Nice Jewish Books

For 100 years the Rosenfelds have been trapped in a time bubble in their tenement apartment on the lower East Side of New York. They can only catch glimpes of the outside world which has no idea that they are there. Until one day, Esther Luna, who works in the building which has now been turned into the Tenement Museum see a girl in the window who smiles and waves at her.

After exploring every reasonable explanation, Esther turns to Rabbi Meyer Poppers, a Jewish magician. While he finds the source of the curse, figuring out how to lift it is another matter entirely. And lifting it without killing the Rosenfelds will be even trickier.

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Check out other works by Mickey Dubrow.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Luna Levi may have graduated high school, but she is far from any kind of path to success. She works part time at a motel in Ottowa to help support her family since neither parent seem capable of it. Luna's mother has dreams of being a theater star and takes off for weeks at a time to perform in regional productions and her father, suffering from PTSD after serving in the Israel army, lives on the streets.

Luna watches her mother try one "get rich quick" scheme after another; each one bring the family further into debt. Her brother Ronen is an eternal optimist who tries to encourage her mother in her various ventures. It is Luna's desperate wish is to lead a responsible life; but will she be able to find her own path? or will she spiral into her mother's schemes?

Follow along with the transcript and check our Gila's website.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Sharon is surrounded by secrets. It is 1968 and she has been recruited to clandestinely bring Israel sailors, soldiers, and engineers to the French port of Cherbourg. She needs to help support them until the last 5 ships which were promised to Israel were fully constructed. Since France has instituted an embargo against Israel, the men would have to smuggle to ships out for the Israeli Navy. On a smaller scale, she learned that her supervisor Daniel had been taken out of Israel as a young child as part of the youth aliyah program. Although Daniel only had thoughts of Israel's future, Sharon became obsessed with learning about his past. The information Sharon discovers could have major consequences on Daniel's life. Join me for a conversation with Talia Carner about her latest book, The Boy with the Star Tattoo.

Learn more about Talia on her website.

Follow along with the transcript.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Genevra Ex is a best-selling mystery author with a major quirk. Instead of inventing new characters, she hires a real-life person to be the main character of her book. The latest hire is a young woman named Rory. After an intensive three months of interviewing, Genevra gifts Rory with a ticket on the newly refurbish Orient Express. After boarding the train, Rory is shocked to find her brother Max, her best friend Caroline, and her ex-fiance Nate. She also finds a manuscript of Genevra's latest novel and a letter with secrets that rock Rory's life. although the trip takes them through gorgeous Italian country-side, tension among the passengers magnifies until it explodes into murder.

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Connect with Jaclyn through her website.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Heidi Rabinowitz and I both saw a cartoon from the New Yorker in which one spouse was trying to move a pile of tottering books off the other spouses night-stand. The other spouse yelled in alarm (something like) "don't move those - they are my emotional support books!" We were inspired to ask our fellow attendees at the 2024 Association of Jewish Libraries conference to speak about their emotional support books!

Follow along with the transcript.

Enter the drawing for your own personal emotional support book bag! Share a review on social media (such as Facebook or Instagram) or post a review on your podcast platform (such as Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, etc.) Take a screen shot of the review and email it to [email protected] by Oct. 24 2024 (the ultimate Jewish reading holiday, Simchat Torah)

If you can't wait for the drawing or you want to buy one for your friends and family you can get one (or many) at our Zazzle shop.

OUR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT BOOKS

Sheryl Stahl: He, She, and It by Marge Piercy

Heidi Rabinowitz: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

Heidi Rabinowitz: Joyful Song: A Naming Story by Lesléa Newman

Dara Henry: On All Other Nights: A Passover Celebration in 14 Stories ed. by Chris Baron, Joshua Levy, and Naomi Milliner

A.R. Vishny: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

David Schlitt: Teitelbaum's Window by Wallace Markfield

Sally Weiner Grotta: Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Sally Weiner Grotta: The Golden Dreidel by Ellen Kushner

Lies Meerboom: The Promise by Chaim Potok

Aden Polydoros: A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft

Rifka Yerushalmi: What a Beautiful Morning by Arthur A. Levine

Sidura Ludwig: Starry Sally J. Freedman as Herself by Judy Blume

Elysa Keshen: All Rivers Run to the Sea by Elie Wiesel

Susan Dubin: Sisters at Sinai by Jill Hammer and other books about women in the Bible

Richard Ho: Happy Hanukkah, Curious George by H.A. Rey

Shoshana Traum: The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

Shoshana Traum: Jewish Futures: Stories from the World's Oldest Diaspora by Michael A. Burstein

Henry Woodall: Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah

Dina Herbert: The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann. M. Martin

Olga Potap: the works of Sholem Aleichem

Daniel Scheide: the works of William Morris

Jane Rothstein: All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Sally Stieglitz: Sandwich by Catherine Newman

Michal Babay: the works of Harlan Coban

Xandra O'Neill: Golemcrafters by Emi Watanabe Cohen

Bette Stahl: Jewish Cookbooks

David Stahl: A Torah Commentary for Our Times by Harvey J. Fields

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Whether you play the lottery or not, I think that all of us dream about what we would do if we won a major jackpot. This is what happened to three out of the four Jacobson siblings. Matthew, Laura, Sophie, and Noah were gathered to pack up the family summer house on Long Beach Island, when Noah announced he was going out and would be buying a lottery ticket. Laura and Sophie jumped to go in on the tickets, while Matthew flatly refused. They were all completely shocked to find that one of their tickets was a winner. The three winning siblings quickly set about spending the money. They found that becoming overnight millionaires brought more complications into their lives than they possibly could have projected. Join me for a conversation with Ellyssa Friedland about her latest work, Jackpot Summer.

Follow along with the transcript. Check out her website.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Eve is only looking for some shelter from the rain, but what she finds will change her work, her heart, and her life. In a small cave in the Scottish highlands, Eve finds a journal written in as a series of letters from a woman named Shira to her lover Benjamin. Eve realized that the letters contain secrets about the family of her new love Mac. What secrets are revealed and can Eve and Mac's love survive? Join me for a conversation with Lynne Golodner about her latest book, Cave of Secrets.

Find the author at her website, her substack, and her social media Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn

Follow along with the transcript.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Often we just want to connect with all the people around us and fix any problems we see. In the Hebrew Teacher, a collection of three novellas, people attempt to do this in very different situations. But sometimes, other people see the problem from a different perspective, or the problem is not what it seems. And to connect with someone else, they need to want to connect back with you. Join me for a conversation with Maya Arad about navigating life, jobs, and family.

Follow along with the transcript.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

. Annamae lives in New York with her brother and linguist mother. She yearns for connection and feels that someone will show up to take her away to where she is supposed to be. In the meantime, she pours her thoughts and dreams into her diary. Ani lives on a homestead which is a safe place for misfits and homeless. One day, the Captain, one of the long time residents, hears a call and just walks away to follow it. When Ani realizes that he forgot his treasured journal, she attempts to follow him to him to return it. Each girl is growing into her identity and finding her place in her family, community, and world. Join me for a conversation with Leah Hager Cohen about her book (or books!) To and Fro.

Follow along with the transcript and check out her website.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.

Every year the Research, Archive, and Special libraries division of the Association of Jewish Libraries (otherwise known as RAS) gives awards for excellence in Reference and in Bibliography. Since these are obviously not fiction, they wouldn't ordinarily be a candidate for this podcast. But I got an opportunity to share the interview with last year's bibliography winner that I found too delicious to pass up. The bibliography award focuses on books written about other books. In the case, the winner Adras Koerner won for this work Early Jewish Cookbooks: Essay on Hungarian Jewish Gastronomical History. Join me at Nice Jewish books to listen to RAS vice president Eitan Kensky and author Andras Koerner discuss Jewish food, cookbooks and culture.

Follow along with the transcript.

Support the author, AJL, and independent book stores by buying their book here.

Thanks to:

• The Association of Jewish Libraries
• Heidi Rabinowitz, podcast mentor
• Dee Yan Key for use of their Freylekh (downloaded from https://freemusicarchive.org/home)
• Donate to support the podcast

If you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like the AJL sister podcast, The Book of Life, a podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly.