The Book of Life

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    Gail Carson Levine is the author of more than 20 book for young readers and adult writers, including the Newbery Honor book Ella Enchanted , which was made into a major motion picture. Her new middle grade book A Ceiling Made of Eggshells is a historical novel about a Jewish family during the Spanish Inquisition, based on Gail's own family history. During our interview, I asked Gail about her house, which she describes on her website. You can learn more about her lovely home here .   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 t...

The Book of Life will return to our regular in-depth interviews with our next episode, which drops on Sunday May 17, 2020. You'll hear an interview with author Gail Carson Levine about her middle grade novel, A Ceiling Made of Eggshells. To celebrate, I made this trailer on Headliner. Enjoy, and feel free to share the video!

"Books in the Time of Coronavirus" Series The Book of Life (TBOL): Sharon, please introduce yourself. Hello, I’m Sharon Kirsch from Toronto, author of The Smallest Objective. My publisher is New Star Books in Vancouver, Canada, but the story itself takes place mostly in Montreal, home to one of Canada’s largest Jewish communities, and where I was born and raised. After delays linked to the pandemic, the e-book of The Smallest Objective has just been made available, and the print edition has been confirmed for a May 28th release. The Toronto and Montreal launches, both originally planned for May, have had to be postponed indefinitely.  TBOL: What is The Smallest Objective about? The Smallest Objective is a book of narrative non-fiction for adults—a hybrid of memoir and biography. At the heart of the story is my mother’s loss of memory and inevitable departure from the family home, leading me, her only child, to recover and discover objects and people little or neve...

Our special series, Books in the Time of Coronavirus, has proven to be quite popular. Between March 26-April 29, 2020 we posted ten episodes in the series. Authors whose spring promotional events were cancelled shared their books, their inspiration, and their tikkun olam suggestions with us. We heard from authors of books for children and adults, fiction and nonfiction, poetry, short story, and memoir.  As of May 2020, we are returning to our regularly scheduled programming of in-depth audio interviews with creators of Jewish kidlit. Any subsequent entries in the series will be published in written format on The Book of Life blog at www.bookoflifepodcast.com . If you are an author of a spring 2020 Jewish book and you would like to participate, please fill out this interview form . You can listen to the 10 audio episodes in the Coronavirus series here: 1. No Entry by Gila Green (YA fiction) 2. Worse and Worse on Noah's Ark by Leslie Kimmelman (picture book) 3. Welcomi...

I am so pleased that my August 2019 interview with Sadaf Siddique, Sister Religion/Sister Kidlit has grown up to be an article in March/April issue of The Horn Book Magazine! It's called We Need Diverse Jewish and Muslim Books: A Conversation because Sadaf and I interviewed each other, continuing the discussion we began on the podcast and recommending Jewish and Muslim titles for all readers. The Horn Book is a distinguished children's literature review journal established in 1924, so I am more than honored to have my name within its pages. READ THE ARTICLE HERE Our conversation was followed by a recommended reading list of Jewish/Muslim interfaith kidlit. I've included that list below, with Book of Life affiliate links to Indiebound or Bookshop.org if available. Any purchases you make will benefit the podcast. Recommended Interfaith Books    The following titles present interfaith Muslim-Jewish friendships. For the additional booklists discussed in thi...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |     READ THE TRANSCRIPT     |    BUY THE BOOK     🕮    In response to the pandemic, The Book of Life is hosting a special series, Books in the Time of Coronavirus . Authors or illustrators of new Jewish books, whose promotional events have been cancelled due to quarantine, are invited to promote their books on the podcast. Author Amy Grossblatt Pessah discusses her guide Parenting on a Prayer : Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children.   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 Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast      Twitter: @bookoflifepod   Support the Podcast: Ways to Donate    ...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT    |     BUY THE BOOK     🕮    In response to the pandemic, The Book of Life is hosting a special series, Books in the Time of Coronavirus . Authors or illustrators of new Jewish books, whose promotional events have been cancelled due to quarantine, are invited to promote their books on the podcast. David B. Levy shares his family genealogical work Gluskin Family History , published through Lulu. This is volume 7 in his series of ten books on librarianship and Jewish topics. 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 appreciat...

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST     |    READ THE TRANSCRIPT    |     BUY THE BOOK     🕮    In response to the pandemic, The Book of Life is hosting a special series, Books in the Time of Coronavirus . Authors or illustrators of new Jewish books, whose promotional events have been cancelled due to quarantine, are invited to promote their books on the podcast. Michelle Cameron shares her adult historical novel, Beyond the Ghetto Gates , published by She Writes Press. 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 ...