Sevela's books for young adults, Why There Is No Heaven On Earth and We Were Not Like Other People, deal with Jewish life in pre-World War II in the Soviet Union. In the New York Times Book Review, April 25, 1982, Wallace Manfield described Why There Is No Heaven on Earth as "one of the most beautifully written and deeply felt novels that I have encountered about the half-chivalric, half-criminal universe that young boys inhabit." He declared that the novel was "done so quietly and simply, so effectively, that one forgets the art. But Ephraim Sevela, like all fine artists, does not have to insist on his artistry." The book was equally highly praised in the Horn Book magazine where it was called "a lamentation, a celebration, an enquiry into questions of justice and fate."

Sevela is the author of several books for adults, many of which can...