school special. An anti-Semitic act shakes Miriam and encourages her to be proud of her Judaism. A crisis brings the town together, and the local priest leads the townspeople to Miriam’s support. Disappointingly, a disabled character whose initial character development feels fairly complex is reduced at the end to a teachable moment.

The protagonist’s character arc is encouraging, but alas, supporting characters come across as props. (Fiction. 8-10)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173132727
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

I watch the Shabbat candles flicker on the counter. At home, this is my favorite time of the week. But here, the candles feel like two eyes watching me, like they can tell what I did.

Kate told me about confession. She says some Catholics go every week, but her family goes once a year, around Easter. You go into a special room, like a closet, which is separated from another little room where Father Donovan sits, so they can hear each other but not see each other. It’s supposed to be private and you don’t have to say your name, but Kate says it’s a little town and for sure he recognizes her voice.

I explained to her about Yom Kippur, when Jews fast and pray in synagogue all day, thinking about the bad things they did the past year and what they need to do to be a better person. We’re supposed to ask forgiveness from the person we hurt. We don’t confess to the rabbi, though.

I asked Kate if faking a Virgin Mary apparition is a sin you’d have to confess at confession.

“Yep,” she said. “But luckily, Easter is nine months away.”

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