The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/e-train-talks.html

E Train is the powerhouse 12-year-old behind the podcast, YouTube channel, and website E Train Talks, and he's recently formed his own nonprofit. This Jewish tween is a remarkable literacy advocate who's doing so much good in the world. TRANSCRIPT

LEARN MORE:

• E Train Talks: Website, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Podcast
• E Train's GoFundMe
• Book Fairies
• E Train's Tikkun Olam suggestion: Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation
• Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong podcast from American Public Media
• A Double Helping of Babka interview about two babka-related picture books
• It's Banned Books Week (October 1-7, 2023)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/09/two-new-years.html

Happy New Year! Rosh Hashanah (which begins this year on September 15, 2023), is celebrated by Jewish folks each fall. The Lunar New Year (which will be celebrated next on February 10, 2024) is celebrated by Asian folks each spring. In the picture book Two New Years, Richard Ho explains and Lynn Scurfield beautifully illustrates the parallels between these two celebrations. The book is about a Chinese Jewish family and is a wonderful example of the increasingly diverse Jewish representation being published today. 

LEARN MORE:

• Richard Ho's website
• Lynn Scurfield's website
• Jewish/Asian intersectional kidlit list

Look at the SHOW NOTES to find a transcript and more!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/08/friends-for-lq-auction.html

We're squeezing in an extra episode this month to let you know about a special project inspired by our July 2023 interview with Arthur Levine of Levine Querido! After hearing the July interview, listeners Liza Wiemer and Debbi Lakrtiz were inspired to address the challenge of reduced sales that LQ is facing due to its mission of championing diverse voices. 

Levine Querido is a remarkable publisher with an important yet imperiled mission. In the few short years since they were founded, they've won over 150 awards for their devastatingly beautiful books, but the timing of the pandemic and the rise in book banning is a huge challenge for them. We need Levine Querido to succeed, not just because they are doing great work but because the publishing industry needs to see that diversity does sell.

Liza and Debbi are organizing an online auction to help Levine Querido get past this difficult time. You are welcome to donate an item or service, AND of course to bid in the auction! Listen to this short episode to learn more, and please join me in buying LQ books, requesting them from the local library, and supporting Liza and Debbi's auction. 

LEARN MORE:

• Suggestions for items and services that you can donate to the auction
• Fill out this form to offer a donation of an item or service 
• Auction website
• Buy Levine Querido books at Bookshop.org
• Full interview with Arthur Levine about Levine Querido (July 2023) 
• Levine Querido website

Look at the SHOW NOTES to find a transcript and more!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/08/the-jake-show.html 

in Joshua S. Levy's middle grade novel, The Jake Show, TV-obsessed Jake sees life in terms of shows. His parents divorce is like his favorite show getting cancelled, and now he's stuck playing two roles, Yaakov for his religious mother and Jacob for his secular father. Jake has to concoct a web of lies to get to a summer camp where he can just be himself. Will that end well? Tune in to my conversation with Joshua Levy and find out! 

LEARN MORE:

• Joshua Levy's website: JoshuaSimonLevy.com
• TV Tropes: The Two Timer Date

Look at the SHOW NOTES to find a transcript and more!

SHOW NOTES:  https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/07/levine-querido-and-100k-books-challenge.html

Levine Querido is an independent publishing house founded by legendary editor Arthur Levine. He left his own imprint, Arthur A. Levine Books at Scholastic after 23 years, and he started Levine Querido in 2019 to showcase gorgeous diverse books by creators from underrepresented backgrounds - and he's been very successful, winning award after award. For a non-Jewish publisher, Levine Querido publishes a lot of Jewish books, so I've been wanting to chat with Arthur for a while. When he announced that Team LQ had set a goal to sell 100,000 books by September 1st of this year, I knew it was the right time to have him on the show.

LEARN MORE:

• LQ's 100K Books Challenge
• Levine Querido website
• Arthur's Tikkun Olam suggestion: VOTE!

Look at the SHOW NOTES to find a transcript and more!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/06/pride-month-special-with-aj-sass.html

It's June and that means LGBTQ+ Pride Month, the perfect time to talk to author A.J. Sass. Andrew Sass is known for writing middle grade books featuring respectful portrayals of trans and nonbinary characters, with neurodivergent and casual Jewish representation included as well. I was excited to talk with them about a few books: debut novel Ana on the Edge from 2020, Ellen Outside the Lines, which was a 2023 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and the new Camp QUILTBAG, co-written with Nicole Melleby. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these thoughtful, funny, and heartfelt books.

Over half of the books currently being challenged by bigoted extremists are targeted for their LGBTQ+ content. In support of the queer Jewish community, for Pride Month I will post an LGBTQ+ Jewish kidlit title each day in June on The Book of Life's Facebook page at Facebook.com/Bookoflifepodcast. It should go without saying that gender identity and/or age appropriate sexual content does not automatically equal porn or obscenity. Children and teens are human beings who have bodies and experience age-appropriate sexual feelings, and sometimes they need books that will help them understand their bodies and feelings more fully. Queer books save lives, and I'll be proud to share with you excellent examples of queer Jewish representation all month long.

LEARN MORE:

• Visit A.J. Sass's website, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram (look for skating videos here!)
• Buy Ana on the Edge, Ellen Outside the Lines, and Camp QUILTBAG
• Forthcoming work Just Shy of Ordinary,  On All Other Nights, and Shabbat Is...
• Tikkun Olam suggestion: Fight censorship!  Buy banned books, request them and borrow them from your library, write letters to the editor, call your representatives, and attend library/school board meetings.
• Daily LGBTQ+ Jewish reading recommendations from The Book of Life, June 2023

• A Million Quiet Revolutions by Robin Gow
• When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb [Book of Life guest January 2023]
• Camp by L.C. Rosen

• The Best Liars in Riverview and The House That Whispers by Lin Thompson
• Too Bright to See, Different Kinds of Fruit, and really anything by Kyle Lukoff
• Moonflower by Kacen Callender
• Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith
• Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart (has some casual Jewish representation)

Visit the SHOW NOTES to find a transcript and more!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/05/a-sky-full-of-song.html

When I read Susan Lynn Meyer's middle grade novel, A Sky Full of Song, I was swept away by her descriptions of the North Dakota prairie and really touched by the characters' struggles with prejudice, assimilation, and identity. This story is one of those in which the specific is also the universal. It showcases a quintessential American experience and at he same time, a very Jewish experience. I thought it would be a perfect interview to bring to you this May for Jewish American Heritage Month.  Click on SHOW NOTES above to find a transcript and more.

LEARN MORE:

• Visit Susan Lynn Meyer's website
• Buy A Sky Full of Song
• Tikkun Olam suggestion: support American Prairie
• Visit Heidi's Jewish American Heritage Month resource
• Keep an eye out for a Mother's Day interview on May 15 about She's a Mensch at BookOfLifePodcast.com

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-walk-on-jewish-side.html

Jewish identity can be complicated, especially for people who come from a mixed background. We are starting to see this reality acknowledged in middle grade and young adult fiction, with characters who are working to figure out what being Jewish means to them, or who are trying to better integrate the different parts of their heritage, who don't feel like they are enough. For this episode, I've called together three authors whose novels explore this topic: Primrose Madayag Knazan, author of the YA novel Lesson in Fusion, and middle grade authors Aimee Lucido, who wrote Recipe for Disaster, and Amanda Panitch, who wrote The Two Wrong Halves of Ruby Taylor. Join us for a virtual panel discussion about identity, a walk on the Jewish side. See SHOW NOTES for links to the authors' websites, books, recipes, and tikkun olam suggestions as well as a transcript.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/02/shohams-bangle.html

Sarah Sassoon's debut picture book Shoham's Bangle (Kar-Ben) was named a 2023 Sydney Taylor Notable Book by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Based on Sarah's family history, it's the story of a Jewish family's escape from Iraq to Israel, and a rare example of Mizrahi representation in kidlit. See SHOW NOTES for links to Sarah's website, a transcript, and more.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-2023-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html

The winners of the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children's and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 30, 2023 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Martha Seif Simpson is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she joined us to discuss the 2023 winners of the award.

Please click on SHOW NOTES above to see the full list of winners and find links to more info about the award.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/01/when-angels-left-old-country.html

When the Angels Left the Old Country is Sacha Lamb's debut novel. It's a young adult historical queer fairy tale about an angel and a demon who immigrate together through Ellis Island to the Lower East Side of New York. From labor unions to dybbuks to a heist, this extremely Jewish tale has everything you need for a thoroughly satisfying adventure. Sacha is a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow in YA fiction, a graduate in Library and Information Science and History from Simmons, and a reviewer for the Jewish Book Council. They are also a part-time stepparent to a small flock of miniature goats. See SHOW NOTES for links to Sacha's website, the book, reading recommendations, and to read Sacha's short stories online.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/12/its-always-party-with-sephardi.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/aXbubONG9JrTtv8hmF4oFJMde14

Sarah Aroeste is a singer/songwriter of Ladino music, a leader of Sephardic travel tours, and an author of board books featuring Sephardic culture and Ladino vocabulary. Bridget Hodder is a Sephardic author of middle grade and picture books, who frequently collaborates with Muslim author Fawzia Gilani-Williams (past Book of Life guest, 2017) on stories about interfaith friendship. We recorded this episode live and in person at the Highlights Foundation's Symposium for Jewish Creatives. See the SHOW NOTES for links to their websites and books.

TREATS FOR YOU:

• #JewishBookMonth Reading Challenge at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/11/jewishbookmonth-reading-challenge.html
• Hanukkah Guest Post on The Book of Life by Maxine Rose Schur about The Peddler's Gift, posting on December 18, 2022 at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/12/guest-post-peddlers-gift-by-maxine-rose.html

GRATITUDE:

• Many thanks to Dianne Siekmann for becoming a $5 monthly patron at Patreon.com/bookoflife!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/11/awesome-new-orthodox-ya-novels.html

Representation of Orthodox Judaism has been virtually non-existent in traditionally published contemporary young adult fiction, but that is starting to change. In this episode, I spoke with Leah Scheier, author of The Last Words We Said published by Simon & Schuster, and Isaac Blum, author of The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen, published by Philomel Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. These two young adult novels offer layered and insightful portraits of well-rounded Orthodox characters in books aimed well beyond an Orthodox readership. 

TRANSCRIPT: 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-very-best-sukkah.html

The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda is Shoshana Nambi's debut picture book. She is a member of the Abayudaya, the Jewish community of Uganda, and is in the U.S. studying at Hebrew Union College to become the country's first female rabbi. This delightful story, rich with authentic detail, was named to the Association of Jewish Libraries' Holiday Highlights Fall 2022 Holiday Highlights list.

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/MEabsphMJkcAf5rK9S3c19vxAEs

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/09/some-kind-of-hate.html

Sarah Darer Littman does not shy away from tough topics. Her middle grade and young adult novels address religious identity, internet predation, eating disorders, and online bullying. Her new YA novel, Some Kind of Hate, addresses radicalization and antisemitism. It's an important and all too timely book that helps readers understand how ordinary people can become radicalized extremists. 

LEARN MORE:

• Buy Some Kind of Hate
• Sarah Darer Littman's website
• Educational resources for Some Kind of Hate
• Deeyah Kahn's film White Right: Meeting the Enemy
• Washingtonian article "What Happened After My 13-Year-Old Son Joined the Alt-Right"
• Sarah's earlier appearances on The Book of Life in 2006 for Confessions of a Closet Catholic and 2011 for Life, After 
• The Book of Life's Justice section (resources for fighting antisemitism)
• See Show Notes for links to books recommended during the episode

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/08/detour-ahead.html

Detour Ahead is a contemporary middle grade novel about Gila and Guillermo and the way the H4 bus in Washington DC brings them together. Pamela Ehrenberg wrote the part of Gila, a neurodivergent white Jewish girl who loves breakdancing, and Tracy Lopez wrote Guillermo, a boy from a Salvadoran immigrant family who writes poetry. I was impressed by how well the two distinct voices wove together and how real the characters felt to me. It's a quiet story but cuts right to the heart. I especially enjoyed the nuanced depiction of b'nai mitzvah: Gila doesn't just want to get through the big day, she really wants to understand what it means to be an adult. 

LEARN MORE:

• Buy Detour Ahead
• Pamela Ehrenberg's website
• Tracy López's website
• Detour Ahead playlist 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/07/catnip-for-librarians-smart-kids-talk.html

Ten year old Hudson and thirteen year old Ellery are graduates of PJ Our Way's National Design Team. These two young avid readers joined me to discuss their love of reading in general and Jewish books in particular, as well as the societal significance of Jewish literature, libraries, and censorship. 

SHOW NOTES:  https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/06/zikh-aleyn-zayn-getray-or-you-be-you.html

You Be You, The Kid's Guide to Gender, Sexuality, and Family by Jonathan Branfman  may not seem like an obvious choice for coverage on The Book of Life, but I was fascinated by the fact that it had been translated into Yiddish to make it accessible not only to scholars of modern Yiddish but to Hasidic families. Branfman brings both Jewish and gender expertise as a scholar in both fields. Translator Lili Rosen is not only a translator but also a cultural consultant and actor on the Netflix hit Unorthodox and other Yiddish-related media. They combined their talents to create a book for 7-12 year old readers that is affirming and inspiring.

See also The Book of Life's list of Queer Jewish Kidlit at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/06/queer-jewish-books.html. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/06/unite-against-book-bans.html

Recently, libraries and schools have been facing an outrageous number of book challenges. Jewish tradition encourages debate and the exchange of ideas, and to me, the attempted repression we are seeing right now is diametrically opposed to Jewish values and American values. Books about marginalized communities, including the Jewish community, have been targeted. Librarians and educators are being vilified. It's time to speak out to protect the rights of all readers to have access to books that reflect their own experiences. That's why I asked Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the Director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, to come on the podcast and talk about censorship and ALA's Unite Against Book Bans campaign.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/05/wayward-creatures.html

Wayward Creatures by Dayna Lorentz is a heartfelt animal friendship story for middle grade readers, told from the points of view of both a troubled young Jewish boy and the wayward coyote he befriends after a forest fire changes both of their lives. A local restorative justice program helps Gabe learn the value of community and tikkun olam.

This book takes place in the United States of America in the state of Vermont. During Jewish American Heritage Month in May, I'll be posting a Jewish American kidlit title every day on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Bookoflifepodcast. Follow along to see my recommendations, and share your own favorites!

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/04/holiday-highlights-best-new-passover.html

Regular listeners will remember my friend Susan Kusel, a librarian/bookseller/author who partners with me frequently to promote Jewish children's literature. In this episode, we discuss Holiday Highlights, a project we set up through the Association of Jewish Libraries. Our expert committee, Amy Lilien-Harper, Robbin Friedman, and Sylvie Shaffer, compile seasonal Holiday Highlights lists representing the best Jewish children's holiday books each Spring and Fall. We tell you all about the project, and about the amazing Passover picture books on the Spring 2022 Holiday Highlights list.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-unfinished-corner.html

The Unfinished Corner, a National Jewish Book Awards finalist, is a graphic novel that challenges a bat mitzvah girl and her group of diverse Jewish friends to finish a corner of the universe left unfinished by God, in order to rid the world of evil. It's a bold premise, brilliantly carried out with a mix of ancient folklore and modern thinking. I was excited to speak with author Dani Colman to learn more.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/02/good-grief.html

Today I've got a group interview for you, with three authors whose books each take a different and fascinating angle on dealing with grief. It's a difficult topic to talk about with young people but these books handle it with grace and sensitivity. Tyler Feder, author of the Sydney Taylor Book Award winning graphic memoir for young adults, Dancing at the Pity Party, middle grade novelist Emily Barth Isler, whose debut book is called Aftermath, and returning guest Joanne Levy, who was on the show in October 2020 to talk about Fish Out of Water, is back with her new middle grade novel Sorry for Your Loss, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-2022-sydney-taylor-book-award-blog.html

Welcome to this special edition of The Book of Life, recorded as a part of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour! Visit https://jewishlibraries.org/ to find the full schedule of interviews with the gold and silver medalists, published February 7th to 11th, 2022 and available thereafter to read at your convenience. I had the pleasure of speaking with the gold medalists: Susan Kusel and Sean Rubin, author and illustrator of the picture book The Passover Guest, Veera Hiranandani, author of the middle grade novel How to Find What You're Not Looking For, and Aden Polydoros, author of the young adult novel The City Beautiful. I hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-2022-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html

Martha Seif Simpson is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries. She joined us to discuss the 2022 winners of the award, which annually recognizes the best Jewish literature for children and teens. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/12/holiday-heroes.html

For this episode I've paired Red and Green and Blue and White by Lee Wind with The Christmas Mitzvah by Jeff Gottesfeld. These two 2021 holiday picture books are both based on true stories of allyship and they have a lovely synergy. 

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/11/whistle-new-gotham-city-hero.html

E. Lockhart joins us to talk about her graphic novel Whistle: A New Gotham City Hero, featuring a Jewish teen superhero with enhanced canine superpowers and a Great Dane sidekick named Lebowitz.

This episode is sponsored by Every Child a Reader in association with the Children's Book Council, in honor of Children's Book Week, November 8-14, 2021.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-way-back.html

The Way Back is a strange and wonderful, life-affirming story about death, an adventure in which Bluma and Yehuda Lieb set out from the shtetl on a quest into the Far Country peopled by demons. It won the National Jewish Book Award in the young adult category and was named a Sydney Taylor YA Notable Book. It's a crossover book that will appeal to adults as well as YA readers. I am pleased to bring you this interview with author Gavriel Savit.  

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/09/little-free-libraries.html for full show notes. Or look for episode "Little Free Libraries" posted September 1, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges.

Here's an interview with Margret Aldrich, Director of Communications at the Little Free Library organization. We'll find out how this phenomenon got started, and we'll learn about how Jewish books are being included in their Read In Color program. 

And as someone who receives a LOT of Jewish book donations, many of which duplicate titles I already have, I can tell you from personal experience that Little Free Libraries are a wonderful way to get those books off my own shelf and share them with the world.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/08/zoe-rosenthal-is-not-lawful-good.html for full show notes. Or see episode "Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good" posted August 9, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good by Nancy Werlin is a coming of age story with a Jewish protagonist, about the power of fandom, friendship, and finding your inner nerd.

Speaking of fandom, be sure to check out my guest spot on the August episode of the podcast Star Trek and the Jews at https://startrekandthejews.podbean.com/e/dont-call-it-a-midrash-captain-david-gold-part-i/

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/07/family-stories-podcast-live-show.html for full show notes. Or look for episode "Family Stories: A Podcast Live Show" posted July 5, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

Esther Safran Foer and Sadie Foer joined me in May 2021 for a podcast Live Show sponsored by The Jewish Grandparents Network in celebration of the opening of their Family Room.

Esther Safran Foer is a past CEO of Sixth & I and the author of I Want You To Know We’re Still Here, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. She is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, the wife of Bert Foer (an attorney and public interest advocate), the mother of three sons (bestselling authors Frank, Jonathan, and Joshua Foer), and the grandmother of six. Sadie Jean Foer is one of Esther's six grandchildren. She's a high school student and self described family historian, and the host of the podcast Rooted History.

Jacqueline Jules is an author and poet who enjoys The Book of Life from Arlington, Virginia, and who is our newest Patreon patron. Shout out to Jackie! If you'd like to join her in supporting the show, please visit https://www.patreon.com/bookoflife. 

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-new-queer-conscience.html for full show notes. 

June is Pride Month, so I'm pleased to bring you The New Queer Conscience, a 2021 Sydney Taylor Notable Book in the Young Adult category. It's a manifesto by young activist Adam Eli, that holds up k'lal yisrael, or Jewish solidarity, as a model for the queer community to emulate. For queer kidlit with identifiably Jewish characters, see the Diverse Jewish Kidlit section of The Book of Life. Look for the tag LGBT. You'll find about 30 titles. If you know of any books I've missed, please drop me a line at [email protected]. 

Speaking of solidarity, it's always a good time to push back against ongoing antisemitism. Please click on the tab labelled JUSTICE at The Book of Life to find resources that will help you do just that.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/05/not-your-all-american-girl.html for full show notes. Or look for "Not Your All-American Girl" posted May 9, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

May is Jewish American Heritage Month and Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. We celebrate both on The Book of Life by talking to Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang, co-authors of This Is Just a Test and Not Your All-American Girl, a pair of middle grade novels set in the 1980's that feature a Jewish Chinese American family.

I also want to take this opportunity to welcome new Patreon patron Erica Lyons, a listener who lives in Hong Kong and is raising a child who is both Chinese and Jewish. If you'd like to join Erica in supporting the podcast, please visit http://patreon.com/bookoflife.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/04/through-window-brave-with-beauty.html for full show notes. Or look for "Through the Window: Brave with Beauty" posted April 18, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

Ambika Sambasivan is the publisher at Yali Books, which opens a window to South Asia –India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives —and invites the rest of the world to learn more about the incredible diversity of this region. Maxine Rose Schur is the author of Brave with Beauty, a picture book biography of the the 15th century Queen Goharshad of Afghanistan, published by Yali Books. She's also the author of several Jewish books for children, including the 1999 Sydney Taylor Book Award winner, The Peddler's Gift.

This interview with Ambika and Maxine is part of the Through the Window Diversity Exchange sponsored by The Book of Life and the Association of Jewish Libraries, in which Jewish and  non-Jewish partners meet and converse to look through the window at each other's culture.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/03/vaccines-then-now-polio-pioneer.html for full show notes. Or look for "Vaccines Then & Now: The Polio Pioneer" posted on March 18, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Linda Elovitz Marshall was excited to get her COVID-19 shot, and back in the day she was glad to be vaccinated for polio too. That gratitude led her to create the picture book biography The Polio Pioneer: Dr. Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine illustrated by Lisa Anchin, a 2020 Sydney Taylor Notable Book. 

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-passover-guest.html for full show notes. Or look for "The Passover Guest" posted March 7, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

My good friend Susan Kusel has been on the podcast before, to talk about The Sydney Taylor Shmooze,  and to announce the Sydney Taylor Book Award winners in 2018 and 2019. She also appeared in Beyond the Holocaust and Holidays, a 2019 episode about the Highlights Foundation's writing symposium, and in the 2020 episode The Mitzvah of Voting: Part 1. 

This time she's here along with illustrator Sean Rubin to talk about their debut picture book, The Passover Guest, an AJL Holiday Highlights book. See below for the list of fine Passover picture books recently recommended by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/02/ezras-big-shabbat-question.html for full show notes. Or look for "Ezra's Big Shabbat Question" posted February 16, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Aviva Brown is the author of Ezra's BIG Shabbat Question and Not Now, Mara! These picture books portray Jewish children of color without making a big deal about it, something we don't see often enough in kidlit. Listen to Aviva as she talks about her inspiration, about self publishing, and about winning Mother of the Year Award for the state of North Carolina.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-2021-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html for full show notes. Or look for "The 2021 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, Revealed" posted January 25, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Rebecca Levitan is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries. She joined us to discuss the 2021 winners of the award, which annually recognizes the best Jewish literature for children and teens. 

The official 2021 Sydney Taylor Book Award press release and the printable list of winners, honors, and notable books can be found at https://jewishlibraries.org/

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-sydney-taylor-shmooze.html for full show notes, or look for the episode "The Sydney Taylor Shmooze" posted January 2, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

The Sydney Taylor Shmooze is a mock book award blog that reviews Jewish children's and teen literature and invites readers to vote for the titles that they think will win the Sydney Taylor Book Award. In the last episode of The Book of Life, I spoke with my fellow admins of The Shmooze, Susan Kusel and Chava Pinchuck, about the whys and hows of this project. We also heard some good advice from the folks at other mock award blogs: Calling Caldecott, Heavy Medal, and Guessing Geisel, but we couldn't include everything they said. Here now, is your chance to hear my full conversation with Julie Danielson of Calling Caldecott, Steven Engelfreed of Heavy Medal, and Amy Seto Forrestor of Guessing Geisel. Have a listen, and don't forget to go and vote for the mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards between January 4 and 15, 2021 at https://www.sydneytaylorshmooze.com/.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-sydney-taylor-shmooze.html for full show notes, or look for the episode "The Sydney Taylor Shmooze" posted January 2, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

The Sydney Taylor Shmooze is a mock award blog created in Spring 2020 by Susan Kusel, Chava Pinchuck, and me, in order to encourage discussion of Jewish children's and teen literature eligible for the Sydney Taylor Book Award. In this podcast episode, Susan and Chava join me to talk about how it's going and about how YOU can vote for the mock awards. We also get some advice from other mock award bloggers from Calling Caldecott, Guessing Geisel, and Heavy Medal.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-puppy-test.html for full show notes. Or look for "The Puppy Test" posted December 17, 2021 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

In December 2020, the world received a wondrous Hanukkah gift: Daveed Diggs’ “Puppy for Hanukkah” video. I see Puppy for Hanukkah as an excellent model for creating terrific Jewish children’s literature!

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/theodore-bikels-city-of-light.html for full show notes. Or look for "Theodore Bikel's City of Light" posted December 6, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Theodor Bikel, of blessed memory, was an Austrian-American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist and political activist. Journalist Aimee Ginsburg Bikel is the wife of the late Theodore Bikel, and she brought to life Theo's story, City of Light.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/anya-and-dragon.html for full show notes, or look for "Anya and the Dragon" posted November 8, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Anya and the Dragon is Sofiya Pasternak's debut, a middle grade Jewish historical fantasy novel. It was recognized by a 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Award. It will be joined on November 10, 2020 by a sequel, Anya and the Nightingale. Join me for a fascinating conversation with Sofiya about the history behind the fantasy.

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-mitzvah-of-voting-part-3.html for full show notes, or look for "The Mitzvah of Voting, Part 3" posted October 13, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com.

Welcome to the third and final entry in our series, The Mitzvah of Voting. It's October 2020 your favorite Jewish kidlit authors want all eligible US citizens to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, and listeners around the world to vote in their own local elections. My author guests will be sharing why they vote and they'll give you some recommendations for ways to keep democracy healthy. This time, we will leave you with some musical inspiration to carry you through Election Day.

Once again, I want to remind you that, as always, the views expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of our host organization, Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida. One of today's guests, Sarah Aroeste, is not only an author, she's also a singer songwriter who performs in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish dialect that became the tongue of Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. I'm excited to tell you that Sarah is sharing a full song with us today, the title song from her album Gracia. The word GRACIA means THANKS and GRACE but it's also a tribute to the medieval Sephardic heroine, Doña Gracia Nasi who lived in the 1500s and saved hundreds of Jews from the Inquisition. The main idea of the song is that activists of the past inspire us to activism in our own time. See the lyrics below. 

Guest authors include:

• Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted and A Ceiling Made of Eggshells
• Lesléa Newman, author of Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story
• Evan Wolkenstein, author of Turtle Boy
• Sue Macy, author of The Book Rescuer
• Sarah Aroeste, author of Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom and singer/songwriter of Gracia

Resources mentioned by guests include:

• The Matthew Shepard Foundation
• SURJ: Standing Up for Racial Justice
• Reclaim Our Vote
• Doña Gracia Nasi

Read the English translation of Gracia at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-mitzvah-of-voting-part-3.html. 

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-mitzvah-of-voting-part-2.html for full show notes, or look for "The Mitzvah of Voting, Part 2" at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3 part series, The Mitzvah of Voting. It's October 2020 your favorite Jewish kidlit authors want all eligible US citizens to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, and listeners around the world to vote in their own local elections! My author guests will be sharing why they vote and they'll give you some recommendations for ways to keep democracy healthy. 

Guest authors include:

• Elissa Brent Weissman, author of The Length of a String
• Lee Wind, author of Queer as a $5 Bill and No Way, They Were Gay?
• Barbara Bietz, author of Sweet Tamales for Purim
• Jane Breskin Zalben, author of A Moon for Moe and Mo
• Jacqueline Jules, author of The Generous Fish, Never Say a Mean Word Again, The Hardest Word
• Anne-Marie Asner, author of the Matzah Ball Books series

Suggestions from guests in this episode:

• Become a poll worker
• Add your Representative and Senators to your cell phone and call regularly on issues you care about
• Confirm your voter registration at Vote.org

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-mitzvah-of-voting-part-1.html for full show notes, or look for "The Mitzvah of Voting, Part 1" at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

This episode is a call to action for U.S. citizens eligible to vote, and a reminder to listeners everywhere that voting is your superpower. If you are a U.S. citizen eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, please do so! For information about how to vote, visit https://www.vote.org/. In this special 3-part series, some of your favorite Jewish kidlit authors will be sharing why they vote and they'll give some recommendations for ways to keep our democracy healthy. 

In each episode of The Book of Life, I ask guests to suggest a tikkun olam action, a way to help repair the world. This special series is MY tikkun olam action. Please help me inspire more people to vote by sharing this podcast as widely as you can, today.

By the way, you should always assume that the opinions expressed on The Book of Life podcast are not necessarily those of our host organization, Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida, but because this episode is more political than most, I'll just remind you of that fact right now.

Guest authors include:

• Marjorie Ingall, author of Mamaleh Knows Best
• Linda Epstein, author of Repairing the World
• Jeff Gottesfeld, author of No Steps Behind
• Leslie Kimmelman, author of The Eight Knights of Hanukkah
• Susan Kusel, author of The Passover Guest
• Tziporah Cohen, author of No Vacancy

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-mitzvah-of-voting-part-1.html to get links to the resources named during this episode.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/pond-life-fish-out-of-water-turtle-boy.html for full show notes or look for "Pond Life - FISH Out of Water & TURTLE Boy" posted October 11, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

For this "Pond Life" episode, I paired the books Turtle Boy with Fish Out of Water, to highlight the similar themes I saw in both middle grade bar mitzvah novels. Wonderfully, authors Joanne Levy and Evan Wolkenstein really hit it off and they actually helped to interview each other! 

Your feedback is welcome! Please write to [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.

Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children's Literature, edited and translated by Miriam Udel, comes out from NYU Press on October 6, 2020. We didn't have the chance to do an audio interview but I did want you to know about this worthy book, so I interviewed Miriam by email. I hope you will enjoy reading all about Honey on the Page at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/honey-on-page.html.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-place-at-table.html for full show notes, or look for "A Place at the Table" posted September 6, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Muslim author Saadia Faruqui and Jewish author Laura Shovan joined me to talk about their jointly written middle grade contemporary novel, A Place at the Table. This is a book about immigration, about friendship, and it will make you hungry.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/video-episode-artist-patricia-portillo.html for full show notes, or look for "Video Episode: Artist Patricia Portillo" posted August 25, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Multi-talented mensch Patricia Portillo is an artist who works with fiber, clay, and other materials. She is also a voice artist and professional opera singer, and she dabbles in the culinary arts. She rendered The Book of Life's dancing man logo as a crocheted doll so we are interviewing her to learn more about her crafting abilities.

Today's episode is available as a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJrTjZeQFNY&feature=youtu.be

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/no-vacancy.html for full show notes, or look for "No Vacancy" posted August 9, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

No Vacancy is Tziporah Cohen's debut middle grade novel. It's a story of friendship across boundaries, the importance of community as a bulwark against prejudice... and a Virgin Mary sighting.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-bubbes-and-zaides.html for full show notes, or look for "The Bubbes and the Zaides" posted July 19, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

We hear from David Raphael, co-founder of the Jewish Grandparents Network, and we enjoy the audiobook Bubbe & Zaide, written and voiced by Anne-Marie Asner along with the famous actor Ed Asner as Zaide. For links to more resources, including our guests' Boosting Black Voices reading recommendations, visit https://bookoflifepodcast.com.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Please visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/06/through-window-lee-wind.html for extensive show notes with lots of great links, or look for "Through the Window: Lee Wind" posted June 28, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

Lee Wind is the author of Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill and blogs at I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? He is Heidi's partner in the Through the Window diversity exchange program sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-ceiling-made-of-eggshells.html for full show notes, or look for "A Ceiling Made of Eggshells" posted May 17, 2020 at BookofLifePodcast.com. 

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.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/parenting-on-prayer-books-in-time-of.html for full show notes. 

Author Amy Grossblatt Pessah discusses her guide Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children on the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" series on The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/gluskin-family-history-strategies-and.html for full show notes. 

David B. Levy shares his family genealogical work Gluskin Family History, published through Lulu on "Books in the Time of Coronavirus," a special series from The Book of Life. This is volume 7 in his series of ten books on librarianship and Jewish topics.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/beyond-ghetto-gates-books-in-time-of.html for full show notes. 

Michelle Cameron shares her adult historical novel, Beyond the Ghetto Gates, published by She Writes Press on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series on The Book of Life Podcast.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/all-horrors-of-war-books-in-time-of.html for full show notes.

Bernice Lerner shares her family history, All the Horrors of War: A Jewish Girl, A British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen, published by Johns Hopkins University Press on "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com. Plus a shout-out to Dianne Siekmann for becoming a Book of Life supporter on https://www.patreon.com/bookoflife. 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/birthright-books-in-time-of-coronavirus.html for full show notes. 

Erika Dreifus shares her poetry collection Birthright, published by Kelsay Books on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series from The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/hebrew-roots-jewish-routes-books-in.html for full show notes. 

Jeremy Benstein shares his nonfiction adult book Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World, published by Behrman House, on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series from The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/you-are-not-what-we-expected-books-in.html for full show notes.

Sidura Ludwig shares her adult short story collection, You Are Not What We Expected, from House of Anansi Press on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series on The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/welcoming-elijah-books-in-time-of.html for full show notes.

Lesléa Newman shares her picture book Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail from Charlesbridge on the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life Podcast.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/worse-and-worse-on-noahs-ark-books-in.html for full show notes. 

Leslie Kimmelman shares her picture book Worse and Worse on Noah's Ark from Apples & Honey Press on the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/no-entry-books-in-time-of-coronavirus.html for full show notes. 

The first episode in this special series features Gila Green, author of No Entry, a novel for youth about elephant poaching in South Africa, starring a Jewish eco-heroine, on "Books in the Time of Coronavirus"  is a special series on The Book of Life.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/family-meeting.html for full show notes.

This Book of Life "Family Meeting" will fill you in on lots of information about the show that you may have been missing, as well as other Jewish kidlit-related projects that host Heidi wants you to know about. Be sure to follow all the links at https://bookoflifepodcast.com to get the full details. 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/02/no-steps-behind.html for full show notes.

No Steps Behind: Beate Sirota Gordon's Battle for Women's Rights in Japan by Jeff Gottesfeld, illustrated by Shiella Witanto, is a picture book biography about a Russian-Austrian-Jewish woman who grew up in Japan and became an architect of the country's post-WWII constitution, enshrining it with more women's rights than are in the US constitution. The author shares with us this fascinating slice of history.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-2020-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html for extensive show notes.

The Sydney Taylor Book Award recognizes the best in Jewish children's and teen literature each year. I spoke with committee chair Rebecca Levitan to learn about the 2020 winners. 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-bisl-yiddish-bikher-fur-kinder.html  

This virtual panel on Yiddish-related kidlit includes Sue Macy, author of The Book Rescuer, Debbie Levy, author of Yiddish Saves the Day, and Valerie Estelle Frankel, author of Chelm for the Holidays.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/12/world-premiere-hanukkah-with-noshy-boy.html  

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 terminology and culture with young children through humor.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-field-guide-to-jewish-kidlit.html  

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.

Visit www.bookoflifepodcast.com for the looong list of links to the resources and titles mentioned in this episode.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-100-most-jewish-foods.html  

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!

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/honeycake-magazine.html  

Honeycake Magazine is a new Jewish magazine for kids ages 2 to 6. Creator Anna Caplan guest posted on The Book of Life about the magazine in May 2019. Now here's our podcast interview, in which I spoke to Anna about her inspiration for Honeycake and her plans for its future.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES:  https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/10/nancy-churnin-biography-queen.html  

We are in a golden age of picture book biographies, and one prolific biographer is Nancy Churnin. She's got half a dozen bios out and more on the way, and each one is inspiring in its own way. Nancy attended the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries conference to take part in the author luncheon, where she represented her Jewish interest books, Irving Berlin: The Immigrant Boy Who Made America Sing, and Martin & Anne: The Kindred Spirits of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and Anne Frank. I was happy to snag this live interview with her during the conference.

Be sure to explore https://www.nancychurnin.com/ for the teacher guides and projects she describes in our interview, as well as her blog The Kids Are All Write,  https://www.nancychurnin.com/thekidsareallwrite.  When asked for Tikkun Olam recommendations, Nancy suggested supporting Room to Read, https://www.roomtoread.org/ a nonprofit that seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/09/bonus-episode-superfight.html  

In May 2019 I posted an interview with Jonathan Auxier, the author of Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster. In our interview we talked about the book, of course, but we also talked about our favorite board games. I met Jonathan at the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries conference where he'd come to accept his Sydney Taylor Book Award, and we got to play one of those games together along with a roomful of other authors, illustrators, and librarians.

Here's your chance to listen in as we play a round of Superfight: A Game of Absurd Arguments. First we'll hear the description of the game from Jonathan's May 2019 appearance on The Book of Life podcast. Then we'll hear a clip of me versus Jonathan Auxier in actual gameplay.

Just so you know, the game was ultimately won by illustrator Paul O. Zelinsky, who was at the conference to receive the Sydney Taylor Book Award for All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah. His Superfight character was Gal Gadot (because he drew the card letting him pick a favorite actor), who was unaffected by impact, but who had no depth perception. He won a badminton challenge against a tween werewolf with jellyfish instead of hands. That's Superfight for you!

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-book-of-life-live-show.html  

At the 2019 Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Los Angeles, California, we recorded a Book of Life live show. My guests were Joni Sussman of KarBen Publishing, and author/illustrator/musician Barney Saltzberg. We discussed picture book illustration while recording our conversation in front of a live audience of Judaica librarians.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/08/sister-religionsister-kidlit.html  

Sadaf Siddique and Gauri Manglick are the co-creators of Kitaab World, a website that promotes South Asian children's books. Within their website, they created a campaign called Counter Islamophobia Through Stories, (similar to the Love Your Neighbor campaign that I worked on to help bring Jewish books to ALL readers), and they even turned their campaign into a book called Muslims in Story. 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/08/notes-from-young-reader.html  

Young Aria is a voracious reader. In this interview, she shares a few of her favorite titles:

• All Kinds of Strong by Sharon Reiss Baker
• Zishe the Strongman by Robert Rubinstein
• Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel
• Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story by Lesléa Newman
• The Harriet Hamsterbone series

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-cage-without-bars.html  

Anne Dublin is a Toronto-based author and retired synagogue librarian. She is the Canadian Correspondent for The Book of Life Podcast, performing many of our interviews with Canadian creatives. She's also the author of A Cage Without Bars, a historical middle grade novel that tells the little-known tale of Jewish children kidnapped after the expulsion from Spain and enslaved on the island of São Tomé, off the coast of West Africa.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/06/simple-acts-busy-familys-guide-to.html  

Natalie Silverstein is the New York volunteer coordinator of Doing Good Together, an organization that empowers families to raise caring, engaged children. She wrote Simple Acts: The Busy Family's Guide to Giving Back to give parents practical ideas for incorporating service and the spirit of giving into family life. 

The podcast Kidlit These Days honors Jewish American Heritage Month by interviewing friend-of-The-Book-of-Life Lesléa Newman, and by including Jewish kidlit reading recommendations from yours truly, Heidi Rabinowitz. Listen at https://bookriot.com/listen/honoring-jewish-american-heritage/ 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/05/craig-taubman-mostly-kosher.html  

Craig Taubman is a long-time star in the world of American Jewish rock and roll, and the founder of the Pico Union Project.  Mostly Kosher is an up and coming Gypsy Rock Klezmer band whose tagline is “word to your bubbe.”  In spring 2019, Craig Taubman brought along Mostly Kosher and together they put on a foot-stomping concert at Congregation B’nai Israel, the home of The Book of Life podcast. That gave me the chance to grab this interview, and even to include the voice of our cantor’s daughter Aria. Here’s your chance to be a fly on the wall in the green room before the show.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/05/sweep-story-of-girl-and-her-monster.html  

May 1 is May Day, the chimney sweeps’ holiday. It’s the perfect day to bring you a podcast about Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier. The book introduces us to Nan, a chimney climber, and her golem friend Charlie, a creature made of soot. This middle grade novel won the 2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award for Jewish children’s books, along with numerous other literary awards. In this lush, dense interview, Jonathan gives us much to think about!

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-length-of-string.html  

The Length of a String won a 2019 Sydney Taylor Honor Award in the Older Readers Category. It's a middle grade novel about Imani, an adopted black Jewish girl who wants to learn about her birth parents. When she inherits a Holocaust-era diary from her Jewish great-grandmother, she begins to see family in a whole new way. I spoke to author Elissa Brent Weissman by Skype.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

www.bookoflifepodcast.com

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/03/the-kosher-baker.html  

Paula Shoyer is known as The Kosher Baker. I met her at Limmud, a one day conference of Jewish learning on a wide variety of topics, held in December 2018 in Boca Raton, Florida. Paula was there to present two sessions: "Are Your Jewish Holiday Meals Dangerous?" and "Jewish Cookbooks Tell Our Stories." We sat down between sessions in the breezy courtyard for this interview.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

Craig Taubman is coming to Congregation B'nai Israel in Boca Raton! If you will be in South Florida, don't miss this show! Call 561-241-8118 for tickets or BUY TICKETS HERE. Listen to a special message from Craig now, and keep an eye on The Book of Life for an upcoming full-length interview!

bookoflifepodcast.com

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/03/fanias-heart-birthday-card-in-auschwitz.html  

The Book of Life’s Canadian Correspondent Anne Dublin spoke to author Anne Renaud after she won the 2018 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fania’s Heart, a Holocaust picture book for older readers. It’s the true story of a heart-shaped birthday card created in Auschwitz at great personal risk by women prisoners, from scraps of fabric, stolen materials, and glue made out of bread and water, for the 20th birthday of fellow prisoner Fania Landau Fainer. The real heart is now in the Montreal Holocaust Museum, and it’s one of the few surviving objects created by prisoners of Auschwitz. Be sure to check out this documentary, that was the inspiration for Renaud to write this book: https://vimeo.com/channels/348350 

For a book about Fania, aimed at teen readers, see Paper Hearts by Meg Wiviott.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

bookoflifepodcast.com

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/02/meet-me-at-well.html  

Before I moved from Massachusetts back to Florida, I visited with Jane Yolen and Barbara Diamond Goldin to talk about their joint book of original feminist midrash, Meet Me at the Well: The Girls and Women of the Bible. We sat down in Jane’s sunny kitchen and they just let it all pour out; I hardly needed to ask any questions! Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-2019-sydney-taylor-book-manuscript.html  

Susan Kusel is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries. She joined us by Skype from her home in Falls Church, VA. to talk about the 2019 winners of the award (and so did her dog Harry). 

This year's Sydney Taylor Book Awards are being announced at the ALA Youth Media Awards press conference in Seattle, WA during the ALA Midwinter Meeting on January 28, 2019 at 8am PT. 

Here's the official Sydney Taylor Book Award announcement with the full list of winners, honors, and notable books:  https://jewishlibraries.org/sydney_taylor_book_award/ 

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473. 

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2019/01/beyond-holocaust-and-holidays-writing.html  

"Beyond the Holocaust and Holidays: Who Are We and What Are We Writing?" is a symposium for Jewish children's literature, welcoming novelists and publishing professionals to Honesdale, PA, March 15-18, 2019. A stellar faculty will lead discussions on issues both practical and philosophical. For this episode of The Book of Life, we've gathered four of those faculty members for our own discussion: Adam Gidwitz, Susan Kusel, Katherine Locke, and Rena Rossner.

Your feedback is appreciated! Please write to [email protected] or call our voicemail number at 561-206-2473.

Hillary Saxton is a children's librarian at the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Public Library, and the creator of the event series "Stand Up! Storytime for Social Justice." She was originally scheduled to participate in the "Social Justice and Jewish Children's Books" panel at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference, featured on The Book of Life in August 2018. She was sick and couldn't make it, so I caught up with her later by Skype. Find the titles used in the 2017-18 Stand Up storytimes at the Cambridge Public Library's collection of booklists here. And please share your own favorite social justice titles in the comments here at The Book of Life. Speaking of social justice, check out the Association of Jewish Libraries' series of "Love Your Neighbor" booklists, created to provide all children and their families with a greater understanding of the Jewish religion and its people.

Remember All-of-a-Kind Family? It's the classic chapter book by Sydney Taylor, of five sisters living on the Lower East Side in the early 20th century. Now Emily Jenkins and Paul O. Zelinsky have created an original picture book based on those same characters, All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah. Illustrator Zelinsky attended the 2018 Association of Jewish Libraries conference where he gave us a sneak peek at his artistic process, as you can see in the photo above. I snagged his email address and arranged a conference call with him and author Emily Jenkins, and that's what you'll hear on this podcast.

HANUKKAH TREATS FOR YOU:

* Buzzfeed Quiz: Which All-of-a-Kind Family Sibling Are You?

* Emily Jenkins' latke recipe

* Coloring pages based on Paul Zelinsky's art

* Teaching Guide for All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah

Jane Breskin Zalben is an artist/illustrator and the author of over 50 books for children. Her recent picture book, A Moon for Moe and Mo, was featured in the Missing Voice picture book discussion group on Facebook in September 2018. The Missing Voice group was created by another author, Lisa Rose, to bring books about under-represented populations into the limelight. You may be familiar with Lisa's book, Shmulik Paints the Town. I spoke with Jane and Lisa by conference call, in the week following the anti-Semitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, because I felt it was the right time to talk about stories that model friendships between Jews and non-Jews, and to encourage people to read more books that offer windows into different cultures. 

During that same week, I worked with a bunch of my favorite women, my posse of snarky Jewish kidlit nerds from across the world, to create a book list addressing anti-Semitism. We crafted a list of picture books and chapter books on the theme of "standing up for each other." It's the first in the Love Your Neighbor series of book lists published by the Association of Jewish Libraries. There's a great article at Tablet Magazine about the creation of the book list series. Please use and share the Love Your Neighbor book lists as widely as you can!

bookoflifepodcast.com

At the 2018 Association of Jewish Libraries conference, I bumped into author Jacqueline Jules. She's been on the podcast before in 2014 to talk about Never Say a Mean Word Again. Her new picture book is Light the Menorah: A Hanukkah Handbook, which offers meditations for candle lighting. We grabbed a quick interview after lunch in the busy dining hall, so you will have a "you are there" experience listening to our conversation about this wonderful new holiday book!

https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2018/11/light-menorah-hanukkah-handbook.html

The Girl with the Red Balloon is a magical time travel, historical fiction, kind-of-sort-of Holocaust book that won a Sydney Taylor Honor in the Teen Readers Category for 2018. I met the author, Katherine Locke, at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Boston, where we snuck into a side room to talk – please excuse the faint hubbub coming from outside. We discussed not only Katherine’s book, but also her article on Medium.com, “Thinking about Jewish Children’s Literature in a Time of anti-Semitism.”

Before I moved back to Florida from Massachusetts, my friend Barbara Bietz, author of The Sundown Kid: A Southwestern Shabbat, came to Amherst, MA for a workshop about Jewish kidlit. We got together while she was in town and recorded our conversation for you.

American Golem by Marc Lumer is a very funny picture book about a mud monster making a new life for itself in New York City. Vicki Weber of Apples & Honey Press told me all about it at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in Boston in June 2018, and I was very flattered that she also asked for my advice about marketing the book. If YOU have any ideas for Vicki, give us a call or leave a comment at bookoflifepodcast.com.

In June 2018, Book of Life Host Heidi Rabinowitz participated on a panel with author Leslea Newman and Horn Book editors Elissa Gershowitz and Shoshana Flax, at the Association of Jewish Libraries annual conference in Boston. The topic was “Social Justice and Jewish Children’s Books.” Here’s your chance to be a fly on the wall. Share your thoughts on the subject at bookoflifepodcast.com.

www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Susan Kusel is the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries. She joined us by Skype from her home in Falls Church, VA. to talk about the 2018 winners of the award.  Here's the official Sydney Taylor Book Award announcement with the full list of winners, honors, and notable books: click here.  The Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour will take place February 4-8, 2018. For details, click here. The Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award was mentioned in the interview: click here.   The National Jewish Book Award winners from the Jewish Book Council have also been announced! To see their winners, click here.

The winners of the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Awards for the best in Jewish children's and teen literature will be announced on January 10, 2018. Chair Susan Kusel gave The Book of Life an exclusive interview that will be posted on that date. In the meantime, here is her dedication to the hardworking awards committee.

As The Book of Life goes on hiatus, we wrap up twelve years of programming with a Grand Finale. We hear from listeners and guests about their favorite interviews, and play clips from those episodes.

www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Group interview with Jessica Deutsch, creator of The Illustrated Pirkei Avot: A Graphic Novel of Jewish Ethics, and with Lois Shenker and Rabbi Eve Posen, co-authors of Pirkei Imahot: The Wisdom of Mothers, the Voices of Women.

bookoflifepodcast.com

An interview with Linda Kass, author of Tasa's Song, plus the music inspired by the book, composed by Charles Weatherbee and performed by the Carpe Diem String Quartet.

Interviews with Lisa Newman, Communications Director, and Christa Whitney, director of the Wexler Oral History Project, both at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.

An interview with Abigail Pogrebin about her book chronicling her exploration of all 18 Jewish holidays in one year.

bookoflifepodcast.com

An interview with author Rich Michelson about The Language of Angels: a Story about the Reinvention of Hebrew.

bookoflifepodcast.com

Vicki Weber of Behrman House tells us all about the past, present, and future of the 96 year old publisher of Jewish educational materials, just in time for back-to-school.

bookoflifepodcast.com

The Last Shepherd (Evil Sun Productions) is a Hebrew-language indie comedy adventure scifi fantasy film with elements of Jewish mysticism and kabbalah. Several of the film's creators Skyped with The Book of Life.

bookoflifepodcast.com

Yaffa and Fatima, Shalom Salaam by Fawzia Gilani-Williams is the picture book we all need right now. It depicts a loving friendship between two women, one Jewish, one Muslim.

bookoflifepodcast.com

Author Tammar Stein tells us about her middle grade novel, The Six-Day Hero, about the Six-Day War in Israel, 1967.  bookoflifepodcast.com

PJ Our Way is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation that offers free chapter books to Jewish families with middle grade readers. I spoke to director Catriella Freedman to learn how it works.

bookoflifepodcast.com

A joint interview with author Lori S. Kline and publisher Debra L. Winegarten about the picture book Almost a Minyan, a traditional yet groundbreaking coming-of-age story.

bookoflifepodcast.com

Interviews from Book Expo America 2014 with Holiday House and Second Story Press, two mainstream presses that strongly support jewish publishing. Since I've got a big backlog of episodes waiting to be published, I decided to publish the remaining four Book Expo episodes in one go; this is Part 1.