The Book of Life

The Association of Jewish Libraries  and the Jewish Book Council  present the second annual reading challenge for readers of all ages, # Readukkah! To participate, all you have to do is read one #JewLit  book and post your review to the event discussion board on Facebook —or post a link to your review anywhere online—and use the hashtag #Readukkah  to connect with other readers. #Readukkah takes place December 1-8, 2016. Any book of Jewish interest is a good choice for #Readukkah. If your chosen book is not obviously Jewish, use your review to explain the connection. By sharing your #Readukkah reviews, your participation in this reading challenge helps spread the word about worthwhile titles, bringing them to the attention of more readers and supporting the publication of Jewish books! RSVP to the #Readukkah Facebook Event  to say if you'll be participating! What if you don't use Facebook? Review a #JewLit  book on a blog, GoodReads, Amazon, ...

  LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY KETZEL THE CAT WHO COMPOSED / I CARRY MY MOTHER     🕮    Lesléa Newman is a prolific poet and author of books for kids and adults. In fact, she was on The Book of Life last year in 2015 to talk about her picture book Here is the World . In 2016 she won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers Category for her picture book biography Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed . I met up with her at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Charleston, SC where we talked about Ketzel and also about her recent poetry book I Carry My Mother . Special thanks to pianist Guy Livingston for permission to use his recording of Ketzel's composition, "Piece for Piano: Four Paws." Check out his music podcast, American Highways ! CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries     Theme mus...

Welcome to our second annual Hanukkah for Kids blog hop, sponsored by Multicultural Kid Blogs ! Be sure to visit all the participating blogs for ways to share this special time of year with kids. Plus you can find all these and more on our Hanukkah Pinterest board ! (And don't miss last year's series !)   Participating Blogs Kelly's Classroom on Multicultural Kid Blogs Moms & Crafters | The Squishable Baby Kid World Citizen | Discovering the World Through My Son's Eyes | The Book of Life "HANUKKAH PAST" AND "HANUKKAH YET TO COME" ON THE BOOK OF LIFE December 2005 The Book of Life's very first episode was a Hanukkah Celebration. In December 2005, I interviewed Eric Kimmel about the classic Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins and talked to Rebecca Tova Ben-Zvi about her new book Four Sides, Eight Nights: A New Spin on Hanukkah. I also got a contributor review of Craig Taubman's CD The Hanukkah Lounge. December 2006 ...

Every few years, someone blogs about the terrible state of Jewish kidlit. It happened in The Forward in 2012, when Deborah Kolben saw the deaths of Simms Taback and Russell Hoban as signaling the end of the genre ( "Who Will Light Up Jewish Kids Lit?" ). At that time, I wrote this blog post to provide the context that was missing from her article.  Now it's happened again in Mosaic with commentator Michael Weingrad's article "Why Are Jewish Children's Books So Bad?" and again I feel compelled to respond. If you take a superficial look at the genre of Jewish kidlit you may come away sharing Weingrad's impression: "cartoon animals teaching holiday basics in stilted rhymes, an overrepresentation of sentimental grandparents (to the frequent exclusion of parents), and shtetl-and-steerage depictions of New York’s Lower East Side as the Sinai of American Judaism" and a "Bible that stops with Noah’s ark". It's true that these are...

STEP RIGHT UP! The Jewish Book Carnival is a monthly round-up of Jewish literary links from across the blogosphere. Participating bloggers contribute links from their own blogs, and take turns hosting the carnival. If you're a blogger and you'd like to participate, please visit the Jewish Book Carnival HQ on the webpage of the Association of Jewish Libraries . Questions? Email carnival@jewishlibraries.org . ON WITH THE SHOW! Deborah Kalb interviews a wide variety of authors on her blog, deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com . Check out her recent Q&A with Rabbi Susan Silverman about Silverman's book Casting Lots: Creating a Family in a Beautiful, Broken World. At Life Is Like a Library , Chava Pinchuck looks at two cookbooks that provide ideas and inspiration for "parsha treats" for the weekly Torah readings: http://lifelibrary-ksp.blogspot.co.il/2016/10/parsha-treats.html Malkah Livneh blogs about Israeli children's books written in Hebrew at Let...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark is a picture book biography of the first Jewish woman to serve on the US Supreme Court. I spoke to author Debbie Levy about the creation of the book, which has been getting rave reviews . In our interview, Debbie mentions the availability of audio of Ruth Bader Ginsburg arguing before the Supreme Court as an attorney. You can hear an example in the case of Frontiero vs. Richardson . You can also listen to Justice Ginsburg in the Supreme Court's weekly audio , or read transcripts if you prefer. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an unusally hip public figure and has inspired memes and songs within pop culture. Check out this song from Jonathan Mann 's Song-a-Day project, based on Ginsburg's dissent in the Hobby Lobby case. CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Supported in part by: Association o...