The Book of Life

VISIT THE SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WEBSITE     🕮    The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be showcasing its 2017 gold and silver medalists with a Blog Tour, February 6-10, 2017! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. Interviews will appear on the dates below, and will remain available to read at your own convenience. Below is the schedule for the 2017 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! 2017 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 Gavriel Savit , author of Anna and the Swallow Man Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers category At Book Q&A's with Deborah Kalb  Andrea Davis Pinkney (author), Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher (illustrators) of A Poem for Peter Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Older Readers category At ...

VISIT STORYTIME UNDERGROUND     🕮    Storytime Underground , a blog and Facebook group for children's librarians, challenged participants to use their storytimes to make the world a fairer place. As the organizers said, " Take a moment to think about what you can do to help teach empathy and inclusiveness in your programming." These goals are represented by the Jewish values of tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedakah (justice). The hashtag #storytimejusticewarrior helps us find examples from storytime providers everywhere. During the week following Martin Luther King Jr. Day, my storytime theme was skin, its functions and colors. I particularly enjoy using puppets to teach this concept. This pair of puppets from Sunny and Co. offer a great Venn diagram of intersecting comparisons and contrasts. Their hair is the same color but different styles. Their clothing both includes denim but for different items. I love it that the boy puppet is ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz with illustrations by Hatem Aly is the 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers category, and it was a National Jewish Book Award Finalist in the Children's Literature category. Both these awards were announced in January 2017; I interviewed Adam long before that, soon after meeting him at a kidlit author speed dating event at the American Library Association convention in Orlando in June 2016. The Inquisitor's Tale has been receiving accolades from simply everyone. A particularly insightful review was the one by Betsy Bird at A Fuse #8 Production blog on the School Library Journal website. CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Supported in part by: Association of Jewish Libraries     Theme music: The...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    VISIT SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WEBSITE     🕮    Ellen Tilman is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries . She joined us by phone from her home in Philadelphia to talk about the newest crop of winners that were announced just this week. Here's the official announcement with the full list of winners, honors, and notable books: click here . Here's my roundup of winning books that have appeared on The Book of Life: click here 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   Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or call our voice...

AJL's Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, June 2016   January 11, 2017 was a big day for Jewish book awards - both the Association of Jewish Libraries and the Jewish Book Council announced winning titles! Many of these books have already been covered on The Book of Life podcast, and others are in the pipeline now. I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy, illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category AND the National Jewish Book Award in the Children's Literature category. Hear from author Debbie Levy in this November 2016 podcast. The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz, illustrated by Hatel Aly, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category AND was a National Jewish Book Award Finalist in the Children's Literature category. Hear my interview with Adam in this January 2017 podcast. Dreidels on the Brain by Joel...

For More Information Contact: Ellen Tilman, Chair Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee Association of Jewish Libraries (215) 906-4657 chair@sydneytaylorbookaward.org January 11, 2017 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2017 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED Winners of the annual Sydney Taylor Book Award were announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries today. Named in memory of Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series, the award recognizes books for children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience. GOLD MEDALISTS I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy with illustrations by Elizabeth Baddeley, published by Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category. This delightful biography of the Supreme Court Justice teaches children that dissent does not make a person disagreeable, and can even help ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Adam and Thomas by Aharon Appelfeld won the 2016 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. The book is based loosely on Appelfeld's own Holocaust experiences, and is the story of two young boys who band together to survive while hiding in the forest. It was originally written in Hebrew and translated into English by Jeffrey Green . Appelfeld was not able to attend the Association of Jewish Libraries conference to accept his award, but Green was present, and allowed me to record the talk he gave about the experience of translating the book. You'll also hear from award committee chair Ellen Tillman, who met with Appelfeld during a recent trip to Israel. 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 B...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Warren Adler's career is so expansive that we couldn't even cover it all in this interview! He's written about forty books (novels, mysteries, thrillers, and more), and is probably best known for The War of the Roses - he wrote the book and the screenplay. In this interview we focus on on his recently reissued collection of short stories, The Sunset Gang , about the Jewish residents of a Florida retirement village. Several stories from The Sunset Gang were also made into a PBS series on American Playhouse , and there was even a musical theater version . An audio book is coming out soon. 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   Support t...

VISIT PALM BEACH PODCASTERS     🕮    The Book of Life has been spotlighted on the webpage of Palm Beach Podcasters , a local Meetup group where we gather to discuss the pitfalls and solutions inherent in podcasting. We've got old-timers, newbies, and folks who haven't even started podcasting yet. We've only met a few times so far this fall, but I've got to give my new friends credit for giving me the idea to create the Resources for Guests section on The Book of Life blog, to help guests promote their own appearances on the show. I hope to keep bringing fresh new ideas back to The Book of Life from Palm Beach Podcasters!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Storyteller Joel Ben Izzy branches out from his live stage performances with this semi-autobiographical middle grade novel, Dreidels on the Brain , that takes place over the eight days of Hanukkah. You can read my review of the book in School Library Journal here . You can listen to Joel telling the story about an orange that inspired a key scene in this book on public radio's Snap Judgement here . Listen carefully to the podcast to hear Joel's explanation of how you can win a copy of his CD Lights & Laughter: Joel Ben Izzy Spins Hanukkah Tales . When you've got the answer to his question, email him at joel@storypage.com . Joel Ben Izzy, then and now 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 St...

BUY THE BOOK       🕮    I'm a sucker for animal stories so it was a given that Mazel the cat would appeal to me, but it seemed at first like a pretty typical historical fiction picture book. Some of the tropes here are old hat: a lonely person whose life is improved when a new pet wanders in, a poor person whose generosity is unexpectedly rewarded by a stranger, and so on. Nothing wrong with that, but nothing unique either.  Then I came to the part where, lacking candles, Misha the artist paints a menorah and adds flames to the candles each night. When he runs out of yellow paint he keeps on going with fire of blue, orange, and red. I was inspired by his ongoing resourcefulness and creativity, his willingness to keep trying in the face of deprivation. While his paint supply does not miraculously increase, I did hear echoes of the Maccabees' perseverance and reward in Misha's story. That's the part that stands out for me, and that I'll rem...

BUY THE BOOK     🕮    I like to read while I eat breakfast, and this morning I choked up over my oatmeal while reading The Sundown Kid by my friend Barbara Bietz. This picture book nicely encapsulates the isolating experience of urban Jews who've moved to the wide open spaces of the American desert. Used to the hustle and bustle of the city and the proximity of family, Mama in particular feels lonely out west, where they are the only Jewish family in town. "Too much soup, not enough family," is her poignant refrain. Her son cleverly thinks outside the box by inviting friendly non-Jewish neighbors to Shabbat dinner, and Mama at last begins to feel at home. In these modern times of divisiveness, this is a hopeful story about cross-cultural acceptance that will be enjoyed by Jewish and non-Jewish readers. The illustrations by John Kanzler are also a real treat. #Readukkah, #JewLit

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...