The Book of Life

Jaime Zollars is the illustrator for the 2010 reissue of Cakes and Miracles: A Purim Tale by Barbara Diamond Goldin . This title was named a 2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Book by the Association of Jewish Libraries . In celebration of this honor, AJL is sponsoring a Blog Tour with all gold and silver medalists. Today I am so pleased to participate in the blog tour and have Jaime Zollars here on The Book of Life! Welcome, Jaime! Cakes and Miracles was originally publ ished in 1991 with illustrations by Erika Weihs. Did you refer to the original illustrations in any way as you worked on this book, or did you start completely fresh? How was re-illustrating an old book different from illustrating a new book? I started completely fresh on this title. My first instinct was to look at the original book first, but then I decided that it would only limit my thinking if I peeked too early in the process. Once I had my sketches in, I did order the book to see how it was first illustrated. Fo

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    I still have a number of interviews from Book Expo America 2010 in the queue, but I decided to post the interview with Debbie Levy today because it is her birthday! Thanks to Facebook for letting me know. Happy Birthday, Debbie! I met Debbie Levy and her mother Jutta at Book Expo America 2010, where we sat down in the cafe for an interview. Debbie is the author and Jutta is the subject of The Year of Goodbyes: A True Story of Friendship, Family and Farewells , based on Jutta's poesiealbum from the 1940's. A poesiealbum is a poetry album or autograph album, in which friends write each other little notes and poems. Debbie was touched by the writings of her mother as a young girl, and her mother's friends. To encourage readers to experience the poesiealbum tradition, she has created a participatory blog where people can submit their own entries to an online poesiealbum at theyearofgoodbyes.blogspot.com . The Year of