The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT   |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    If you enjoy a good heist story, here's one with a lot of heart. Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz is a middle grade novel about a Jewish girl who gets into good trouble in order to right a wrong. Banding together with friends and frenemies helps her expand her thinking and bring more generosity into the world.  LEARN MORE:   Diana Harmon Asher’s website , Instagram , and Facebook Buy Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz , Sidetracked , and Upstaged Diana’s Tikkun Olam suggestion: donate to food banks at community colleges CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: Facebook....

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    If you've ever read books to a baby or toddler, you're familiar with board books, those small sturdy books with stiff cardboard pages that can withstand drool and rough handling. But just because these books are designed for babies doesn't mean they are baby-ish. Suzy Ultman's deceptively simple storytelling in board book format has brought about a historic moment. For the first time ever, a board book has won a Sydney Taylor Book Award. Among the four Jewish board books Suzy has created so far, the one that got her the gold was Shabbat Shalom, Let's Rest and Reset. Her signature bright, quirky, cheerful art, paired with reassuring, calming text, invites us to stop all the doing and just be. If you need to give a baby gift, I highly recommend one or all of Suzy's Jewish board books... but you might actually want to get copies for yourself...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Welcome to the 17th annual Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour, taking place February 9-12, 2026! When AJL started this project in 2009, blog tours were all the rage. Today, the concept of a virtual book tour still holds up, bringing awareness of the Sydney Taylor winners to audiences far and wide. I am participating in the Blog Tour by interviewing Caroline Kusin Pritchard and Selina Alko, author and illustrator of The Keeper of Stories , which was a Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Picture Book category. As a librarian, I love the idea of a library as a keeper of stories, a place where stories and history are kept safe for generations to come. LEARN MORE:  Here’s the schedule for the 2026 Blog Tour Here’s the archive of all past blog tours, beginning in 2009 Caroline Kusin Prichard’s website and Instagram Selina Alko’s website and ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT        🕮    The winners of the 2026 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children’s and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 26, 2026 at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards event. Melanie Koss is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she joined me on the podcast to discuss the 2026 winners of the award. LEARN MORE: Sydney Taylor Book Awards The Sydney Taylor Portal  ALA’s YouTube channel , where you can watch a recording of the announcement Heidi’s unofficial 2026 Sydney Taylor shortlist   Get more Jewish kidlit news & calls to action in The Book of Life Substack newsletter   2026 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARDS Picture Book Winner: Shabbat Shalom, Let's Rest and Reset  written and illustrated by Suzy Ultman, published by Rise x Penguin Workshop Middle Grade Winner: Neshama...

It's time for my annual unofficial shortlist of potential Sydney Taylor Book Award winners! As you may know, in addition to interviewing authors of Jewish kidlit for many years, I'm a former member and chair of the Association of Jewish Libraries' Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, and a cofounder of The Sydney Taylor Shmooze  review blog, so I have a deep and abiding interest in seeking out the best Jewish kidlit of the year.  I'm not actually making predictions about what will win; rather, I'm telling you that these are books that I think deserve your attention (with the caveat that while I probably read the majority of Jewish children's or YA books published in 2025, I did not read ALL of them, so there may be other titles I'd consider worthy if I'd had the chance to read them). I've listed the titles within their age categories alphabetically by author's last name.Titles are linked to Bookshop.org for your purchasing convenience ...

A year ago I started a Substack newsletter for The Book of Life Podcast to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. The free Substack posts include podcast episodes, show notes, transcripts, Jewish kidlit news, and calls to action. A number of listeners have very kindly pledged to upgrade to paid subscriptions to support the show. I am now turning on paid subscriptions, and I'm starting a new bonus segment on The Book of Life, especially for paid subscribers. It's called Share Your Shelf . I'll be asking guests to look at their own bookshelves to share the books that are important to them, or that have an interesting origin story; books they've hung onto or just acquired, their oldest or newest books, or even the books that are actually missing from their shelves. The first Share Your Shelf bonus segment will go out to paid subscribers on January 26th, when I'll also be posting a free podcast episode for everyone, about the winners of the 2026 Sydney Ta...