The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

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/2022/10/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.