The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-miracle-seed.html The Miracle Seed is Martin Lemelman's nonfiction graphic novel about how modern science brought the Judean date palm back to life after a thousand year extinction. We met in person at the local public library's recording studio to talk about his book, his art, and the truly amazing story of how seeds found at an archaeologi...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-2024-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html The winners of the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children's and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 22, 2024 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Aviva Rosenberg is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-artists-against-antisemitism-auction.html The Artists Against Antisemitism is a new organization formed to give creatives of all kinds a way to fight anti-Jewish hate. Their very first action is to hold an auction, happening December 15-22, 2023. The auction will benefit Project Shema, which trains and supports the Jewish community and allie...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/12/hanukkah-upside-down.html In September 2023, I zoomed with Elissa Brent Weissman from across the world, to record an interview about her new picture book, Hanukkah Upside Down . It's the story of a cousin in New York and a cousin in New Zealand, and how they connect during this wintertime AND summertime holiday.  LEARN MORE: Read the transcript...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/11/two-tribes.html Emily Bowen Cohen is a Jewish member of the Muscogee Nation. Her debut graphic novel, Two Tribes, explores the complexities that come with having a dual identity. I can't think of a better book to read in November, which is both Jewish Book Month and Native American Heritage Month.  LEARN MORE: Read the transcript Buy or borrow T...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/we-need-israel-books.html Like so many of you, I am devastated by the suffering and loss of life in Israel and in Gaza, inflicted by the terrorism of Hamas, so I'm interrupting our regular schedule to bring you additional content related to the war in Israel and Gaza. This conversation with Yael Levy , Chava Pinchuck , and Marjorie Gann is about...

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/am-yisrael-chai-tammar-stein.html On October 7, 2023, the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, the terrorist group Hamas launched a brutal attack against Israel, murdering and kidnapping civilians young and old as well as striking military targets on multiple fronts. At the time of writing, Israel is at war. With Israel on my mind and in my h...

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 , Tw...

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 illustra...

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...

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 cam...

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...

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...

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 quinte...

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 o...

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...

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 commi...

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 f...

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 frequ...

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 Associati...

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 reader...

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....

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 f...