The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    In celebration of Pride Month and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing an archival episode from June, 2021. It’s an interview with Adam Eli, a young activist and author of The New Queer Conscience, a manifesto about how the queer community can use k’lal yisrael as a model for solidarity.  If you enjoy this blast from the past, check out other past episodes of The Book of Life. Click on Archive in the sidebar at Bookoflifepodcast.com , or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down. LEARN MORE: Buy or borrow The New Queer Conscience Adam Eli on Instagram Adam Eli on I Weigh   Adam Eli in Tablet I’ve updated my list of Queer Jewish Kidlit , which has grown by 48 titles and 13 interviews since I first compiled it in 2022! CREDITS: Produced b...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    GET QUEER JEWISH KIDLIT BIBLIOGRAPHY     🕮   I don't normally interview an author about a single chapter of a book, but for my friend Lee Wind, I'm making an exception. He's written a fascinating nonfiction book, The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities Around the World , and Chapter 2 is about "The Six Genders of Classical Judaism." I just had to learn more. We also talked about his two new picture books (both featuring 2-dad families), Like That Eleanor: The Amazing Power of Being an Ally and Banana Menorah . In addition to writing great kids' books about gender, Judaism, and allyship, Lee is literally a champion against censorship. He received the 2025 Industry Champion Award from the Book Industry Study Group for his project called We Are Stronger Than Censorship . Lee tells us more in the interview.  For bonus content (Jewish k...

June is Pride Month ! In celebration, I am happy to provide this updated list of queer Jewish kidlit. This list includes a broad range of representation, from queer Jewish protagonists to minor characters. My original list was posted in 2022 . Since then I've identified 49 more titles to add to the list, and done 13 more interviews with authors whose books include queer content.   Please note that I have not read all of these books myself, so cannot vouch for their quality. On the other hand, some of these are books or authors I've podcasted about, and if so I'll provide a link. To keep up with diverse Jewish representation in kidlit, keep an eye on my constantly-growing Diverse Jewish Kidlit LibraryThing database . If you have any feedback about these titles, or any others to suggest, please leave a comment!    PICTURE BOOKS Havdalah Sky by Chris Barash Adopting Ahava by Jennifer Byrne  Rainbow Allies by Nancy Churnin The Rosh Hashanah Recipe by Laura Geh...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    I'm squeezing in this quick extra episode to share with you my personal response to the shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum, with calls to action and a message of hope.  LEARN MORE: HIGH E Train Talks interviews Heidi about 20 years of The Book of Life Podcast LOW The Forward's reporting on the shooting of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim Time op ed by Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL CALLS TO ACTION Action: Watch "Cheering On Jewish Books" Action: Use Jewish Kidlit Action Checklist Action: Visit "Justice" page at BookOfLifePodcast.com Action: Ask your rep to support H.Res. 447   |  Find your Representative HERE Action: Watch Heidi's talk "How (and Why) to Call Congress" What actions are you taking to push back against antisemitism? I'd love to know. Leave a comment, write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com, or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

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 ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    In celebration of May’s Jewish American Heritage Month (aka #JAHM) and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing the eighth-ever episode of the show, from July 2006. The theme was “The Book of Life in America.” In the early years of the show, each episode featured multiple guests, and topics ranged beyond books to Jewish music, film, and web. In 23 minutes and 12 seconds, this episode packs in five fantastic guests. While the sound quality is less consistent than today, the warmth and enthusiasm of the interviews was a sign of things to come. If you enjoy this blast from the past, check out other past episodes of The Book of Life. Click on Archive in the sidebar at Bookoflifepodcast.com , or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down. LEARN MORE: JewishAmericanHeritage.org offers info, resources, a...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW THE BOOK     🕮    Terry LaBan is an alternative cartoonist, a graphic recorder (we'll talk about what that means later), and now he's written his first graphic novel, called Mendel the Mess Up. I'm going to borrow the description from the starred review in Publishers Weekly. They said "Put Fiddler on the Roof and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in a blender, add a jigger or two of Seinfeld, and the result is this boisterous and affirming graphic novel." Doesn't that sound amazing?  LEARN MORE: Buy or borrow Mendel the Mess-Up Terry LaBan’s  author website and graphic recording website  Terry’s Tikkun Olam suggestion: support HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society Get bonus content for this episode on Substack Terry’s reading recommendations: o The Story of the Jews : A 4000 Year Adventure by Stan ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT    |    BUY / BORROW THE BOOK     🕮    A Feather, a Pebble, a Shell is a lovely meditation on the natural landscape of Israel, written and illustrated by Miri Leshem-Pelly. Miri's voice is calm and dreamy, and I could hear birds chirping and dogs barking in the background as she spoke. Our conversation was both fun and serious. We talked about art, nature, books, Instagram challenges... and also about the war in Israel and its impact on humans and animals. LEARN MORE: Buy or borrow A Feather, a Pebble, a Shell Miri Leshem-Pelly's website Miri's Instagram Activity Guide for A Feather, a Pebble, a Shell Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle with Miri's art Tikkun olam suggestion: support the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel Reading recommendations: o All Eyes on Alexandra by Anna Levine o A Hoopoe Says Oop by Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh o Fast Asleep in a Little Vil...

Photo from MassLive Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama's First Presidential Seder, written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis, is a nonfiction picture book that gives us the true backstory of how Passover first came to be celebrated in the White House. It's a stunning book; it received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, and was named to the Association of Jewish Libraries' Spring 2025 Holiday Highlights list. Because this is a true story, I was able to interview one of the "characters" -- Eric Lesser, seen in the photo above, walking with President Obama. Lesser worked on the Obama campaign trail in 2008, and later became a White House aide. He's also served as a Massachusetts State Senator. He agreed to answer ten questions about the events covered in Next Year in the White House. I didn't have time for an audio interview, but you can read his answers below. LEARN MORE: Buy or borrow Next Year in the White House Websites o...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW THE BOOK     🕮    Dara Horn is the author of 5 Jewish novels for adults, the provocatively titled nonfiction essay collection People Love Dead Jews , and now a graphic novel for kids: One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe . She writes brilliant, insightful articles for The Atlantic and other publications which set my brain on fire when I read them. I recommend you run out and read everything she's ever written. But before you do, listen to this interview! LEARN MORE: Dara Horn’s website Buy or borrow One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe Buy or borrow People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present Listen to the 7-part podcast Adventures with Dead Jews Buy or borrow Dara’s most recent novel, Eternal Life Dara’s short story “Shtetl World” Selected Articles by Dara Horn: o “Is Holocaust Education Making Antisemitism W...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW THE BOOK     🕮     Night Owls is an paranormal YA romance adventure about Clara and Molly, two estries who run an art house cinema in the Village in New York City. In case you're wondering, estries are Jewish owl-shifting bread-eating female vampires! This book is my new favorite, and I'm not the only one. This debut novel won gold from the Sydney Taylor Book Award AND the National Jewish Book Award! The story is fun and fast paced, it's eery and emotional, and it's got characters I want to hang out with even if they would probably be dangerous to know.  LEARN MORE: A.R. Vishny's website Buy or borrow Night Owls Conversation about American Girl dolls: A.R. Vishny's Hey Alma article , Dolls of Our Lives podcast , and  The Book of Life's 2009 interview  More about the plays "Indecent" and "God of Vengeance" Fant...

  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...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Finn & Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy is a 2025 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and I'm thrilled to interview my friend Josh as part of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. February 10-14, 2025, winning authors and illustrators will be interviewed on various blogs, podcasts, and Bookstagram accounts, and of course the interviews will remain available for you to enjoy at any time. Check BookOfLifePodcast.com for links. Be sure to listen past the credits to hear our extended conversation about Doctor Who! LEARN MORE: Buy / borrow Finn & Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop Joshua S. Levy's website Josh's 2023 appearance on the podcast to talk about The Jake Show My list of Jewish time travel books Buy / borrow Josh's favorite Jewish book: As a Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg Buy / borrow Heidi...

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be showcasing its 2025 honorees with a Blog Tour, February 10-14, 2025! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a variety of blogs, podcasts, and Bookstagram accounts. Interviews will appear on the dates listed, and will remain available to read at your own convenience. Below is the schedule for the 2025 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! Right now, the links below lead to the homepage of each blog. Note that after the blog tour is over, I'll update the links to go directly to the interview posts. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2025 Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky , and Stacey Dressen McQueen , authors and illustrator of An Etrog from Across the Sea Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Picture Book Category at Picture Books Help Kids Soar Sammy Savo s, author/illustrator of The Girl Who Sang: A Holocau...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    The winners of the 2025 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children's and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 27, 2025 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Aviva Rosenberg is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she joined us to discuss the 2025 winners of the award. LEARN  MORE: Sydney Taylor Book Awards ALA's YouTube channel , where you can watch a recording of the announcement Heidi's unofficial 2025 Sydney Taylor shortlist Get more Jewish kidlit news & calls to action in The Book of Life Substack newsletter 2025 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARDS Scroll down to see all the winning titles listed, with links to any past podcast appearances by the authors on The Book of Life. FYI, the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour will take place in early Feb...