The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/september-throwback-sweep-story-of-girl.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/september-throwback-sweep-the-story?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

To continue with the themes of golems and fighting for justice that we explored in our most recent episode about Kyle Lukoff's A World Worth Saving, AND in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives. It's an interview about the middle grade historical fantasy Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier which originally aired in May, 2019, and it's also about golems, and fighting for justice.

Since 2019, Author Jonathan Auxier has become a podcaster too. He and Matt Bird cohost A Good Story Well Told, a show about the craft of storytelling.

LEARN MORE:

• Jonathan Auxier's website

• Borrow or Buy Sweep

• A Good Story Well Told - Jonathan's podcast

• Original show notes with links to books and games mentioned in the interview

• Follow-up episode with Jonathan: Superfight!

• Bonus Content in Substack Newsletter

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-world-worth-saving.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/_6lUDoKCnGpaSn-_alokxvSNtEo?utm_source=copy_url

A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff is a queer Jewish fantasy adventure in which a trans boy and an unusual golem must save the world by Yom Kippur! I interviewed Kyle about this new middle grade novel, as well as his seasonally appropriate picture book, I'm Sorry You Got Mad, a wonderful reflection on the art of apology. Shana Tova!

LEARN MORE:

• Kyle Lukoff's website

• Borrow or Buy A World Worth Saving

• Borrow or Buy I'm Sorry You Got Mad

• Kyle's recommended queer Jewish reading: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (interview on The Book of Life in January 2023)

• Throwing Sheyd, a podcast about Jewish demonology that Kyle used for research

• Bonus content at The Book of Life Podcast Substack newsletter

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES:

TRANSCRIPT:

In honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you another episode from the archives: Summer Coolness, released in June 2007. The episode featured a now-defunct website called ReaderGirlz, and the website Nextbook that morphed into Tablet Magazine in 2009. There were also many mentions of MySpace. I interviewed Melissa Schorr, author of Goy Crazy, who, according to her website, seems to have mostly moved on from kidlit to journalism. I must say, her most recent book from 2017, Shame Nation: Choosing Kindness and Compassion in an Age of Cruelty and Trolling, looks extremely on point. And the episode featured the band Sababa, which happily is still in existence, and in fact, they've recently released their fourth album called When We Rise.

LEARN MORE:

• ReaderGirlz history on Wikipedia, and Guest Lorie Ann Grover

• Author Melissa Schorr and her book, Goy Crazy

• Sababa website, and Guest Scott Leader

• Nextbook history on Wikipedia, and Guest Julie Sandorf

• Julie's reading recommendations: o Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen o Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror by Jeffrey Goldberg o When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson o Disobedience by Naomi Alderman

• Bonus content for this episode on The Book of Life's Substack Newsletter

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-five-books.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/newZynBRoGzWkdF7PaTnzDLDSP4?utm_source=copy_url

The Five Books is a new literary Jewish podcast hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen in partnership with the Jewish Book Council. I'm very happy to welcome another show to our little corner of the book world, so I invited Tali to do a mutual interview. We interviewed each other, and the episode will appear on both our podcast feeds.

LEARN MORE:

• The Five Books Podcast website

• Highlights of past episodes: o Yale Strom on The Book of Life o Gayle Forman on The Five Books

• Recommended podcasts: o Heidi: Nice Jewish Books, Recognizably Jewish, Fuse 8 and Kate o Tali: Identity/Crisis, Call Me Back, The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, How to Fail

• For the full list of all the books we discussed, plus links to other past podcast swaps I've recorded, see the Substack post for this episode.

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/announcement-jewish-joy-con.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/K_DNE5hooD1D-ujpoI2gQUXpsZs?utm_source=copy_url

LEARN MORE:

• Jean Meltzer's website

• Jewish Joy LLC (the Jewish Joy Book Club and the Jewish Joy Box)

• Jewish Joy Con, March 13-15, 2026 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-throwback-inquisitors-tale.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/idZDWVCvKcbXcYPMmx4uUuonYQE?utm_source=copy_url

As a follow up to my recent interview with Adam Gidwitz about Max in the Land of Lies, and in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives, from January 2017. I met Adam Gidwitz at an author "speed dating" event at the American Library Association conference, where he was promoting his middle grade fantasy The Inquisitor's Tale, which later went on to win a Sydney Taylor Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a lot of other awards. If you enjoy this blast from the past, please check out other past episodes of The Book of Life from any time in the last 2 decades. Go to Bookoflifepodcast.com and Click on Archive in the sidebar, or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down.

LEARN MORE:

• Adam Gidwitz's website
• Adam Gidwitz's July 2025 interview about Max in the Land of Lies
• Original 2017 show notes for interview about The Inquisitor's Tale
• Buy or borrow The Inquisitor's Tale

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/max-in-land-of-lies.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/4wQEsnmUalkzvYUesd-o7pDjudQ?utm_source=copy_url

Last July, Adam Gidwitz was on the podcast talking about his middle grade Holocaust historical fantasy novel, Max in the House of Spies, and he told us it was part of a duology. Well, now the second book is out, and I think it's even more powerful than the first one.

Max in the Land of Lies continues Max's page-turning, hair raising adventures... AND continues the profound exploration of prejudice that we found in Book 1. Adam offers the best explanation I've ever encountered for how the Holocaust could happen. The parallels with today's world are frightening, AND illuminating. To put it simply, this is a book that I think *everyone* needs to read right now.

LEARN MORE:

• Buy or borrow Max in the House of Spies (Book 1)

• Buy or borrow Max in the Land of Lies (Book 2)

• Adam Gidwitz's website

• Tikkun Olam suggestions: EveryLibrary.org and SGCCAmerica.com

• "Espionage! Secrets! Suspense!" Holocaust Books with Adam Gidwitz & Steve Sheinkin" on The Book of Life, July 2024

• Bonus content for this episode on Substack

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-throwback-new-queer.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/pride-month-throwback?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

In celebration of Pride Month and The Book of Life's 20th year of podcasting, I'm re-releasing an archival episode from June, 2021. It's an interview with Adam Eli, a young activist and author of The New Queer Conscience, a manifesto about how the queer community can use k'lal yisrael as a model for solidarity.

If you enjoy this blast from the past, check out other past episodes of The Book of Life. Click on Archive in the sidebar at Bookoflifepodcast.com, or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down.

LEARN MORE:

• Buy or borrow The New Queer Conscience

• Adam Eli on Instagram

• Adam Eli on I Weigh

• Adam Eli in Tablet

• I've updated my list of Queer Jewish Kidlit, which has grown by 48 titles and 13 interviews since I first compiled it in 2022!

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-special-gender-binary-is.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/0xdCC0WUSVL8flI0x3kljyCApps?utm_source=copy_url

I don't normally interview an author about a single chapter of a book, but for my friend Lee Wind, I'm making an exception. He's written a fascinating nonfiction book, The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities Around the World, and Chapter 2 is about "The Six Genders of Classical Judaism." I just had to learn more.

We also talked about his two new picture books (both featuring 2-dad families), Like That Eleanor: The Amazing Power of Being an Ally and Banana Menorah.

In addition to writing great kids' books about gender, Judaism, and allyship, Lee is literally a champion against censorship. He received the 2025 Industry Champion Award from the Book Industry Study Group for his project called We Are Stronger Than Censorship. Lee tells us more in the interview.

For bonus content (Jewish kidlit news and calls to action), sign up for The Book of Life Substack Newsletter.

LEARN MORE:

• Buy or borrow The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie

• Buy or borrow Like That Eleanor

• Buy or borrow Banana Menorah

• Teaching guides

• Lee Wind's website

• We Are Stronger Than Censorship project (Lee won an award for it!)

• Independent Book Publishers Association (Lee's day job)

• My Queer Jewish Kidlit bibliography - updated

CREDITS:

• Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
• Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
• Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
• Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
• Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
• Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
• Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
• Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
• Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

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

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-special-message-from-heidi-high-low.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/tomHSY9SlPPB1XDOQwsavTXOeUM?utm_source=copy_url

I'm squeezing in this quick extra episode to share with you my personal response to the shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum, with calls to action and a message of hope.

LEARN MORE:

HIGH

• E Train Talks interviews Heidi about 20 years of The Book of Life Podcast

LOW

• The Forward's reporting on the shooting of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim
• Time op ed by Jonathan Greenblatt of ADL

CALLS TO ACTION

• Action: Watch "Cheering On Jewish Books"
• Action: Use Jewish Kidlit Action Checklist
• Action: Visit "Justice" page at BookOfLifePodcast.com
• Action: Ask your rep to support H.Res. 447 | Find your Representative HERE
• Action: Watch Heidi's talk "How (and Why) to Call Congress"

What actions are you taking to push back against antisemitism? I'd love to know. Leave a comment, write to [email protected], or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.