The Book of Life

As Passover begins, I'd like to remind you that the Holiday Highlights lists created by the Association of Jewish Libraries are a terrific resource to help you find the very best Jewish holiday books for children. Since the program began in 2021, there have been thirteen Passover books recognized. These are the Passover books you should be buying, borrowing from the library, and giving as afikomen gifts! Learn more about Holiday Highlights on AJL's website or listen to my 2022 podcast episode about it. ALL HOLIDAY HIGHLIGHTS BOOKS FOR PASSOVER: The Four Questions by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, illustrated by Ori Sherman, Levine Querido, 2021, All ages – Spring 2021 | buy or borrow Animals celebrate at a seder; elegant. Meet the Matzah written and illustrated by Alan Silberberg, Viking, 2021, Ages 4-10 –  Spring 2021 | buy or borrow Anthropomorphic bread products retell the Exodus story; goofy. The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel, illustrated by Sean Rubin, Neal Porter Books a...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT  PART 1   PART 2    |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    My good friend  Susan Kusel has been on the podcast before, to talk about The Sydney Taylor Shmooze ,  and to announce the Sydney Taylor Book Award winners in 2018 and 2019 . She also appeared in Beyond the Holocaust and Holidays , a 2019 episode about the Highlights Foundation's writing symposium, and in the 2020 episode The Mitzvah of Voting: Part 1 .  This time she's here along with illustrator Sean Rubin to talk about their debut picture book, The Passover Guest , an AJL Holiday Highlights book. See below for the list of fine Passover picture books recently recommended by the Association of Jewish Libraries. LEARN MORE:  Susan Kusel's website Sean Rubin's website Buy The Passover Guest at Bookshop.org Sean's work on Redwall AJL Holiday Highlights AJL's 2021 Passover Children's Book Recommendat...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    April Halprin Wayland's new picture book is More Than Enough: A Passover Story . April won the 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award for New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story . Here is my 2009 interview with her about New Year at the Pier. Our wide-ranging conversation touched upon so many interesting resources that I've compiled a list of links for you here. You'll understand after you listen to the podcast! April Halprin Wayland's website More Than Enough : A Passover Story  New Year at the Pier : A Rosh Hashanah Story The Book of Life's 2009 interview with April about New Year at the Pier Wait by Antoinette Portis Teaching Authors National Poetry Month Firefly July : A Year of Very Short Poems by Paul B. Janeczko All the Small Poems by Valerie Worth The Poetry Friday Anthology by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong Poetry for Children - Sylvia Vardell's blog...

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.c...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Author Lesley Simpson offered to interview herself, and I couldn't pass that up! She talks about Yuvi's Candy Tree (Kar-Ben, 2011), a picture book on Ethiopian Jews fleeing to Israel based on the true story of Yuvi Tashome. With its strong Exodus themes, it makes a great tie-in to Passover; it's also a universal immigration story and a good illustration of the diversity of the Jewish family. 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   Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

I thought it would be seasonally appropriate to share with you the starred review I wrote about The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah for School Library Journa l. This is a delightful new Passover story, that I used successfully with several Kindergarten and first grade classes in our religious school recently. For more info about author Leslie Kimmelman and her books, see www.lesliekimmelman.net . KIMMELMAN, Leslie . The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah . illus. by Paul Meisel. unpaged. glossary. CIP. Holiday House . Mar. 2010. Tr $16.95. ISBN 978-0-8234-1952-4 . LC 2008048488. PreS-Gr 3— This Yiddish-inflected retelling of "The Little Ren Hen" features a balabusta (good homemaker) who kvetches about her lazy no-goodnik friends who will not help her make matzah from wheat. When they show up at the Passover Seder, the hen scolds, "What chutzpah!" Ultimately, however, they repent and the hen forgives them because she is a mensch. All ends ha...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     🕮    The final installment of interviews with publishers and authors from the show floor at Book Expo America 2009 . This episode highlights Jewish books for kids and teens. Guardian Angel House by Kathy Clark from Second Story Press The White Space Between by Ami Sands Brodoff from Second Story Press Tell Me a Story, Tell Me the Truth by Gina Roitman from Second Story Press Shavua Tov by Michelle Abraham, illustrated by Ann Koffsky from URJ Press Baxter the Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher by Laurel Snyder from Tricycle Press Hanukkah Lights by David Martin from Candlewick The House on the Roof by David Adler (being reprinted!) from Holiday House The Importance of Wings by Robin Friedman from Charlesbridge The Mysteries of Beethoven's Hair by Russell Martin from Charlesbridge How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Repution by Simone Elkeles from Flux The Tushy Book by Fran Manushkin from Feiwel and Friends The Rabbi and...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     🕮    The Passover spoof Moses Is Departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah swept the Internet this spring. In this episode of The Book of Life we interview its creator, Carl Elkin, about the Haggadah and about another Facebook project dear to his heart, Yes We Conserve. SPECIAL DEDICATION: I'd like to dedicate this episode to the memory of my father-in-law, Stanley Estrin (z"l). Today is his yahrzeit, plus I know he would have gotten a big kick out of Facebook. CREDITS: Our background music is provided by The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Books and CD's mentioned on the show may be borrowed from the Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel . Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com !

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK        🕮    Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber , illustrated by Adam Gustavson , is a picture book about a Yankee Jewish soldier who spends Passover with a Confederate Jewish family. It is historian Elka Weber's first book for children, and it's based on a kernel of true Civil War history. NEWS: If you are on Facebook, you can now receive posts about new Book of Life episodes on your wall by becoming a "Follower" through Networked Blogs at www.networkedblogs.com/blog/the_book_of_life ! CREDITS: Our background music is provided by The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Books and CD's mentioned on the show may be borrowed from the Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel . Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com !

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     🕮    What's new in Jewish picture books? Follow me around the 2008 Book Expo America conference to listen in on publishers and authors talking about their new and forthcoming titles! I gathered so much audio that I'll be posting it over four episodes. Part 2 will be books for children and teens, Part 3 will be adult books, and Part 4 will be books (for all ages) relating to the Holocaust. Part 1, Jewish Picture Books: Tricycle Press The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber Marshall Cavendish Cakes and Miracles by Barbara Diamond Goldin The Hanukkah Mice by Steven Kroll The Rabbi and the 29 Witches by Marilyn Hirsh Tanglewood Press The Miracle Jar by Audrey Penn Sleeping Bear Press A is for Abraham by Richard Michelson Kar-Ben Publishing Jodie's Hanukkah Dig by Anna Levine Harvest of Light by Allison Ofanansky Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride by Deborah Bodin Cohen Sammy Spider's First Day at School by Sylvia Rouss...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      🕮   The Book of Life takes you on a virtual trip around the world for Passover! > Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks discusses People of the Book , her fictional history of the Sarajevo Haggadah . > Basya Schechter talks about her band Pharaoh's Daughter , which mixes world music and psychedelic rock with Middle Eastern sounds. > Author Ilana Kurshan describes her compilation of translations, Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? The Four Questions Around the World . > If you like Ilana's book, you may also like 300 Ways to Ask the Four Questions from Zulu to Abkhaz by Murray Spiegel and Rickey Stein. It comes with a CD and a DVD to demonstrate the translations!   NEWS: In our next episode we'll celebrate Israel@60! Don't miss it! CREDITS: Thanks to Dan Krimm for permission to use Ma Nishtana - The Blues Version ! Our regular background music is provided by The Freilachm...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      🕮    In this episode of The Book of Life, a show about Jewish people and the books we read, we celebrate the holiday of Passover. We'll hear from: > dave horowitz (yes, he spells it lower case), speaking about his picture book Five Little Gefiltes (Putnam, 2007). The "Five Little Ducks" recording you'll hear on the show was provided by I CAN , a UK charity that supports children's communication. Please help them help more kids by adding your favorite (or "favourite") word to their Wall of Words. I added "gefilte." > Tami Lehman-Wilzig on her children's book Passover Around the World (Kar-Ben, 2007). > Sean Altman of the band Jewmongous about the song "They Tried to Kill Us (We Survived, Let's Eat)," written with Rob Tannenbaum (now of Good for the Jews ) during their tenure in the band What I Like About Jew .   FYI: W hile most materials discussed on The Book of Life are...