The Book of Life

It's time for my annual unofficial shortlist of potential Sydney Taylor Book Award winners! As you may know, in addition to interviewing authors of Jewish kidlit for many years, I'm a former member and chair of the Association of Jewish Libraries' Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, and a cofounder of The Sydney Taylor Shmooze mock award blog, so I have a deep and abiding interest in seeking out the best Jewish kidlit of the year.  I'm not actually making predictions about what will win; rather, I'm telling you that these are books that I think deserve your attention (with the caveat that while I probably read the majority of Jewish children's or YA books published in 2024, I did not read ALL of them, so there may be other titles I'd consider worthy if I'd had the chance to read them). I've listed the titles within their age categories alphabetically by author's last name.Titles are linked to Bookshop.org for your purchasing convenienc...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    Happy Hanukkah! Christmas and Hanukkah overlap this year, with Hanukkah beginning on December 25, so it's a good time to think about the juxtaposition of these two holidays. Hanukkah is a minor holiday but its proximity to Christmas brings it extra attention. Let's talk about that! GUESTS: Henry Herz, editor of The Festival of Lights: 16 Hanukkah Stories Joanne Levy, Festival contributor and co-author of Let It Glow Erica Perl, Festival contributor and author of The Ninth Night of Hanukkah LEARN MORE: Henry Herz's website | buy or borrow The Festival of Lights Joanne Levy's website | buy or borrow Let It Glow Erica Perl's website , Instagram | buy or borrow The Ninth Night of Hanukkah "Jew Who Has It All" satirical social media account | thread about Jewish Hallmark movies Reading (and gifting) recommendations: Joanne suggests The Latke Who Couldn...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    VISIT JEWISH BOOK MONTH HUB     🕮    Here's a bonus episode for you, in honor of Jewish Book Month, which is marking its 99th year. Arielle Landau, the program coordinator at the Jewish Book Council, joins me to talk about the Council's special campaign to Celebrate Jewish Books & Support Jewish Authors, and how YOU can participate! Watch my Instagram @BookOfLifePodcast and Facebook for daily Jewish Book Month recommendations, November 24-December 24, 2024. In light of the state of the world, this year's theme is books that model ACTIVISM.   LEARN MORE: Jewish Book Month Celebrate Jewish Books Campaign "Cheering On Jewish Books" video by Heidi with practical tips for supporting Jewish lit Article by Heidi in The Forward about Jewish Book Month Jewish Book Month daily #activism reading rec's on Facebook and Instagram Ariel...

On November 20, 2024, I presented "Cheering On Jewish Books" for Palm Beach County Library, a talk about how to support Jewish literature.  HANDOUT includes: Tips for supporting Jewish books Suggestions of great Jewish books for all ages Resources for learning more   HANDOUT: TinyURL.com/CheeringJewishBooks

NOVEMBER EVENTS JEWISH JOY READING PARTY Auction November 13-20, 2024 Bid at The Artists Against Antisemitism 2nd annual Auction to have me host a private virtual event for you and your friends! BID HERE! CHEERING ON JEWISH BOOKS November 20, 2024 at 7pm ET Free online talk about supporting Jewish literature, in honor of Jewish Book Month! PRE-REGISTER HERE!

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW RYU    |    BUY / BORROW GOLEMCRAFTERS     🕮    For the month of November 2024, we've got a 2-part series, CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE: ANTISEMITISM AND THE SUPERNATURAL . Our guest for Part II is Japanese American Jewish author Emi Watanabe Cohen. Her debut novel was The Lost Ry ū (about dragons), and her sophomore novel is Golemcrafters (about golems, of course).  I loved The Lost Ry ū so much that I volunteered to review it for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze blog , because I wanted to point out a moment of allyship that touched my soul. Then, along came Golemcrafters. I must admit I was wary at first, because golems are kind of overdone, but this book drew me in even more than The Lost Ry ū , with how much it mirrored my own emotional response to antisemitism. Both of these boo...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW MONSTER    |    BUY / BORROW WEREWOLF     🕮    For the month of November 2024, we've got a 2-part series, CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE: ANTISEMITISM AND THE SUPERNATURAL . Our first guest is Deke Moulton, author of Don't Want to Be Your Monster (about Jewish vampires) and Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf (about Jewish werewolves). These middle grade fantasy novels go beyond simple adventures with supernatural heroes. I love how they both delve deeply into the very nature of prejudice. I love how they both imagine worlds in which kids defeat hate. AND they are also fun, fast paced magical adventure stories. Creature Double Feature Part II is an interview with Emi Watanabe Cohen about her dragon and golem middle grade novels, The Lost Ryū and Golemcrafters , which make great companions to ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW NOT NOTHING    |    BUY / BORROW GETTING TO SORRY     🕮    There's a website called IsItAJewishHolidayToday.com , which gives you a simple YES or NO answer, and if you go to that website during the month of October 2024, the answer is going to be YES quite a lot of the time. In honor of this holiday-packed month, I've got a 2-part series for you. I'm calling it FESTIVE FRIENDS , because each episode features a pair of friends talking about books relevant to our fall holidays. Here in Part I, the Festive Friends are Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing , and Marjorie Ingall, author of Getting to Sorry . While neither of these books are explicitly about Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, they are both about teshuvah, growth, and the art of apology, perfect for this season. I invited this duo not only becaus...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW THE BOOK     🕮    October 2024 is packed with Jewish holidays, so we've got a 2-part series for you to celebrate: Festive Friends. In each episode, we hear from a pair of friends about their books that will help us celebrate the Jewish holidays. In Festive Friends Part I we heard from Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing , and Marjorie Ingall, author of Getting to Sorry . Here in Festive Friends Part II, we meet Erica Lyons and Christina Matula. Lately, Kids of mixed heritage have finally been getting their mirror books, and a great example is Erica and Christina's new picture book Mixed-Up Mooncakes , about a Chinese Jewish family celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival and Sukkot. I love the cozy atmosphere of this book, with its double harvest festival fun; and I love the comfortable way in which the Chinese and Jewish...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT    |    CHECK OUT "NICE JEWISH BOOKS" PODCAST     🕮    At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2024 annual conference in San Diego, CA, I met up with Sheryl Stahl, host of our sister podcast, Nice Jewish Books. Inspired by the cartoon above, Sheryl and I interviewed our friends and colleagues about their Jewish "emotional support books" and the results turned into this podcast episode (cross-posted on Nice Jewish Books). We got a very wide variety responses, listed below in case you'd like to read any of the books that are so meaningful to your fellow Jewish book-lovers. ENTER THE DRAWING Need a tote bag to carry around your emotional support books? Enter our drawing! Post a review of The Book of Life or Nice Jewish Books, or BOTH, on social media or on any podcast player such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcas...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    Four years ago in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, I ran a 3-part series called The Mitzvah of Voting . Here we are in 2024 in a presidential election year again and defending our democracy is more important than ever! Here's an edited encore presentation of that 2020 podcast, with all three parts combined and streamlined. You'll hear inspiring words and calls to action from some of your favorite authors, recorded in 2020 but as relevant as ever. We cap it off with Sarah Aroeste's Ladino song "Gracia" (English lyrics below), a tribute to the medieval Sephardic heroine, Doña Gracia Nasi who lived in the 1500's and saved hundreds of Jews from the Inquisition. The theme of the song is that activists of the past inspire us to activism in our own time. I hope you will be inspired to VOTE! RESOURCES SUGGESTED BY GUESTS: Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy T...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     🕮    When I read Karen Jensen's "Treatise on the State of Middle Grade and Young Adult Publishing Today" on her Teen Librarian Toolbox blog in School Library Journal, I was super impressed with the level of detail of her research... but also alarmed at the many difficulties she described facing the industry right now. I interview middle grade authors pretty frequently on The Book of Life, but I decided it was time to think about the genre as a whole, and to do what I could to give it my support. So I invited two people who could help answer my questions: W hat defines a middle grade book? What are the challenges to publishing for this age group? What is the state of middle grade literature today? What can we do to help? My guests are: Karen Jense n , librarian, author of "Treatise on the State of Middle Grade and Young Adult Publishing Today" and creator of the Teen Li...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY / BORROW ADAM    |    BUY / BORROW STEVE     🕮    Two incredible authors, Adam Gidwitz and Steve Sheinkin, joined me to talk about their most recent books, Max in the House of Spies and Impossible Escape . As many listeners know, I tend to avoid Holocaust books because I've kind of overdosed on them during a long career of working with Jewish children's literature... but both of these books are SO good that I couldn't ignore them. Max in the House of Spies is middle grade historical fantasy fiction and Impossible Escape is young adult nonfiction. They are very different books, but they also make a great pairing... as do Adam and Steve, who are friends in real life. Impossible Escape was a 2024 Sydney Taylor Honor Book (young adult category). It remains to be seen whether Max in the House of Spi...