Steve Sheinkin

Steve Sheinkin (born 1968) is an American author of suspenseful history books for young adults. A former textbook writer, Sheinkin began writing full-time nonfiction books for young readers in 2008. His work has been praised for making historical information more accessible.

Rabbi Harvey

Sheinkin has written and illustrated three fictional graphic novels about Rabbi Harvey, a fictional Jewish rabbi who also functions as an Old West sheriff, using Jewish rabbinical wisdom to solve problems usually solved with firearms in the fictional Rocky Mountain town of Elk Spring, Colorado. The books, which were published through Jewish Lights Publishing, consist of The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey, Rabbi Harvey Rides Again, and Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid. The eclectic stories, which combine Jewish legends and frontier legends, sprung from Sheinkin's own eclectic childhood as a Jewish-American boy raised on both Jewish folktales and American Westerns. The character of Rabbi Harvey also contains elements of the author's own father, David Sheinkin.

Awards and honors

Sheinkin's nonfiction books, Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon and The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, were both National Book Award finalists. In 2013, Bomb also won the Newbery Honor and Sibert Medal from the American Library Association. The Port Chicago 50 won the Carter G. Woodson Book Award in 2015. His 2015 book, Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War, was also a finalist for the National Book Award, and was called “easily the best study of the Vietnam War available for teen readers. In 2020, he won the Margaret A. Edwards Award. His latest book, Impossible Escape, was a Sydney Taylor Book Award Honor winner.

Select bibliography

Non-fiction

Impossible Escape: A True Story Of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe, Roaring Brook Press, 2023

Bomb (Graphic Novel): The Race to Build–and Steal–the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, Roaring Brook Press, 2023

Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown, Roaring Brook Press, 2021

Born to Fly: The First Women's Air Race Across America, Roaring Brook Press, 2019

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team, Roaring Brook Press, 2017

Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War, Roaring Brook Press, 2015

The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights, Roaring Brook Press, 2014

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery, Square Fish, 2013

Lincoln's Grave Robbers, Scholastic Press, 2013

Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon, Roaring Brook Press, 2012

Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You series

Which Way to the Wild West? Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About Westward Expansion, Flash Point, 2009

Two Miserable Presidents, Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the Civil War, Square Fish, 2008

King George: What Was His Problem?: Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn't Tell You About the American Revolution, Flash Point, 2005

Fiction

Time Twisters series

Neil Armstrong and Nat Love, Space Cowboys, Roaring Brook Press, 2019

Amelia Earhart and the Flying Chariot, Roaring Brook Press, 2019

Abigail Adams, Pirate of the Caribbean, Roaring Brook Press, 2018

Abraham Lincoln, Pro Wrestler, Roaring Brook Press, 2018

Rabbi Harvey graphic novel series

Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid: A Graphic Novel of Dueling Jewish Folktales in the Wild West, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2010

Rabbi Harvey Rides Again: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Folktales Let Loose in the Wild West, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2008

The Adventures of Rabbi Harvey: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Wisdom and Wit in the Wild West, Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006

The Bletchley Riddle, co-written with Ruta Sepetys, Viking Books for Young Readers, 2024