The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST    |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT      |    Buy the books by clicking the images     🕮    Yiddish is really popular right now. From the annual Yidstock festival each summer to the off-Broadway Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof, the mameloshn seems to be everywhere. That's even true in children's publishing. Today I have a joint interview with three authors who've created kidlit related to Yiddish language or culture. Sue Macy is the author of the picture book biography, The Book Rescuer: How a Mensch from Massachusetts Saved Yiddish Literature for Generations to Come , about Aaron Lansky who founded the Yiddish Book Center . Debby Levy , who appeared on The Book of Life in November 2016 to talk about her RBG biography I Dissent , is back with her picture book Yiddish Saves the Day . And Valerie Estelle Frankel has written a humorous chapter book called Ch...

A guest post by Sylvie Shaffer Breaking News: One of the world’s largest Persian Jewish congregations, Nessah synagogue in Beverly Hills, was attacked last night. Two sefer Torahs were damaged. We stand in solidarity with LA’s Jewish community. https://t.co/9wQipFzyLp pic.twitter.com/qA5AaYQ3ZT — American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) December 15, 2019 Just before Chanukah, I wrote this poem as response to the Nessah Synagogue desecration. At the time, I was finishing my second year of reading for the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, which I have been so incredibly honored to do. The award has been given annually since 1968 by the Association of Jewish Libraries to the best books featuring Jewish content published for children and young adults. While I have enjoyed reading and critically considering some wonderful books with joyful expressions of Jewish life, most of my committee reading has centered the Holocaust, and to be completely honest, it's been brutal...

I was on vacation as 2019 came to a close, so I'm a little late with this year-in-review post, but I hope you will still find it interesting. If you missed any of these posts, you might want to go back and check them out. Your fellow fans would recommend them! The most popular Book of Life posts of 2019 were (in increasing order of popularity): Sister Religion/Sister Kidlit , August  Blog Tour 10th Anniversary , February A Field Guide to Jewish Kidlit , December Diversity Needs Jewish Books , October Takeaways from "Beyond the Holocaust & Holidays," March The 2019 Sydney Taylor Book & Manuscript Award Winners , January Beyond the Holocaust & Holidays: A Writing Symposium , January The Book of Life has a huge back catalog - after all, I've been podcasting since 2005! Please enjoy these 2019 highlights (the other posts from 2019 were pretty good too!). Happy reading and happy listening!

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) is horrified by the recent spate of antisemitic attacks, especially those that took place during the holiday of Hanukkah. The shooting at a kosher market in New Jersey and the stabbing at a Hanukkah party in New York made national news; at the same time, there has been a tidal wave of verbal abuse, physical violence, and widespread vandalism of Jewish spaces. We mourn the tragic loss of life, offer prayers of recovery for victims, and urge all to stand in solidarity with the Jewish community in the face of intimidation. As an international organization of librarians, archivists, researchers, writers, teachers, and lovers of literature, AJL seeks to educate the public and provide resources to fight this scourge of ignorance and hate. After the 2018 attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, AJL published the Love Your Neighbor series of youth booklists. These recommended titles demystify the Jewish experience for readers, with the a...

Shamash Night is the brainchild of author Erica Perl, whose book The Ninth Night of Hanukkah will be published in 2020. Her synagogue, Temple Micah in Washington DC, is holding the first ever Shamash Night celebration, and they explain it this way: " It is a community celebration of helpers and helping. It takes place on the “ninth night” of Hanukkah because the shamash candle spends the entire holiday helping its neighbors in the menorah. We’ll gather to give thanks to the shamash candle, and to all the helpers in our lives." What a beautiful idea this is! Personally, it's exactly what I needed to hear as we come to the close of the most violent Hanukkah of my lifetime, after multiple attacks on Jews in the New York and New Jersey area, and after a friend emailed me this morning with a photo of her children's elementary school outside Chicago with a swastika freshly spray painted on its bricks. Hanukkah commemorates the Rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerus...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE PRINT BOOK      🕮    ANNOUNCING: The World Premiere of the audiobook version of Hanukkah with Noshy Boy & Friends by Anne-Marie Asner, voiced by Anne-Marie Asner and Ed Asner (yes, that Ed Asner!), on The Book of Life Podcast! Plus, we've got an interview with Anne-Marie about the story's creation! Noshy Boy, Schmutzy Girl, Kvetchy Boy, and their other friends are characters in a series from Matzah Ball Books , which shares Yiddish vocabulary and culture with young children through humor. For all you Yiddish-lovers out there, this is just the beginning of a mechaye for you: in January we will have an episode called A Bisl Yiddish , in which we'll hear from authors Sue Macy ( The Book Rescuer ), Debbie Levy ( Yiddish Saves the Day ) and Valerie Estelle Frankel ( Chelm for the Holidays ) about their Yiddis...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT       🕮    On The Book of Life, we talk a lot about Jewish kidlit. But where do you go to find Jewish children's books? In this episode, Marjorie Ingall joins me to talk about how to discover and how to access the best Jewish kidlit. Marjorie is a columnist at Tablet Magazine and is well-known for her year-end "best of Jewish kidlit" lists, and she's the author of Mamaleh Knows Best : What Jewish Mothers Do to Raise Successful, Creative, Empathetic, Independent Children , which was featured on The Book of Life in April 2017 . Marjorie Ingall Resources mentioned in this episode, in order of appearance:  Podcast: Kidlit These Days, Diversity-Focused Publishing episode Blog: Jewish Books for Children (Barbara Bietz) Blog: The Whole Megillah (Barbara Krasner) Podcast: The Kiddush Book Club Website: Kveller Award: Sydney Taylor Book Award (Associa...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST      |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    The 100 Most Jewish Foods, a Highly Debatable List , started as a fun interactive feature on the website of Tablet Magazine, and then grew up to be a book. We've got an interview for you with the book's editor, Alana Newhouse, by The Book of Life's Canadian Correspondent, Anne Dublin . B'tay avon...good appetite! CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band     Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast      Twitter: @bookoflifepod   Support the Podcast: Ways to Donate    Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.