Congratulation to the authors and illustrators honored by the 2023 Sydney Taylor Book Awards. I am pleased to have interviewed some of the winners and notables this past year. Check out the interviews below. Interview with Mari Lowe, author of AVIVA…
THE GHOSTS OF ROSE HILL by R.M. Romero (Peachtree Teen, 2022) is a beautiful novel in verse about a teenager, Ilana, who visits her aunt in Prague. She discovers a cemetery and befriends a ghost boy named Benjamin. But befriending a ghost is not…
Sacha Lamb’s YA novel WHEN ANGELS LEFT THE OLD COUNTRY (Levine Querido, 2022) follows an angel, Uriel, and a demon, Little Ash, as they leave their shtetl and journey to America to rescue a young woman who has gone missing. WHEN…
In ONLY KIDDING! MY FIRST BOOK OF JEWISH JOKES (Ideastrator Press), author/illustrator Sari Kopitnikoff offers jokes, riddles, and puns with a Jewish twist. Supplemented with colorful graphic illustrations, the playful jokes emphasize things like traditional foods, Jewish values, holidays, and…
I am delighted to welcome my friend, Deborah Lakritz, to chat about her newest picture book biography, A PLACE TO BELONG: DEBBIE FRIEDMAN SINGS HER WAY HOME (Apples & Honey Press, 2022), illustrated by Julia Castaño. Debbie Friedman’s music is…
Jonathan Sandler’s graphic novel, THE ENGLISH GI illustrated by Brian Bicknell, is based on the memoir of his beloved grandfather, Bernard Sandler. Bernard was a Jewish British teenager who was stranded in New York City in 1939 when the war…
In Jane Sutton’s new picture book, GRACIE BRINGS BACK BUBBE’S SMILE (Albert Whitman & Company, 2022) illustrated by Debby Rahmalia, Gracie’s grandmother, Bubbe, is grieving the loss of her husband, Gracie’s grandfather. When Bubbe teaches Gracie some Yiddish, the two…
A DONUT IN TIME: A Hanukkah Story is the newest chapter book in the Saralee Siegel series by Elana Rubinstein, with illustrations by Jennifer Naalchigar (Apples & Honey Press, 2022). It’s a delightful series about a girl named Saralee Siegel and her unusual superpower –…
In Chana and Larry Stiefel’s new picture book MENDEL’S HANUKKAH MESS UP (Kalaniot Books, 2022) illustrated by Daphna Awadish, Mendel is delighted when the rabbi asks him to drive the Mitzvah Mobile and invite passersby to the synagogue’s Hanukkah bash.…
In Samara Shanker’s new middle-grade novel NAOMI TEITELBAUM ENDS THE WORLD (Atheneum, 2022), Naomi is surprised when she receives a small clay figure as a Bat Mitzvah gift. When the golem comes to life and grows out of control, only…