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Anya and the Dragon is Sofiya Pasternak's debut, a middle grade Jewish historical fantasy novel. It was recognized by a 2020 Sydney Taylor Honor Award. It will be joined on November 10, 2020 by a sequel, Anya and the Nightingale. Join me for a fascinating conversation with Sofiya about the history behind the fantasy. See full show notes at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/anya-and-dragon.html

Welcome to the third and final entry in our series, The Mitzvah of Voting. It's October 2020 your favorite Jewish kidlit authors want all eligible US citizens to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, and listeners around the world to vote in their own local elections. My author guests will be sharing why they vote and they'll give you some recommendations for ways to keep democracy healthy. This time, we will leave you with some musical inspiration to carry you through Election Day. Once again, I want to remind you that, as always, the views expressed on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of our host organization, Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida. One of today's guests, Sarah Aroeste, is not only an author, she's also a singer songwriter who performs in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish dialect that became the tongue of Spanish Jews after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. I'm excited to tell you that Sarah is sharing a full song with us today, the title song from her album Gracia. The word GRACIA means THANKS and GRACE but it's also a tribute to the medieval Sephardic heroine, Doña Gracia Nasi who lived in the 1500s and saved hundreds of Jews from the Inquisition. The main idea of the song is that activists of the past inspire us to activism in our own time. See the lyrics below.  Guest authors include: Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted and A Ceiling Made of Eggshells Lesléa Newman, author of Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story Evan Wolkenstein, author of Turtle Boy Sue Macy, author of The Book Rescuer Sarah Aroeste, author of Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom and singer/songwriter of Gracia  Resources mentioned by guests include: The Matthew Shepard Foundation SURJ: Standing Up for Racial Justice Reclaim Our Vote Doña Gracia Nasi CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT Read the English translation of Gracia CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band    Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast     Twitter: @bookoflifepod  Support the Podcast: Ways to Donate  

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3 part series, The Mitzvah of Voting. It's October 2020 your favorite Jewish kidlit authors want all eligible US citizens to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, and listeners around the world to vote in their own local elections! My author guests will be sharing why they vote and they'll give you some recommendations for ways to keep democracy healthy.  Guest authors include: Elissa Brent Weissman, author of The Length of a String Lee Wind, author of Queer as a $5 Bill and No Way, They Were Gay? Barbara Bietz, author of Sweet Tamales for Purim Jane Breskin Zalben, author of A Moon for Moe and Mo Jacqueline Jules, author of The Generous Fish, Never Say a Mean Word Again, The Hardest Word Anne-Marie Asner, author of the Matzah Ball Books series  Suggestions from guests in this episode: Become a poll worker Add your Representative and Senators to your cell phone and call regularly on issues you care about Confirm your voter registration at Vote.org CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band    Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast     Twitter: @bookoflifepod  Support the Podcast: Ways to Donate  

This episode is a call to action for U.S. citizens eligible to vote, and a reminder to listeners everywhere that voting is your superpower. If you are a U.S. citizen eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, please do so! For information about how to vote, visit VOTE.ORG. In this special 3-part series, some of your favorite Jewish kidlit authors will be sharing why they vote and they'll give some recommendations for ways to keep our democracy healthy.  In each episode of The Book of Life, I ask guests to suggest a tikkun olam action, a way to help repair the world. This special series is MY tikkun olam action. Please help me inspire more people to vote by sharing this podcast as widely as you can, today.   By the way, you should always assume that the opinions expressed on The Book of Life podcast are not necessarily those of our host organization, Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida, but because this episode is more political than most, I'll just remind you of that fact right now. Guest authors include: Marjorie Ingall, author of Mamaleh Knows Best Linda Epstein, author of Repairing the World Jeff Gottesfeld, author of No Steps Behind Leslie Kimmelman, author of The Eight Knights of Hanukkah Susan Kusel, author of The Passover Guest Tziporah Cohen, author of No Vacancy Here are the resources named during this episode: Vote.org ChooseDemocracy.us The Count Every Vote Act HR 8492 Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights Jews for Racial and Economic Justice  The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society VoteRiders.org  CLICK HERE TO READ THE TRANSCRIPT CREDITS: Produced by: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel   Theme music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band    Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens Facebook Page: facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast     Twitter: @bookoflifepod  Support the Podcast: Ways to Donate  

For this "Pond Life" episode, I paired the books Turtle Boy with Fish Out of Water, to highlight the similar themes I saw in both middle grade bar mitzvah novels. Wonderfully, authors Joanne Levy and Evan Wolkenstein really hit it off and they actually helped to interview each other!  For complete show notes, please visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/pond-life-fish-out-of-water-turtle-boy.html

Honey on the Page: A Treasury of Yiddish Children's Literature, edited and translated by Miriam Udel, comes out from NYU Press on October 6, 2020. We didn't have the chance to do an audio interview but I did want you to know about this worthy book, so I interviewed Miriam by email. I hope you will enjoy reading all about Honey on the Page at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/honey-on-page.html.

Muslim author Saadia Faruqui and Jewish author Laura Shovan joined me to talk about their jointly written middle grade contemporary novel, A Place at the Table. This is a book about immigration, about friendship, and it will make you hungry. Full show notes at: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-place-at-table.html

Multi-talented mensch Patricia Portillo is an artist who works with fiber, clay, and other materials. She is also a voice artist and professional opera singer, and she dabbles in the culinary arts. She rendered The Book of Life's dancing man logo as a crocheted doll so we are interviewing her to learn more about her crafting abilities. Today's episode is available as a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJrTjZeQFNY&feature=youtu.be Find all Show Notes at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/video-episode-artist-patricia-portillo.html 

No Vacancy is Tziporah Cohen's debut middle grade novel. It's a story of friendship across boundaries, the importance of community as a bulwark against prejudice... and a Virgin Mary sighting. Full show notes at https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/no-vacancy.html

We hear from David Raphael, co-founder of the Jewish Grandparents Network, and we enjoy the audiobook Bubbe & Zaide, written and voiced by Anne-Marie Asner along with the famous actor Ed Asner as Zaide. For links to more resources, including our guests' Boosting Black Voices reading recommendations, visit bookoflifepodcast.com.

Lee Wind is the author of Queer as a Five-Dollar Bill and blogs at I'm Here, I'm Queer, What the Hell Do I Read? He is Heidi's partner in the Through the Window diversity exchange program sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries. Please visit https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/06/through-window-lee-wind.html for extensive show notes with lots of great links.

Gail Carson Levine discusses her middle grade historical novel A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, about a Jewish family in the Spanish Inquisition. https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-ceiling-made-of-eggshells.html

Author Amy Grossblatt Pessah shares her book Parenting on a Prayer on the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" series on The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

David Levy shares his family genealogical work, Gluskin Family History on "Books in the Time of Coronavirus," a special series from The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Author Michelle Cameron discusses her adult novel, Beyond the Ghetto Gates on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series on The Book of Life Podcast, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Bernice Lerner talks about her book All the Horrors of War: A Jewish Girl, a British Doctor, and the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen on "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com. Plus a shout-out to Dianne Siekmann for becoming a Book of Life supporter on Patreon.com/Bookoflife.

Erika Dreifus discusses her poetry collection Birthright on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series from The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

Jeremy Benstein talks about his nonfiction book for adults, Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes, on the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series from The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com.

Sidura Ludwig talks about her short story collection, You Are Not What We Expected in the Books in the Time of Coronavirus special series on The Book of Life, www.bookoflifepodcast.com

We hear from Lesléa Newman, author of the picture book Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail in the "Books in the Time of Coronavirus" special series on The Book of Life Podcast, www.bookoflifepodcast.com.