The Book of Life

The Association of Jewish Libraries Launches Nice Jewish Books Podcast The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) is pleased to announce the launch of Nice Jewish Books, a monthly podcast focusing on adult Jewish fiction. Nice Jewish Books will bring attention to works of literary fiction, genre fiction, and literature in translation, as well as books and authors that have been considered for AJL’s annual Jewish Fiction Award. Nice Jewish Books can be found at https://jewishlibraries.org/nicejewishbooks /. The first episode, available now, features Mary Marks, author of the Quilting Mysteries series, in which Jewish protagonist Martha Rose and her circle of quilting friends seem to bump into dead bodies with alarming frequency. Luckily, they are able use their observational skills, intuition, and persistence to "help" the police catch the killers. In this wide-ranging conversation, host Sheryl Stahl and Mary Marks discuss Jewish practice, the representation of female charact

"Reading is a Superpower" is the theme of Children's Book Week , celebrated November 8-14, 2021 and sponsored by Every Child a Reader , in association with the Children's Book Council . The Book of Life is happy to be a Children's Book Week Partner . This year's theme is brought to life by the Superpower Challenge , inviting kids to name "a skill, personal trait, or passion that plays an important role in your life, helps you do good in the world, and makes you feel special, happy, and confident."  What's your superpower? Mine is the ability to quickly locate library books based on very minimal descriptions like "It's got a blue cover" or "It had a pumpkin in it." The superpower of Whistle, the subject of November's Book of Life episode, is to communicate with dogs and have the sensory perception of dogs. A superpower of Whistle's creator, E. Lockhart, is to seamlessly add a Jewish neighborhood into Gotham City, m

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT    |     BUY THE BOOK     🕮   The Way Back is a strange and wonderful, life-affirming story about death, an adventure in which Bluma and Yehuda Lieb set out from the shtetl on a quest into the Far Country peopled by demons. It won the National Jewish Book Award in the young adult category and was named a Sydney Taylor YA Notable Book. It's a crossover book that will appeal to adults as well as YA readers. I am pleased to bring you this interview with author Gavriel Savit. LEARN MORE:  Gavriel Savit's website Gavriel singing El Malei Rachamim    CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast Twitter: @bookoflifepod Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voic