The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    BUY THE BOOK    |   VISIT MCBD WEBSITE     🕮    Today, January 27, 2016, is Multicultural Children's Book Day, a celebration of diversity in kidlit. Check out multiculturalchildrensbookday.com to find diversity booklists for kids and a Linky where you can suggest resources yourself (perhaps Jewish resources). And be sure to Google #ReadYourWorld to find links to multicultural children's book reviews and reading suggestions. In the spirit of the Day's hashtag, #ReadYourWorld , I'm posting my interview with Laura Gehl about the picture book Hare and Tortoise Race Across Israel , a story that showcases the diversity of Israel's geography and people (including anthropomorphic animals among humans), and imagines a world in which friendliness prevails. I met Laura at the 2015 Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Silver Spring, MD.   CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israe

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2016 gold and silver medalists with a  Blog Tour, February 8-12, 2016 ! 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 2016 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! MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2016 Ketzel the Cat   by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Amy June Bates Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category At  Ann Koffsky's Blog Serendipity's Footsteps   by Suzanne Nelson Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in

Lesléa Newman and Amy June Bates, author and illustrator of   Ketzel, the Cat who Composed , Aharon Appelfeld, Philippe Dumas and Jeffrey M. Green, author, illustrator and translator of  Adam and Thomas , and Laura Amy Schlitz, author of   The Hired Girl , are the 2016 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. 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 winners will receive their awards at the   Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Charleston, South Carolina this June. Newman and Bates will receive the 2016 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s Younger Reader category for   Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed , published by Candlewick Press.  This delightful picture book tells the true story of musician Morris Moshe Cotel, whose cat helped him compose a

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮     My Grandfather's Coat won the 2015 Sydney Taylor Book Award gold medal in the Younger Readers' Category, and I was thrilled to meet author Jim Aylesworth and illustrator Barbara McClintock , along with their editor, my old friend Dianne Hess , at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Silver Spring, MD. The conversation was like a meeting of the Mutual Appreciation Society, because these are three of the nicest people you'd ever want to meet. I'm sure you will enjoy hearing their stories on the creation of this book, which is a new version of the folktale represented by Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Sydney Taylor silver medal, 1999) and Something From Nothing (Sydney Taylor gold medal, 1992). Bonus Track: You'll also hear Jim Aylesworth's delightful conference session, in which he "walked the walk" by getting librarians to stand in for students in an interactive presenta