The Adventure of Micah Mushmelon, Boy Talmudist by Michael Wex

Heir to the Hipster line of rabbinical leaders and sages, eleven year old Micah Mushmelon enlists Shraga Potasznik, the comic-book-addicted protagonist of this novella to make good of all things worthwhile in this world. An heir to the rich modern Yiddish literary tradition, Michael Wex paints a vivid, hilarious picture of the hasidic demimonde. His is a view into Yiddish culture at once erudite and super hip, and always true to the cadences of a language that informs so much of modern North American culture.