The Entertainer and the Dybbuk

Just after World War II ex-G.I. Freddie T. Birch finds his ventriloquist act taking a turn for the weird when he is possessed by the spirit of Avrom Amos, a twelve-year-old Jewish boy killed by the Nazis. Fortunately for Freddie, Avrom is not merely a ghost, he's a comical one, with sharp theatrical training - exactly what's needed to liven up the act.

Soon the dybbuk's snappy routines are packing in the crowds. Freddie's career is on an upswing. But Avrom has more on his ghostly mind than just making people laugh. This dybbuk is on a quest for revenge. Despite the sometimes hilarious havoc it wreaks on Freddie's personal life, Avrom plans to track down the Nazi who killed him and bring him to justice.

Only Sid Fleischman could pull off this astonishing mix of high humor and horrifying history, winner of the 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Award.