THE BOOK OF LIFE - 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, Revealed

11:59PM Jan 16, 2024

Speakers:

Heidi Rabinowitz

Sheryl Stahl

Heidi Rabinowitz

Aviva Rosenberg

Martin Lemelman

Keywords:

jewish

book

holocaust

story

books

people

world

israeli

family

sydney

year

taylor

illustrated

illustrations

winner

read

thought

author

young adult

vampires

[COLD OPEN] I would say at least in terms of the three winners, the things that they really have in common are that they are very thoughtful and have just a depth of emotion and wisdom. And they also are books that very much show, rather than telling. You experience these books, you don't just read them.

[MUSIC, INTRO] This is The Book of Life, a show about Jewish kidlit, mostly. I'm Heidi Rabinowitz. It's January and that means it's book award season. The Sydney Taylor Book Awards are presented to the best Jewish children's and teen books by the Association of Jewish Libraries each year. They're sponsored by Jo Taylor Marshall, daughter of the author Sydney Taylor, who created the beloved All-of-a-Kind Family series. The 2024 winners were announced at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards press conference on January 22, 2024. Here is my exclusive interview with Aviva Rosenberg, Chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. Enjoy!

Aviva Rosenberg, welcome to The Book of Life.

Thank you for having me.

My pleasure. How are you enjoying being the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee.

It's a little bit terrifying, because I'm just afraid of dropping balls or forgetting something important. But it's also really exciting and very satisfying.

I'm very excited to have you here to reveal to us the winners of the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Awards. Yay! But first, please give us a little bit of background about the Sydney Taylor Book Award.

I recommend checking out the Association of Jewish Libraries website, which is JewishLibraries.org, so you can really get all the details. But the Sydney Taylor Book Award is named in honor of Sydney Taylor, who people are familiar with as the author of the All-of-a-Kind Family books. And these were the first mainstream published books with Jewish main characters in the US or maybe ever. They really opened up the book world to Jewish stories, stories with Jewish joy in them, especially. And so the award was named in her honor. It's sponsored by her daughter. It's been around since 1968. And every year we award gold, silver, and bronze medals to the books that represent the best in Jewish children's literature.

So we've got the three age group categories, we've got picture book, middle grade, and young adult. So let's start by talking about the gold medalists for all three age categories, and then we can move on to the honors and the notables.

Okay!

So what book was the winner in the picture book category?

The winner this year in the picture book category is Two New Years, written by Richard Ho and illustrated by Lynn Scurfield. This book shows you a family that is Chinese and Jewish, and how they celebrate two different New Years: Rosh Hashanah in the fall and then Lunar New Year in the winter.

I kind of had a feeling, because I also found this to be a marvelous book. It was unique, it was well told, it was educational, it was beautiful. I loved it so much that I interviewed the author and illustrator on The Book of Life in September 2023. So what made this book stand out for you and the committee, among all the picture books this year?

This book had a quality of absolute artistry, both literarily and visually, that really set it above the rest. There's so much going on, both in the text and in the illustrations, and then the back matter just takes it like way over the top. This book is just so thoughtful, both the words and the illustrations, and it just... there's not a single centimeter of a page in this book that is not beautifully crafted.

Awesome! I think it's also unique that it's not just Jewish, it's Orthodox Jewish.

Yes!

It's an Orthodox Jewish Chinese family. So that's got to be a first.

Probably.

Let's move on. Tell us about the winner in the middle grade category.

The winner in the middle grade category is, it's a little something special, because this book is The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman by Mari Lowe, who won last year for Aviva Versus the Dybbuk. She just kept right on going.

That is amazing! Has any author ever before won two gold medals in a row, two years running?

There are definitely people who have won more than once but I think this might be a first back to back.

So what made Mari's second book too good to pass up and give somebody else a turn?

Mari understands what it is like to be inside the head of a sixth grader. Her books have this amazing quality of realism and thoughtfulness and depth of emotion. You think that a story is going in a certain way, and then things sneak up on you and they change. And they go deep, there's always some kind of twist that you did not see coming. And it just makes these books so compelling and exciting to read. Shaindy is in the sixth grade, a girl in an Orthodox neighborhood, goes to an Orthodox school. She's not exactly a loner, but she is just very much on the fringes. And then one day, the most popular girl invites Shaindy to join her in pulling off some pranks against their classmates. And at first Shaindy is thrilled to be the one who is wanted and needed by this absolute most popular girl. But after a while, things start to turn, and she starts to see that this isn't just a series of harmless pranks. And she needs to think about whether, you know, being involved in something like this is worth the cost.

Yeah, I also read The Dubious Pranks of Shaindy Goodman, it really goes into the meaning of the High Holy Days and thinking about your mistakes and what it means to forgive someone, in a way that is rarely approached in children's literature.

Tell us about the winner in the young adult category.

The winner in the young adult category is The Blood Years by Elana K. Arnold, based on the story of her own grandmother, who lived in the city of Czernowitz during the Holocaust. Czernowitz is in one of those weird corners of Europe that changed hands a lot during the century or so before World War II. At the time that the book opens, it's in Romania, but then it is captured by the Soviets and then by the Germans. So the trajectory of the war there was very different than in other places.

I haven't read The Blood Years. So what made it stand out, as opposed to the many other Holocaust books that I'm sure you also receive to evaluate?

Yes, there were quite a few this year. The things that made it stand out are definitely the setting, and like the city is very much a strong element of the book. It's telling us the story of Elana's grandmother. Her name is Rieke Teitler, and she is growing up in kind of this unstable, not quite broken, but like fraying at the edges family where she's struggling to hold on. And then the world falls in on her. Gradually, the Romanian government took away Jews' citizenship, and then the Soviets come along and make things difficult. And then the Nazis come along and make things even worse. And so she's growing up in this world where everything just keeps getting worse, and people's health is going off the rails and people are being arrested and people are being deported and so on. And her family, that was so unstable at the beginning of the book, manages to pull itself together and take care of each other and protect each other and just get through some insane difficult things. It's so emotional, it's so thoughtful, there's just so much quiet power in both the events that are taking place and in how Rieke describes them and reacts to them. And that's really what made it so special.

All right, that's a good description. In addition to the three gold medalists, there were also 11 silver medalists, also known as Sydney Taylor Honor Books, and just three Notable Books or bronze medalists, that were selected by the committee across the three age categories. Let's hear about the Honor Books and the Notable Books. So just very briefly, tell us what was special about each of these books. And let's start by going through the list of picture books that were recognized.

Alright, so for picture books that received Honors this year. The first is Afikomen by Tziporah Cohen, illustrated by Yaara Eshet. This is special because it is a wordless picture book, it shows you rather than tells you the story of siblings who pick up the afikoman at the seder, and then they end up going back in time to help Moses in his basket along the Nile. And it really takes this notion of seeing yourself as if you were once in Egypt to this beautiful, magically realistic place. And this wordless format really invites close scrutiny.

Very cool. And that was actually on the AJL Holiday Highlights list.

So the next picture book honored is Hanukkah Upside Down by Elissa Brent Weissman, illustrated by Omer Hoffmann. And this is the story of cousins Noah in New York and Nora in New Zealand who are competing to see who can have the best Hanukkah on opposite sides of the world. Just a really entertaining study in comparison and contrast, and how ultimately the differences between people and places can also be what brings them together.

I'm so glad to see that book on the list of Honor Books. If I was going to guess what was going to win this year I would have said either Two New Years or Hanukkah Upside Down because I thought they were both the best picture books of the year. And I actually podcasted about Hanukkah Upside Down in December 2023, because I liked it so much.

Right, yeah, the illustrations are just so witty and charming. It's just so much fun to read this book.

Absolutely.

The next picture book that received an Honor is Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust by Elisa Boxer and illustrated by Amy June Bates. It gently but accurately depicts what life was like in France during the occupation. So it's the story of a Jewish teen, Judith Geller, who poses as a Christian social worker in order to help the French Resistance bring false identity papers to Jewish people in order to help them survive. And she uses this wooden toy duck to help her transport these things under the noses of the Nazis. The painted illustrations portray the grittiness of the world without being just graphic or disturbing, and the duck in the story is on display at Yad Vashem there was an actual duck.

What's up with the duck? Why is there a duck?

It has an opening where she would conceal papers, like false ID papers and things and then she would close that up and like go off on her little social worker visits to sad, lonely children or families undergoing difficulties and it was part of a play therapy kind of situation that enabled her to take the papers without being detected.

I love that. So Amy June Bates is the illustrator. You're describing the wonderful pictures in Hidden Hope. And she has won the Sydney Taylor in the past for Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed by Lesléa Newman, and she also partnered with Lesléa Newman on Gittel's Journey, which was a Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and I think it also won the National Jewish Book Award. So good job, Amy June Bates!

Doing something right.

Yeah. So those are the three silver medalists in the picture book category. And then we have a couple of Notables or bronze medalists.

Yes, so we have two bronze medalists for picture books. The first is The Rabbi and His Donkey by Susan Tarcov, illustrated by Diana Renjina. This is the story of Rabbi Moses Maimonides' donkey, who transports him daily to the Sultan's palace and back and listens to the wisdom that he devises as he rides. This is a story about using your time and your abilities in the best possible way to learn and to think, not wasting a moment. And they're just beautiful illustrations of medieval Cairo, the illustrations are very special.

It's interesting that you describe it as a story about not wasting a moment because I also felt like it was a story about downtime. Like Maimonides needed his downtime, he needed to not be on the fast horse hurrying back and forth, but instead to be on this nice slow donkey so he had time to think and just ponder out loud, and the donkey gets the benefit of listening. So it's kind of about both.

Yeah, there's more than one good use of time, I guess.

Yeah.

The second picture book Notable is Zhen Yu and the Snake by Erica Lyons illustrated by Renia Metallinou. There is a Jewish community in the city in China called Kaifeng, presumed to have been descended from I believe Persian merchants who traveled the Silk Road and were able to set up there, and they were welcomed there, as far as I understand they were happy and safe and comfortable there. They blended in very well with the Chinese community around them, but they, they were Jewish. It takes a very famous Talmudic story of Rabbi Akiva's daughter, and it transports it to the medieval Jewish community in Kaifeng, China. A girl, through a generous act of kindness, is saved from a very difficult fate. The message of the book is really about the long term effects of acts of kindness. And the illustrations are just jewel toned and stunning, and they make it a really satisfying book to sit with.

So let's talk about the middle grade books.

So the first middle grade book on the Honor list is Don't Want To Be Your Monster by Deke Moulton. This is a story of two vampire brothers, who are living in a found family unit with their two mothers and another sibling, and one of the boys, Adam, is really longing to broaden his world and have some connections outside of the family. The older brother Victor, his goal is to be the best vampire he can be. And then someone starts murdering people and bodies are being left out because this person is hoping to draw vampires out into the open so that they can then capture these vampires in their community. And so what makes this book Jewish is that Adam is revealed to be Jewish by birth, he's the survivor of a synagogue bombing. And then one of these human friends he makes is Jewish and her perspective is very important to his growing sense of who he is, and what it means to be othered and outside of society. And then in the back matter, the author eloquently explains how the vampires in the book, who are being targeted and persecuted despite the fact that in this world, they've historically used their blood magic to help humans, and how this is kind of a proxy for Jews who are targeted by many of the societies that they've lived among, regardless of whether they've actually caused anybody any harm. It's an interesting way of thinking about othering and being an outsider.

Wow, vampires representing the Jewish experience. Cool. Okay, let's keep going.

Okay, so the next book is The Jake Show by Josh Levy. I was trying to think of a cool way to describe this book. This is the book that would happen if The Parent Trap and Mrs. Doubtfire had a Jewish baby. And then the baby had a Bar Mitzvah. So Jake is being yanked in different directions by his parents who are divorced. His mother is devoutly Orthodox and his father is devoutly atheist. It's to the point that he sees himself as if he were different characters in two different TV shows. He really is like a chameleon in whichever home environment he finds himself. And then he plays a third role in the Modern Orthodox day school that he starts to attend. Jake and some new friends that he makes at school devise a plan to get him into the summer camp of his dreams, which neither parent would approve of, and Disney Channel style antics ensue.

I loved The Jake show. I podcasted about it in August 2023. It's very rare to see comparisons of different streams of Judaism within the same book. And it was done in a way that was, on the one hand, it was respectful and sensitive. And on the other hand, it was ridiculous and hilarious. So it was a winner.

Right? Yeah, I was impressed at how well he made some absolutely bonkers situations seem like they could totally have happened.

Good choice.

The next middle grade book on the Honor list is Not So Shy by Noa Nimrodi. And this is a story of a 12 year old Israeli girl named Shai, whose parents move her very much against her will from Israel to California, and where she has to confront all the usual things you would expect moving to a foreign country: language barriers, cultural differences. Plus she's in seventh grade, which isn't easy for anybody. But this, what you might think of as a classic story of learning to get by in a new place, is really refreshed by the fact that this is a unique perspective of a modern Israeli girl. There are very few contemporary kids books that I've come across, especially middle grade, where you see a 20th century Israeli kid. She really misses her family and her friends in her neighborhood. And this book really highlights all these features of life in Israel, by her missing them, and some differences and similarities that people might not be aware of, everything from food to religious expression, and to what it's like to be a target of antisemitism on either end.

I also thought it was so interesting that it felt to me like a really great read-alike for Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee, which has won multiple awards, which is not a Jewish book, but they had a very similar kind of feel and structure in terms of a kid who is forced to live someplace else that they didn't want to go. And they kind of find friends and find a new sense of home in this other place. It's a really interesting book. Okay, let's keep going.

The last middle grade Honor is A Sky Full of Song by Susan Lynn Meyer. This is a story of Shoshana and her family who departed Ukraine in 1905 for a homestead in North Dakota, not where you typically expect people to go when they leave Ukraine in the early 20th century. The, the journey of Shoshana and her family over the ocean and then across, all the way across the continent is really rendered in very realistic detail. And then they settle on this wide open prairie and Shoshana is in love with it. She just adapts so quickly to the homestead life. And she really wants to adapt to being fully American as well. But she faces resistance both from new neighbors who are not thrilled about having Jews in their community, and also her older sister who is not so interested in putting off the things that make them Jewish in order to become American. Instead, Shoshana has to kind of learn how to balance this new world that she really loves, without forgetting who she is and where she came from.

That was another book that I loved so much, I had to podcast about it. I did that one on The Book of Life in May 2023. Definitely for anybody who enjoyed Little House on the Prairie, this is a must read. And there's starting to be sort of a variety of perspectives on the prairie life because there was also Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue Park for the Asian American experience of living on the prairie, which sounds like it was even worse than the Jewish experience of living on the prairie. So it was pretty difficult for many people other than the Ingalls family.

Well, the Ingalls didn't have it so easy either, but it wasn't because of what they were, it was just they ran into a lot of tough situations.

Right? The Ingalls had the hardships of you know, long winters and being hungry and all that kind of thing and then all these other people were dealing with that stuff and prejudice on top of it. So...

Right.

It's very interesting to hear the same experience from other angles.

But yeah, there's definitely a good read like kind of scenario there where you can compare and contrast these different experiences.

Right. And then in middle grade, there was one Notable book.

Our middle grade Notable is The Witch of Woodland by Laurel Snyder. And this is the story of a Jew-witch named Zippy, who is a bit of a loner, struggling to find herself and figure out where she fits into her world. And then she finds this strange book at the library and uses it to conjure a girl-like creature who she names Miriam. And then she's off on a quest to help Miriam figure out who and what she is. And that teaches her about herself.

Yeah, it's sort of a realistic book with magic in it. Does that seem like a good description?

Yeah.

Yes, Laurel Snyder always does, not only just a good job of storytelling, but she's always got some deeper levels going on below the surface. So.

Yeah, there's always something unexpected.

Yeah. Okay, great. Let's talk about the young adult books.

So the young adult list this year did in fact, include quite a few Holocaust books, but I think you'll see why we couldn't let any of these books go. So the first book on the young adult Honor list is Courage to Dream: Tales of Hope in the Holocaust, written by Neal Shusterman and illustrated by Andrés Vera Martínez. This is not your typical Holocaust book, or Holocaust graphic novel for that matter. It is a graphic novel. It's a series of speculative stories of hope in the darkness and imagining what it might have been like in various scenarios if some sort of supernatural force or being could have come to the rescue of people during the Holocaust. It's not meant to rewrite or reimagine the Holocaust, so much as give you a thought exercise to work with, about how much power people do or don't have to save themselves and what kind of world we would live in, if everybody was using their power for good.

Wow, that's fascinating. I tend to avoid reading Holocaust books unless I absolutely have to, because I kind of OD'd on it over the course of many years of reviewing Jewish children's books and working on the Sydney Taylor committee. But that sounds like something I should go back and take a look at.

Yeah, there's a lot going on. It definitely invites rereading and reconsideration.

Very interesting.

All right, the next book on the young adult Honor list is Impossible Escape: A True Story of Survival and Heroism in Nazi Europe by Steve Sheinkin. It's a true story of a young Jewish man named Rudolf Vrba, and how after two years in Auschwitz, he and a companion escaped, and were able to tell the world about the atrocities taking place there. And so this escape and journey are really rendered in just this absolute high stakes detail. And the book really addresses the question of what people did or didn't know about the Nazis' acts and what they did when they finally had the knowledge of the truth. It's very readable. There's a lot of background information about the Holocaust. So for kids who maybe haven't gotten a lot of education about it yet, they'll be given what they need to know to follow, like the course of the war and everything that's happening.

Okay, so another exciting, readable, informative nonfiction book from Steve Sheinkin. So, excellent.

The next book on the young adult Honor list is Wrath Becomes Her by Aden Polydors, who won the Sydney Taylor a couple years ago for The City Beautiful. And just like The City Beautiful, every word is chosen with care and thought in this book. And this is a story of how a father, overcome with grief over the death of his daughter Chaya at the hands of Nazis, he uses dark forces and ancient Jewish knowledge to create a golem from Chaya's remains and names her Vera. And Vera's purpose is revenge and she's really good at it. But pieces of Chaya's memory and humanity start to come through, changing her consciousness and really leaving her confused about the nature of her own existence. In a bit of a similar vein to Courage to Dream, this is not a realistic books.

Right. Sort of a dark fantasy.

Yes.

With a holocaust basis.

Yes.

Okay. And I believe there is one more young adult book for us to talk about.

Yes, there's one more young adult book. It's a bit of light after all that darkness. The final young adult Honor Book is Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler, which is our Jewish young adult romcom of the year. Natalia Fox is faced with a choice for how to spend her summer: she can either stay at home in New York City with her father, or she can visit her mother in LA and try to repair their rocky relationship. But instead of choosing, we get to see how both of these scenarios play out in alternating chapters. In both situations, she finds a crush. In New York City, it's a girl that she's been admiring from a distance for a while, and in LA when she's living with her mother, there's a boy. It's told in alternating chapters. So like you see these parallels into different situations and like ultimately the growth and the things that she learns about herself. And her goals for the future are pretty much the same either way.

I thought this was an adorable romcom. I liked that the Jewish content was woven in very naturally with the Shabbat dinners and so on. It just flowed back and forth. Like, it was like Sliding Doors. It's like the movie Sliding Doors.

Yeah, that's what all the reviews on Goodreads are saying.

It's so true.

I haven't seen the movie, so I couldn't make a direct comparison. But like, yeah, but it really moves very seamlessly back and forth between the two scenarios. And I just thought that was fun and entertaining.

It was so fun. And just the fact that she's bi, and it's no big deal. Fine, whatever. And at the end, when you're not sure which one is she talking to, it kind of gives you your choice of who do you want her to end up with. Okay, so are there any trends or themes that you're noticing among this year's winners?

I would say at least in terms of the three winners, the things that they really have in common are that they are very thoughtful and have just a depth of emotion and wisdom. And they also are books that very much show, rather than telling. You experience these books, you don't just read them. I will say also that I am kind of a historical fiction snob, the historical fiction that excites me is usually set before the 20th century. And not just in the Jewish publishing world, most of the books that seem to come out, that are being referred to as historical fiction in the last few years have been in the 20th century, even like up to the 80s. And it's like, oh, now the 80s or, you know, history and then that makes everyone feel old. So, I'm not sure exactly what's driving that. I think some of it is that there's something about more recent works that I guess people find more relatable. And also, I think performing the research and world building is much, much easier. Amazing as it is to read a book set in medieval somewhere, when the book is well researched, and well crafted, and you can really sink into the world and the details feel real. That's the most satisfying thing to me. But I also recognize that that can be very difficult for an author to pull off. And I think 20th century things, especially in living memory, or living memory of people that you know, it's easier to make it feel accurate and true. And I think that might be some of why these 20th century books are really dominating the historical fiction market these days.

Interesting. Okay, thank you. I think there were a number of firsts this year. So tell me if you think this is right. So the first winner with Asian Jewish characters. Do you think that's true?

This Is Just a Test was a silver medal.

Okay. The first Jewish book set in New Zealand, Hanukkah Upside Down.

I think it's very likely. I happen to be very obsessed with New Zealand just on a personal level. So that was very satisfying to me.

I think this would be the first winner that includes Jewish vampires: Don't Want To Be Your Monster.

Yeah, I don't think there's been too many of them floating around.

Okay. And probably the first winner with a bisexual Jewish character in Going Bicoastal. We've definitely had other LGBT+ characters. Just last year we had When the Angels Left the Old Country.

Right.

But as far as a character who is bi, I think this is the first.

Right.

Okay. Can you think of any other firsts that I missed?

Have there been any other books where the golem was the main character and not a creation of the main character?

Well, there was Sweep by Jonathan Auxier.

Is the golem considered the main character? Or is the, the girl the main character?

He's a major character. I wouldn't maybe say he was the protagonist.

Right.

But we've had a golem-centric book before.

There's always a golem out there somewhere.

There's a lot of golems. Okay, well, let's go to another question. So, out of the seventeen books being recognized, five are related to the Holocaust, one in the picture category, four in the young adult category. That means about 30% of this year Sydney Taylor books are Holocaust related. Last year, it was just 10%. So it's a big jump since 2023. But it does actually fit better into the pattern we normally see, where about half of the Jewish kidlit each year that is published is related to the Holocaust. Can you talk about why Jewish children's literature is dominated by the Holocaust? And do you feel that this is a problem or not?

I think that it's dominated by the Holocaust because one way or another the education that people tend to receive about Jews and about antisemitism in particular is very much hinged on the Holocaust. And let's be honest, there was a lot going on at that time, and that gives you a lot of source material for books that are unique. There are so many different experiences and scenarios and different types of people that you can discuss, that it just seems like people keep coming up with new angles that haven't been explored yet. I would say it's a bit of a mixed blessing, because on the one hand, you have these excellent books written by really top authors, which means that people are going to read these Jewish books, and they're going to come away with things that we want them to know. But it's also definitely frustrating that that is often the only thing people learn about Jews and about Jewish history. It's like, history started in the Bible. And like skipped a couple thousand years and landed in the '40s. And then like skipped to now. And that's unfortunate, because there's a lot of other stuff that has happened beyond the highlights of what people are aware of, there's so much to our history, like we have been through so many different places, and so many different experiences. And for it to all be limited to this maybe 10 years worth of history, is frustrating. It can feel diminishing, because there's so much more to Jewish history and to being Jewish than this.

Yeah, I agree. A mixed blessing is a good way to put it. With the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza, there's more need than ever for books about Israel. And we talked about Not So Shy, which shows an Israeli family living in the US. Were there any other Israel-related books that you saw this year that you think are worth mentioning, even though they didn't receive official Sydney Taylor recognition?

One book that I love, because it's archeology and history in very digestible graphic novel format, is The Miracle Seed.

By Martin Lemelman?

Yes, Martin Lemelman. And it's the story of how scientists revived an ancient Judean date palm from seeds that they found in Masada that were 2000 years old. And they brought this piece of Jewish history in the Jewish homeland back to life.

Yeah, I thought that was a fascinating graphic novel and very well told, and so unusual, like you wouldn't think a book about scientifically re-germinating, ancient seeds would be that exciting, but it actually is.

Right. And there's a trend of using graphic novel formats for informational texts. And it fits really nicely into that.

If listeners want to find out more about the Sydney Taylor Book Award, get the list of this year's winners, see past winners, where can they find that?

It's pretty simple. You go to SydneyTaylorBookAwards.org. That's Sydney with a Y and awards with an S at the end. And that will take you straight to the Sydney Taylor Book Award section of the Association of Jewish Libraries website where you can find everything that you could possibly want to know.

Perfect. In the past several years, the winning authors and illustrators have been part of a Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour, which is basically a virtual book tour. Will that be happening again this year?

Yes, that's the plan. I think the second week of February. We're working on getting it organized right now. That information will be up at SydneyTaylorBookAwards.org. And you can also keep an eye on our social media @JewishLibraries on Instagram. We'll be posting there too.

It's Tikkun Olam time. What action would you like to call listeners to take to help heal the world?

What I would ask people to do is to buy Israeli products, artwork, clothing. If you go to Costco and they have Israeli oranges or carrots, this is something very concrete that you can do right now to show your support. You know, I always say that, you know, we have PJ Library, which helps get Jewish books into homes where people might not have a lot of other Jewish stuff. But if you live in a place where you don't have a big Jewish community, or you don't have a lot of past experience with living a Jewish life, having Jewish things in your home can be a really special way of reinforcing your identity and your sense of being who you are. So things like artwork, or a tzedakah box, a mezuzah. These are things that you can have in your home. They don't have to be expensive, but they can remind you of who you are, the things that make being Jewish, special and meaningful.

Thank you. That's a nice concrete piece of advice and these days with the ease of online shopping, I think it's not hard to order something from wherever you want. There is a Facebook group called Israeli Shops to Purchase From and in that group people are posting different vendors and providing the web addresses so that you can find places to buy things, or people are asking for advice. I see one that says they're looking for a baby gift, you know, does anybody have any recommendations? So I think that would be an easy way to find some of these kinds of things that you're talking about. It's a really good suggestion. Thank you. Is there anything else that you would like to talk about that I haven't thought to ask you?

Well, I would like to thank all the members of this year's Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee who plowed their way through quite a long list of books, and really spent a lot of time thinking and talking about which ones were the most worthy to be shared. The members of the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee to whom I owe a great deal of thanks are Arielle Vishny, Annette Goldsmith, Eytan Kessler, Melanie Koss, Debbie Gold, Nat Bension, and our past chair and advisor, Martha Simpson. They really all deserve a great deal of appreciation for how hard they worked. And I do also want to call out past past Chair Rebecca Levitan, who's actually one of my oldest and closest friends. And she's the one who kind of hooked me into all this to begin with. So I owe her both thanks. And also a, why did you do this to me? No, really, this has been one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Awesome.

One of the other special parts of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee experience is that I've had the opportunity to get to know Jo Taylor Marshall, who is the daughter of Sydney Taylor and the person who sponsors the award every year. And if it weren't for her generosity and thoughtfulness, we wouldn't be able to have this. So we really appreciate how much Jo cares about of her mother's legacy.

I'll just add that Jo Taylor Marshall spends some of her time in Florida not far from where I live. And so I've had the opportunity to hang out with her. And besides being a generous spirit, and a great supporter of Jewish children's literature, she is just a really fun, fun person to be with. And so it's wonderful to have her as part of the Association of Jewish Libraries family. So Aviva Rosenberg, thank you so much for speaking with me and Mazel Tov on a job well done.

Thank you. It's been a lot of fun.

[MUSIC, DEDICATION] Hi, everyone. I'm Martin Lemelman, the author and illustrator of The Miracle Seed. I'm thrilled to be able to join Heidi in the upcoming Book of Life podcast. I'd like to dedicate my episode to two amazing Israeli women. Dr. Sarah Sallon of Hadassah Hospital, and Dr. Elaine Solowey of the Arava Institute. They created the miracle in my book. For more than one thousand years, the Judean date palm was extinct. Working with ancient seeds discovered on the fortress of Masada, they brought this special tree back to life.

[MUSIC, OUTRO] Say hi to Heidi at 561-206-2473 or bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com Check out our Book of Life podcast Facebook page, or our Facebook discussion group Jewish Kidlit Mavens. We are occasionally on Twitter too @bookoflifepod. Want to read the books featured on the show? Buy them through Bookshop.org/shop/bookoflife to support the podcast and independent bookstores at the same time. You can also help us out by becoming a monthly supporter through Patreon. Additional support comes from the Association of Jewish Libraries, which also sponsors our sister podcast, Nice Jewish Books, a show about Jewish fiction for adults. You'll find links for all of that and more at BookofLifepodcast.com Our background music is provided by the Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band. Thanks for listening and happy reading!

[MUSIC, PROMO] Adam is a 12 year old boy preparing for his bar mitzvah in Flushing, New York in 1970. In many ways, he's a typical kid trying to fit in at school, but also trying to find himself and find ways to stand out. But his year is off to a difficult start when his parents decide to move the family to a different neighborhood. And at the same time, his best friend ghosts him. Can Adam make new friends find his people and survive his bar mitzvah? Join me for a conversation with author Don Futterman about Adam Unrehearsed. Find us at JewishLibraries.org/NiceJewishBooks.