The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      🕮    Sylvia Rouss , Mira Reisberg , Joni Sussman and Ann Stampler spoke at the 2014 Association of Jewish Libraries conference on a panel responding to the Pew study "A Portrait of Jewish Americans" - and it all boils down to diversity. Today, January 27, 2015, is Multicultural Children's Book Day . It seems like good timing to share some thoughts on diversity within Jewish children's literature. SUBMIT MANUSCRIPTS! Submit to Kar-Ben Publishing Submit to Apple & Honey Press Submit to Hummingbird Literary (Use subject line: Jewish submission via Heidi's Podcast) BONUS ARTICLE: MIRRORS & WINDOWS: Here is the first in a 2-part series of articles I wrote about diversity in children's literature for EBSCO's NoveList. This article focuses on race, while the second article will focus on other forms of diversity (including religion). While these articles are not specifically Jewish, I thought you mi

READ PRESS RELEASE     🕮    I am thrilled to share with the you winners of the 2015 Sydney Taylor Book Awards for Jewish children's and teen literature! A blog tour will feature interviews with gold and silver medalists, February 8-13, 2015 - watch the AJL blog for details. The gold medalists will be presented with their awards at the 50th annual conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries in Washington DC this June. Mazel tov to all the authors and illustrators and their publishers! If you haven't tried it yet, take the Sydney Taylor Buzzfeed Quiz "Which All-of-a-Kind Family Sibling Are You?" Awards committee member Elissa Gershowitz and her Horn Book colleague Shoshana Flax were instrumental in creating the quiz!   THE 2015 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH LIBRARIES The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers:   My Grandfather’s Coat by  Jim Aylesworth with illustrations by Barbara McClintock (

TAKE THE QUIZ      🕮    The Association of Jewish Libraries has teamed up with The Horn Book and Lizzie Skurnick Books to create a fun Buzzfeed quiz, "Which All-of-a-Kind Family Sibling Are You?" All-of-a-Kind Family is a classic of Jewish-American literature, the first book in a series about five sisters growing up on the Lower East Side at the turn of the last century. The character of Sarah in the books represented the author herself, Sydney Taylor. In memory of Taylor's literary achievement, the Association of Jewish Libraries presents the annual Sydney Taylor Book Awards to the best in Jewish children's literature. The 2015 winners will be announced in a matter of weeks, as of this writing! The quiz is very entertaining, and a fun way to share your excitement about the upcoming award announcements! Take the quiz here , and share your results on social media! (Full disclosure: I got Ella!)

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    An interview with Laurel Snyder and Catia Chen , author and illustrator of The Longest Night , an award-winning picture book that retells the story of the Exodus from a child's point of view. I sat down to interview them during the 2014 Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Las Vegas, NV, where they received the 2014 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category. The 2015 Sydney Taylor Book Awards will be announced later this month! AUTOGRAPHS!   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   Top photo: Laurel & Catia Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.