The Book of Life

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2013 gold and silver medalists and a few selected Notables with a Blog Tour, February 11-15, 2013! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a wide variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. For those of you who have not yet experienced a Blog Tour, it’s basically a virtual book tour. Instead of going to a library or bookstore to see an author or illustrator speak, you go to a website on or after the advertised date to read an author’s or illustrator’s interview. Below is the schedule for the 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Please follow the links to visit the hosting blogs on or after their tour dates, and be sure to leave them plenty of comments! THE 2013 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR   MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013 Ann Redisch Stampler , author of The Wooden Sword Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older Readers Category At Shelf-Employed  Carol Liddiment , illustrato

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     🕮    During the Midwinter Council meeting of the Association of Jewish Libraries, I pulled Aimee Lurie out into the hall for a chat. Aimee is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she told me all about the 2013 winners, the best in Jewish children's literature for children and teens! Get more info at www.sydneytaylorbookawards.org . 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: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast Twitter: @bookoflifepod Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers: Hannah’s Way by Linda Glaser with illustrations by Adam Gustavson  (Kar-Ben, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group) The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Older Readers: His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg by Louise Borden ( Houghton Mifflin Books for Children ) The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Teen Readers: Intentions by Deborah Heiligman (Knopf Books for Young Readers, a division of Random House) Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Younger Readers: Zayde Comes to Live by Sheri Sinykin with illustrations by Kristina Swarner (Peachtree Publishers) The Elijah Door: A Passover Tale by Linda Leopold Strauss with illustrations by Alexi Natchev (Holiday House)     Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Older Readers: The Wooden Sword: A Jewish Folktale from Afghanistan   by Ann Redisch Stampler with illustrations by Carol Liddiment (Albert Whitman & Company) Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Te

While attending the 2013 Midwinter Council meeting of the Association of Jewish Libraries, I had the chance to interview Aimee Lurie, chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee. That interview will be podcasted soon. In the meantime, here is the official press release from AJL, announcing this year's winners. ~ Heidi Linda Glaser and Adam Gustavson , author and illustrator of Hannah’s Way , Louise Borden author of His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg , and Deborah Heiligman , author of Intentions , are the 2013 winners of the prestigious Sydney Taylor Book Award. The awards were announced at the Mid-Winter Meeting of the School, Synagogue and Community Center Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries. The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winner

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     🕮    McFarland Publishing 's name and logo don't seem very Jewish, but you may be surprised to learn that they have a strong selection of Jewish titles in their catalog. This podcast is a  show-floor interview from ALA, with McFarland's own Karl-Heinz Roseman, who very kindly allowed me to come back and complete our interview the next day, after the batteries in my recorder died. 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:  facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast   Twitter:  @bookoflifepod   Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to  bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com  or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.