The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    As a follow up to my recent interview with Adam Gidwitz about Max in the Land of Lies, and in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives, from January 2017. I met Adam Gidwitz at an author "speed dating" event at the American Library Association conference, where he was promoting his middle grade fantasy The Inquisitor's Tale, which later went on to win a Sydney Taylor Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a lot of other awards.  If you enjoy this blast from the past, please check out other past episodes of The Book of Life from any time in the last 2 decades. Go to Bookoflifepodcast.com and Click on Archive in the sidebar, or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down. LEARN MORE:  Adam Gidwitz's website Adam Gidwitz's Jul...

I'm thrilled to appear on the show of teen podcaster E Train Talks, to celebrate The Book of Life's 20th anniversary, as well as Jewish American Heritage Month!  E Train appeared on The Book of Life back in October 2023, just a few days before the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7. I think it got overshadowed because of that, so you should go back and listen to that episode: E TRAIN ON THE BOOK OF LIFE SHOW NOTES (links I shared with E Train for him to include): The Book of Life Podcast newsletter on Substack Cheering On Jewish Books presentation about how to support Jewish books  Wish list of the kinds of books I hope authors will write The Sydney Taylor Shmooze review blog  Info about the Sydney Taylor Book Award on AJL's website  Holiday Highlights , the best new Jewish kids books about Jewish holidays  Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook group Podcast Memories shared during the interview: 2006 Simms Taback   2009 Panet Esme Bookroom ...

  I am honored to be a guest on The Children's Book Podcast , founded and hosted by my friend Matthew Winner, a school librarian in Maryland. You can listen to it here: Past Book of Life episodes mentioned in this interview, in order of appearance: Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop with Josh Levy, February 2025 The Jake Show with Josh Levy, August 2023 One of a Kind: The Life of Sydney Taylor with Rich Michelson, January 2025 Our Jewish Emotional Support Books, September 2024 When the Angels Left the Old Country with Sacha Lamb, January 2023 Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good with Nancy Werlin, August 202 "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" series, 2020 The Mitzvah of Voting, August 2024 The Book of Life Tells Stories with Simms Taback, August 2006 Matthew Winner has been podcasting since 2013, and since his show is weekly, he’s racked up about 900 episodes. His podcast features insightful and sincere interviews with authors, illustrators, and everyone invol...

The word "podcast" was coined in 2004. Just a year later, The Book of Life dropped its first episode! On December 21, 2005, I posted for the first time: a 14 minute 17 second Hanukkah episode that packed in two author interviews, a CD review, and a reflection by my temple’s rabbi. You can still hear it HERE . The audio is a bit scratchy - I was recording remote interviews with a tiny microphone that went between my ear and the phone! - but the excitement was palpable. I was hooked.  I'll be sharing more podcast history and finding lots of ways to celebrate throughout 2025. First up: Substack!   Substack is a newsletter platform. You can subscribe to my Substack to get show notes, episode transcripts, Jewish kidlit news, and occasional calls to action delivered directly to your inbox! It's interactive too - you can comment and join the conversation.  I hope this will make it even more convenient for you to share my Jewish kidlit journey with me! Please subscribe at boo...