The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

We hear from Lesléa Newman, author of the picture book Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail in the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life Podcast, www.bookoflifepodcast.com.

Part of the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Today we hear from Gila Green about her eco-novel for youth, No Entry. "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" is a special series on The Book of Life at www.bookoflifepodcast.com.

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 bookoflifepodcast.com to get the full details. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT

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 sharew with us this fascinating slice of history. www.bookoflifepodcast.com

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. Please see the extensive show notes for January 27, 2020 a BookofLifePodcast.com for full information on this year's winners and much more. Please also visit SydneyTaylorBookAwards.org.

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. See full show notes at the January 12, 2020 post at www.bookoflifepodcast.com.

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. CLICK HERE TO READ...

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...

The 100 Most Jewish Foods, a Highly Debatable List by Alana Newhouse, editor of Tablet Magazine, is featured on this episode of The Book of Life. Canadian Correspondent Anne Dublin recorded this delightful interview.

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. Want your own copy of Honeycake? Go to HoneycakeMagazine.com and click on the Get the Magazine button. Order by November 17, 2019 to get your copy in time for Hanukkah. CLICK HERE TO READ THE...

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...

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...

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. At the live show, I mentioned the new Listener Survey. Please take a moment to share your feedback to help me make the show the best it can...

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. Listen now as Sadaf joins me to talk about the kidlit of our sister religion! CLICK HERE TO READ...

Young Aria is a voracious reader. In this interview, she shares a few of her favorite titles: All Kinds of Strong by Sharon Reiss BakerZishe the Strongman by Robert RubinsteinBrave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story by Lesléa NewmanThe Harriet Hamsterbone series CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel Supported in part by: Association of...

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. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT www.bookoflifepodcast.com

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. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST NEWS: The podcast Kidlit These Days honors Jewish American Heritage Month by interviewing...

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...

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! Here are links to some...