Book Expo: Jewish Titles for Adults

SHOW NOTES:

In these interviews from the show floor at Book Expo America 2009, we ask publishers to tell us about their new Jewish interest books for adults.

• Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection by Shana Liebman from Grand Central Publishing
  
• Sipping from the Nile: My Exodus from Egypt by Jean Naggar from Stony Creek Press
  
• The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb from W.W. Norton
• All Other Nights: A Novel by Dara Horn from W.W. Norton
• The Jerusalem File by Joel Stone from Europa Editions
• One Step Ahead of Hitler: A Jewish Child's Journey Through France by Fred Gross from Mercer University Press
• Elie Wiesel: A Religious Biography by Frederick Downing from Mercer University Press
• Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch (Mercer Student Guide) by Mark McEntire from Mercer University Press
• The Hebrew Tutor of Bel Air by Allan Appel from Coffee House Press
• German for Travelers: A Novel in 95 Lessons by Norah Labiner from Coffee House Press
• Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son by Michael Chabon from HarperCollins
• Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife by Francine Prose from HarperCollins
• Fromms: How Julius Fromm's Condom Empire Fell to the Nazis by Gotz Aly and Michael Sontheimer from Other Press
• Crossing the Hudson by Peter Stephan Jungk from Other Press

AUDIO:

Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

Or click MP3 File to start your computer's media player

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CREDITS:

Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
Facebook fan page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
Twitter: @bookoflifepod

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

Pictures from Planet Esme

During the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Chicago, IL, I had the chance to visit the Planet Esme Bookroom, otherwise known as "the Gingerbread Apartment" because of its whimsical architecture. The Bookroom is a real treat for kidlit fans, stuffed to the gills with books, toys, and reading-related decorations. Every detail has been lovingly thought out to make visitors smile, from the wolf and sheep puppets lying peacefully together atop the photocopier, to the cuckoo clock that sings out the time.

The Bookroom is the brainchild of Esme Raji Codell, author of Sydney Taylor Honor Book Vive la Paris, AJL Notable Book Hanukkah Shmanukkah, and the inspiring book for teachers, Educating Esme, among many others. It functions as a private salon where she hosts events that celebrate literature, like the wonderful pizza party she threw for lovers of Judaica during the AJL Convention.

To see an album of photos from the Planet Esme Pizza Party, visit The Book of Life's Facebook fan page at facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast. (You can view it even if you're not a Facebook member... but if you are a member, please do become a fan while you're there!)

I recorded several interviews during the party, so watch The Book of Life for upcoming conversations with Esme herself, along with Rich Michelson, Mark Blevis, Lisa Silverman, April Halprin Wayland, and Jenny Meyerhoff.

BONUS STUFF:

Listen to an audio tour of the Bookroom recorded at the 2007 Kidlit Bloggers conference by podcaster Mark Blevis of Just One More Book.

See more pictures and learn more about the Bookroom from the ALA librarians who followed in AJL's footsteps, visiting the Bookroom for a brunch later the same week. Fuse #8 blogged about ALA 2009, A Visit to Planet Esme's Bookroom.

Mark Blevis, Kidlit Podcaster

SHOW NOTES:

In this picture we see Mark Blevis & Andrea Ross, the husband-and-wife team behind the kidlit podcast Just One More Book. They're holding the Six String Nation guitar, and they're at the Podcasters Across Borders conference, of which Mark is one of the founders and organizers. Mark also co-hosts, with Bob Goyetche, an excellent show by and for podcasters called The Canadian Podcast Buffet.

While I was at Podcasters Across Borders, I grabbed Mark for an interview about his upcoming gig at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention, which takes place in July in Chicago, IL. Mark's talk is entitled "How I Learned About Amazing Jewish Books Through Social Media."

As we chatted, he posed a question for listeners: what are your concerns about the visibility of Jewish books, especially books for children? Please share your thoughts with Mark at markblevis@gmail.com or post a comment here at The Book of Life.

Mark's AJL Convention presentation will be recorded for podcasting, and will ultimately appear on the AJL Podcast at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.

AUDIO:

Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

Or click MP3 File to start your computer's media player.

NEW!
If you'd like to place this audio interview on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!



CREDITS:

Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
Facebook fan page: click here
Twitter: @bookoflifepod
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/electricsky/3646268523/

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

Podcaster Heaven

http://www.flickr.com/photos/electricsky/3647071410/

Whew. I'm back from my first Podcasters Across Borders (aka PAB) conference in Kingston, Ontario, and I am just completely blown away.

I'd been listening to podcasts of the conference sessions for the past several years on the Canadian Podcast Buffet, a show by and for podcasters, so I knew there would be high quality content. What I didn't expect was how moving the experience would be.

The opening keynote was by Jowi Taylor, creator of the Six String Nation guitar. This guitar was constructed of 64 pieces (wood and other materials) representing all different regions and peoples of Canada. The idea is to bring Canadians together to bond with eachother and to contemplate Canadian identity. It's a beautiful piece of usable art, and it's a wonderful vehicle for sharing history and storytelling... as well as music! Jowi is a Peabody Award winning writer and broadcaster, and he really touched us when he shared stories of the guitar's source materials and the way people have responded to the guitar itself. We ended the evening by singing "I get by with a little help from my friends" along with the guitar, and by offering to help Jowi spread the word to gain more support for his project. Check out the Six String Nation book (not available yet outside Canada, but you can order from Canadian Amazon), and be sure to check out the video I've embedded at the bottom of this blog post. I encourage you to blog, tweet, podcast, or post to Facebook about Six String Nation whether you're Canadian or not - it's a beautiful project that really deserves attention.

The theme of storytelling continued throughout the weekend. While there were a few technical sessions, the majority had more to do with inspiration, thinking outside the box, living in the moment, and being true to yourself. The podcasters at this event were, for the most part, passionate hobbyists who use podcasting to share their interests, and that passion really came through in the conference sessions. It almost felt like being at a spiritual retreat instead of a conference!

Keep your eyes and ears on The Book of Life for upcoming interviews with some of the other book nerds I met at PAB -- Mark Blevis (PAB co-organizer) of the Just One More Book podcast, librarian Connie Crosby who gave a great library-related session at PAB, Hugh McGuire, founder of LibriVox and Book Oven, and Alexa Clark, founder of Mini Book Expo and co-organizer of BookCamp Toronto.

Thanks SO much to the warm and welcoming PAB community -- I walked in a stranger but soon felt like an old friend. And thanks especially for the litre of maple syrup I won in the PAB drawing (even though I wasn't allowed to have it until I sang O Canada)!

VIDEO:

Book Expo: Jewish Publishers

SHOW NOTES:

Interviews from the show floor at Book Expo America 2009. In the spotlight: Jewish presses.

• Gefen
• Jewish Publication Society
• Kar-Ben Publishing
• Union for Reform Judaism

AUDIO:

Click the play button on our traditional flash player to listen to the podcast now:

Or click MP3 File to start your computer's media player.

NEW!
If you'd like to place this audio interview on your own web site, please use this stand-alone player from Entertonement. Click the embed button and copy the code!



CREDITS:

Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries
Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
Facebook fan page: click here
Twitter: @bookoflifepod

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com!

Tillmon County Fire

Author Pamela Ehrenberg is not afraid to tackle big topics. Her first book, Ethan, Suspended, explored issues of race relations (see our February 2008 podcast for a discussion of Ethan, Suspended). Her new book, Tillmon County Fire, examines the many forms that prejudice can take, using the voices of teens who are gay, Jewish, adopted, autistic, abused, or marginalized in other ways. Amazingly, Pam's books are far from preachy. They are compellingly readable, and her characters are very real people. They are brave books, and I highly recommend that you read them.

To learn more about Tillmon County Fire, check out the stops on Pam's Blog Tour at pamelaehrenberg.com!

The Disappearing Dowry

Congratulations to Book of Life Facebook fan Rick Sternberg of Pittsburgh, PA, who has won our book giveaway (held in celebration of reaching 150 Facebook fans). Rick works at the Community Day School in Pittsburgh and will be donating the book to the school library. We'll hold another drawing when we reach 200 Facebook fans, so if you haven't become a fan yet, do it now!

Rick will be receiving a copy of The Disappearing Dowry: An Ezra Melamed Mystery by Libi Astaire (Zahav Press). I very much enjoyed this historical novel. When I first heard that it was written "in the style of Jane Austen" I admit I was worried: books written in a famous author's style have so much to live up to and can easily fall short. However, this book feels like a loving tribute to Austen rather than a cheap imitation, and avoids becoming an Austen remake by embracing the "cozy" mystery genre as well.

What really sets the book apart is its portrayal of Jewish life in 19th century England. We see an active Jewish community, proud of its heritage yet comfortably British, but also aware of its outsider status. There are few books that explore this setting in a Jewish context, and I found it very refreshing.

I also found it quite refreshing that anti-Semitism was not a strong theme in this book. It would have been so easy for the author to use anti-Semitism as motive for the mystery's central crime. The theme of prejudice dominates much of Jewish literature, and I feel that Libi Astaire breaks the mold by choosing not to follow that path.

I found The Disappearing Dowry to be a light and enjoyable read, one that frequently made me smile. It is written for adults but can easily be enjoyed by kids in middle and high school.

For an interview with author Libi Astaire, visit Barbara Bietz's blog, Jewish Books for Children.

Kidlit Interview Wiki

The Kidlitosphere (blogs and podcasts about Children's Literature and Literacy) is filled with interviews of children's literature creators and children's literacy promoters. You can find many of these interviews indexed at the Kidlit Interview Wiki, and this list now includes interviews from The Book of Life.

The Kidlit Interview Wiki provides links to interviews with children's authors, illustrators, and literacy promoters. A separate but related wiki, Children's Book Reviews, provides links to blogs and podcasts that review literature for kids.

For general information about the "kidlitosphere," visit the website Kidlitosphere Central, where you'll find a wealth of resources, including links to many blogs and podcasts.