Breath of Bones comes to life based on the historical figure Judah Loew. According to legend, this real-world rabbi fashioned from clay a living creature, the golem, to protect the Jewish people from attacks in 16th-century Bohemia. Now this alternate-historical adventure by Tricia Goyer and her son Nathan Goyer follows the rabbi’s firebrand descendant Josef as he protects his people from the new threat of Nazis. History buffs can appreciate details of the Third Reich’s war machine chugging across Europe, yet cogs and clocks give this story new energy, while its iron bones belong to the golem itself.

Best for: Adult fans of wartime adventure, historical fantasy, and steampunk tropes.

Discern: Some vivid violence in defense of the defenseless.