Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. 2 stars

What more do you need in a book than a teacher that is strange and students going on an adventure? With the word "Meshugenahmobile" in the title I knew I had to read this book. Learning about history while dealing with important topics like inclusion and immigration all wrapped up in a fun chapter book is just how I like my novels. This will be a great addition to my classroom library. Thank you #netgalley for a copy of this book.

Sadi, Benjy, Asher, and their other classmates threw their new classmate out of the classroom, because to them, she didn’t fit in, all because she looked different. It was not the right thing to do, so off on a Menschy, their new teacher took them on a magical journey where they saw many things and found out how horrible they had been to the new girl. They also learned the valuable lesson of what was meant by ethics.

3.5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and the Publisher for a digital ARC.

This was a fun story that was something of a Jewish Magic School Bus meets ethics class. There are a lot of Yiddish terms in the book that might not be understood by all, but any Jewish kid would recognize.

A class of kids at religious school are not so kind to the new girl, they like the class the way it is. Rather than making the kids feel badly for how they treated the new girl, their new teacher, Mr. Mensch, whisks them away in his "Meshugenahmobile" to 1903 and the Statue of Liberty. They get a first hand look at how Jews were treated at the time and it makes them realize that their behavior was pretty awful. A good way for kids to see that we were all strangers once and that we are meant to be kind to others, even if they look a little different or are new. An important reminder and a fun early chapter book.

This book is a bit confusing, and could really use some sort of introduction for non-Jewish readers. It appears to be geared toward Jewish school children, and the text refers to the kids in the story being at Sunday school. I'm used to thinking of Sunday school as a Christian thing, but a little googling leads me to think it's another name for Hebrew school. The set-up is basically a Jewish version of Magic School Bus, but with the Meshugenahmobile instead, and Mr. Mensch (Menschy) instead of Miss Frizzle. The story begins with a group of six friends shutting out a new student in their class, and Menschy taking them back in time to visit Ellis Island, to see how immigrants were treated, how they were unwelcome and othered. When they come back to the present, Menschy talks to them about Jewish ethics, and how Jews are taught to be nice to strangers, and the children decide to welcome the new girl into their class. After the story, there are discussion questions about immigrants and being treated as an outsider, geared specifically toward those of the Jewish faith. The story is short, but conveys its message pretty well, in a clear manner, and there is a glossary of Yiddish terms used in the book, though for some reason, "mensch" is not one of the words defined. I do like seeing a series featuring Jewish kids, because inclusion is important, but I hope there will be a little more explanation for non-Jews in future books in the series.

#StrangerDanger #NetGalley

I am open to reading any book that will educate students about a different point of view. “Stranger Danger” by David Michael Slater seemed like a promising new edition. After reading the story I have to say that it starts off very much like the Magic Schoolbus story, while the behavior of the students and their comments are not relatable. North American schools are simply too diverse for any group of kids to notice someone with curly black hair. Not sure what stories people hear, but our schools are welcoming places where new students feel welcome and accepted.

**I received an e-ARC from NetGalley for an honest review**

I wanted to like this book, but it was all over the place. At times it felt like a culture lesson, then a language lesson, then it felt like a lesson in history. But the three, which should have been easy to overlap, never seemed to combine in an easy way.

While the illustrations were nice, it needed more to really give the feeling of being a children's book. This felt more like a low level middle grade novel due to the lack of illustrations.

Overall, concept was nice (if a little bit overused due to Magic Schoolbus feel to it), but the execution fell flat for me. It seems as if it's been rushed to the publisher without enough editing.

My title says MR MENSCH AND HIS MESHUGINAHMOBLIE. But I guess it's also known as Stranger Danger. It's a meandering fantasy tale for young kids. I found it very hard to follow even though I was willing to dispense with disbelief and approach it like a kid. I couldn't make any sense out of it.
To my surprise it's a very long fairy tale for a kids' book. I don't know what 8 year old would stick with it. I never got the idea that it was a tale of warning about strangers although there is very clear anti Semitism in it. ????
I can't give this a good review because I feel it is all over the place and there are many word usages that are Yiddish in origin so most kids won't understand any of that. In Italian, it's strombole. That means, sloppily all over the place.

I am just not a great fan of snarky characters (young or old) or a book with overbearing characters (okay, I tried seeing it from the perspectives of the child characters but no, this just didn't work for me).

I like the way the story gets imaginative and actively written but I just couldn't get on with the flow of the writing style. My bad. Just a personal preference thing. The lines seem abrupt and cutting off dialogues (even though I can understand it might have been necessary for the particular characters) is not a fun part of the story for me.

The story seems a little too jumbled up and rushed in my opinion. I enjoyed the black and white ink and sketch illustration.

Things seem a bit too overwhelming when I read it. Maybe the adventure parts took over too much in my mind and I was expecting too much of it. And yes, I am bad with the so called Jewish things mentioned in the story.

For such books, especially children's fiction, it would be really informative and better if the historical background or some basic information is provided as a note.

Thank you NetGalley for the book.

I liked this new take on Magic School bus but with Jewish flair. I liked Mr. Mensch and the students were funny. It definitely reminded me of Magic School bus, who no one can replace Miss Frizzle. But I did like the Jewish take on this and the travel and the lessons in history also.
I thought it was cute and I was laughing throughout. I will read more of these adventures.

3.5/5 stars

I don't usually tend to read Children's books, although I had to make an exception to this one.

When I read it was about teaching children important life lessons I had to know which lessons were they, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the author wanted to educate his future little readers into diversity and accepting other people, no matter were they were from and without prejuidices.
I think this is a beutiful story, well written and with the cutest illustrations I've ever seen.
Definitely, a book I would recommend for the little kings and queens of our homes.

This story is a riff on the Magic School bus series, except this teacher is Jewish. This first story sends the characters to the Statue of Liberty and to Ellis Island, when many European immigrants were entering the US there. The story goes very fast and some kids might enjoy it.

I really enjoyed reading the first book in a new children's adventure series, Stranger Danger by David Michael Slater! The mixture of Jewish culture, diversity, fantasy, and historical elements made this an interesting chapter book. I enjoyed the focus on personal character in an upbeat and relatable way. The story felt a little rushed, and I would have enjoyed a bit more depth, but the educational value and messages taught are great!

Mr. Mensch is a great new Ms Frizzle for kids of all ages! I'll be excited to follow along on more adventures!

Loved it! A mixture of Jewish culture and the Magic School Bus, Mr. Mensch is perfect for kids of all ages (yes, even high schoolers like to be read to!). It focuses on character and ethics (at least, this book does...I'd imagine the others do as well, based on the series title) in a light-hearted and fun way. We'll be looking for the rest of this series as it releases!

I don't often read children's books, but when I saw 'stranger danger', I was hooked right away. The concept of diversity spoke to me. The book contains life lessons for children of all backgrounds. That is also the purpose of the book.

You can easily read the book to children who are not yet able to read or have difficulties while reading. This also seems to be an ideal book to read together: child and parent. In addition, the child can also read the book independently. The drawings added to the story make reading interesting for children.
The book contains a lot of diversity. This can also be seen in the drawings. The story begins with a student who is not accepted within a class group. One of the many lessons children can learn from this book. It also makes the characters very real. For example, children can recognize themselves by the drawings, or by the behavior of the characters.
The story contains a lot of fantasy and appeals to the imagination. I particularly liked the concept of a teacher who magically changes costume.
The children travel through time and are confronted with other times in which their origin was seen as something wrong. It is nice to see how the characters react to this and how to deal with it. That is the main lesson readers can draw from this. I especially liked the fact that every nationality is treated equally. Creativity is used in this book to combat racism.
In addition, historical elements are also included in the book. In addition to moral lessons, children also learn about history.
Another thing I really liked about this book was the questions at the back of the book. In addition to a read (or read) story, interaction is also offered by the author. Children can reflect on some questions about what they have just read and how they behave towards discrimination.

While I enjoy seeing the students learn about racism and immigration, I found the story to be very fast and a little flat. There was not enough depth to the story. Even for a children's book, I found it too short and hasty. I think the message is very nice, and it certainly has potential, but it could be more extensive.
For example, I thought it would be very nice to travel through different time periods and visit other monuments with their accompanying story. I think that's a great idea for a book series that teaches this morality in a fun way.