Next to the synagogue, in the building that houses the mikvah (ritual bath), Aviva lives with her mother, Ema, and a dybbuk—visible only to Aviva—who delights in wreaking minor havoc. Ema, who used to teach at Aviva’s Orthodox girls’ school, has struggled with severe depression since the death of Aviva’s father six years prior. Left mostly to fend for herself at home, Aviva feels isolated and lonely at school as well; after her father’s death, she had a falling out with her best friend, Kayla. During a machanayim game at recess, a tense incident involving the two girls results in a classmate’s injury. As punishment, Aviva and Kayla, both white, are ordered to work together to drum up excitement for their class’s upcoming mother-daughter Bas Mitzvah Bash. In spending time together, the two rekindle their friendship. The discovery of an underwater door in the mikvah—which, after draining the tub, the girls open to discover a passageway leading to the synagogue—and the antics of the mischievous dybbuk inspire them to create a spooky scavenger hunt for the girls at the Bash. Meanwhile, a swastika etched in wet concrete in front of the synagogue has the community on alert; later, when the synagogue is ransacked, Aviva senses traumatic, repressed memories beginning to surface. A captivating tale of grief and loss counters terrifying instances of antisemitism with the comfort and love of Orthodox Jewish life and community.  (Ages 9-13)

A long ago "accident." An isolated girl named Aviva. A community that wants to help, but doesn't know how. And a ghostly dybbuk, that no one but Aviva can see, causing mayhem and mischief that everyone blames on her.

That is the setting for this suspenseful novel of a girl who seems to have lost everything, including her best friend Kayla, and a mother who was once vibrant and popular, but who now can’t always get out of bed in the morning.

As tensions escalate in the Jewish community of Beacon with incidents of vandalism and a swastika carved into new concrete poured near the synagogue...so does the tension grow between Aviva and Kayla and the girls at their school, and so do the actions of the dybbuk grow worse.

Could real harm be coming Aviva's way? And is it somehow related to the "accident" that took her father years ago?

Aviva vs. the Dybbuk is a compelling, tender story about friendship and community, grief and healing, and one indomitable girl who somehow manages to connect them all.