Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The forwordsbooks Catalog of Books-March 2010 Edition
03/09/10
When I decided to re-start forwordsbooks back in September, 2009, my intention was that I could easily have a revised catalog up and online within a month, maybe two. Clearly, I was delusional. Most definitely I had completely lost track of how much the world of Jewish children’s publishing has changed during the past 10 years.
By the end of December, I was thinking, “Oh well, it won’t be the 2009 Catalog of Books.” In January it was “I will never finish this.” However, in February, as I began to see some light shining at the end of this very long tunnel, I knew that I would find a stopping point. Not an end point mind you, a stopping point, because even as I write this there is a pile of books sitting on the floor of my office that I need to read and review, publishers are printing and sending out new books for consideration, editors are preparing new materials for production and authors and illustrators are working at their craft to bring us their latest creative ideas.
I look forward to reading, reviewing and bringing them all to you in updates and new editions to the forwordsbooks Catalog of Books. I can assure you, it will not be ten years and six months before you hear from me again.
Happy Reading,
Kathy B.
Purim’s Coming – Where is Queen Esther?
02/22/10
Purim begins at sundown this coming Saturday evening, February 27. I just finished posting some Purim books as featured reviews and am sad that there were no Queen Esther books available to share with you. The newest ones have, in my opinion, some irregularities that make them unacceptable for Jewish audiences and my favorites from the past are currently out of print.
However, because “out of print” no longer means “not available for purchase” these days, I wanted to talk about my favorite Queen Esther books that are still on my book shelf at home. You still might be able to find them online at abebooks.com, alibris.com or any other internet used book website. Better still, check them out of your local or synagogue library.
Esther’s Story by Diane Wolkstein. Illustrated by Juan Wijngaard. ©1996, William Morrow & Company. Ages 6-11. Of all the Queen Esther books, this is my favorite. Written in the form of Esther’s diary, this is the Purim story as Esther saw it, lived it and felt it. It starts with Esther writing as a young orphaned girl, trusting in her Uncle Mordecai when he changes her name from Hadassah to Esther. Missing him when she is sent to the palace as a possible queen for King Ahasuerus. Maturing as she becomes queen and learns about palace intrigue and finally must put her own life on the line to save the lives of her people. The powerful and emotional text is accompanied by exquisitely detailed, rich gouache paintings. The text is fairly true to the Megillah.
Queen Esther Saves Her People retold by Rita Golden Gelman. Illustrated by Frané Lessac. ©1998, Scholastic Press. This version of Queen Esther’s story pretty much sticks to the one told in the Megillah, with a few midrashic elements slipped in along the way just to make things interesting, for example, King Ahasuerus is portrayed as a drunk, gambling, moron in this adaptation. The primitive-style gouache paintings are colorful, dramatic and use clever details to engage the reader with the story. The Purim Notebook in the back of the book provides an excellent overview of the holiday and its traditions.
Queen Esther, the Morning Star written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. ©2000, Simon & Schuster. Of the three Queen Esther stories I am presenting here, this one least sticks to the script. However, when Mordicai Gerstein is involved, who wants a script? This is a midrash about Queen Esther, and it is a good one. The story unfolds with all its up and downs, ins and outs, joys and sorrows. Perhaps an event here or there does not occur at exactly the same moment or in exactly the same way that it might have in the Megillah, oh well. What is a dragon or two, an angel here or there where midrash is concerned? The point of the story is the same: Esther goes to the palace – Haman plots to kill the Jews – Mordecai informs Esther of the plot – Esther saves the Jews – Haman dies – everyone celebrates. The best part of this book is the illustrations. Again gouache paintings in Mordicai Gerstein’s unique style – colorful, dramatic, magical.
There you have it, three wonderful Queen Esther books for the Purim holiday. Please go find one and check it out over the weekend, maybe you can make your Purim costume based on some of the illustrations. Hag Sameach/Happy Holiday!
Happy Reading,
Kathy B.
So Far Away
01/21/10
I am posting this from my sister’s home in Southern California where it has been raining so hard I fear we will be building an ark shortly in order to sail back to Massachusetts. There is much to report since my last post.
I spent my weekend at the American Library Association’s Midwinter Conference in Boston. My “job” was to walk around the Exhibit Hall and find the publisher’s who had Sydney Taylor Award Winners, Honor Books and Notable books and bring them congratulations and mazel tovs on behalf of the Association of Jewish Libraries and the Sydney Taylor Award Committee and also provide them with gold and silver seals for the winning books. It was very exciting to meet the publishers and some of the editors responsible for these excellent books. Even more exciting, I got to tell them a bit about forwordsbooks and what I do. Call me crazy, but I love publishers and exhibit halls. I have a stack of books at home that I am so looking forward to telling you about.
On Saturday evening, I joined up with the ALATweetup and met a number of interesting people from the kidlitosphere, kidlit publishing and children’s magazines. I will admit, I went out of my way to say hello to Elizabeth Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy, who I consider a STAR of the kidlitosphere. We all have a right to our idols. Well, she is one of mine. As always, Ms. Burns was gracious. I felt my Tweetup was well spent.
Immediately following, I headed over the bridge to the Boston World Trade Center to listen to Brian Stokes Mitchell talk about the new book he worked on with Harriet Ziefert called Lights on Broadway from Blue Apple Press. He sang two songs and let me tell you, this man has a gift from God. When you hear someone refer to their voice as their instrument – this is what they are talking about. I would have sat in that chair in that hotel conference room all night and listened to that man sing whatever he wanted. There was no theater orchestra, professional sound system, Broadway stage lighting, nothing. Just “Stokes” (as everyone was calling him), a cordless microphone and a piano player. Thank you very much…I was in heaven.
What could be better than that? Listening to him describe sitting in his public library as a kid, checking out every Broadway musical in the collection and sitting in a special room they had listening to the music. Hearing him describe librarians as his heroes. Watching him clap and bow to the librarians in the room. All followed by his taking the time to have his picture taken, shaking hands, hugging and providing autographs for anyone who asked. We have a word for this – Mensch.
I was not able to attend the Awards Ceremony on Monday morning, but I did view the recording of the event. How very exciting. I was happy to see that on of our Sydney Taylor Honor Books, A Faraway Island by Annika Thor was awarded the Batchelder Award for the most outstanding children’s book originally published in a language other than English. I was also excited that Jerry Pinkney’s The Lion & the Mouse won the Caldecott Award having seen him discuss the book at the School Library Journal Day of Dialogue last May. As for all the rest of the award winners, let’s just say I have a lot of reading to do!
And now I am in Southern California, as I said, battling a rainstorm of “Biblical” proportions. I am way behind in my Comment Challenge activities, but hope to catch up in the next couple of days. I will keep you posted. Until then,
Happy Reading,
Kathy B.
And the Winners Are…
01/11/10
The Association of Jewish Libraries has just announced the Sydney Taylor Book Award winners for 2010. They are:
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner
for YOUNGER READERS
New Year at the Pier. April Halprin Wayland. Illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch.Dial Books for Young Readers, 2009.
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winners
for YOUNGER READERS
- Nachshon Who Was Afraid to Swim: A Passover Story. Deborah Bodin Cohen. Illustrated by Jago. Kar-Ben Publishing, 2009.
- Benjamin and the Silver Goblet. Jaqueline Jules. Illustrated by Natascia Ugliano. Kar-Ben Publishing, 2009.
- The Yankee at the Seder. Elka Weber. Illustrated by Adam Gustason. Tricycle Press, 2009.
- You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax? Jonah Winter. Illustrated by André Carrilho. Schwartz & Wade Books, 20
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner
for OLDER READERS
- The Importance of Wings. Robin Friedman. Charlesbridge, 2009.
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winners
for OLDER READERS
- Anne Frank – Her Life in Words and Pictures: from the Archives of the Anne Frank House. Menno Metselaar and Ruud van der Rol. Translated by Arnold J. Pomerans. Roaring Brook Press, 2009.
- A Faraway Island. Annika Thor. Delacorte Press, 2009.
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner
for TEEN READERS
- Tropical Secrets: Holocaust Refugees in Cuba. Margarita Engle. Henry Holt, 2009.
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winners
for TEEN READERS
- Lost. Jacqueline Davies. Marshall Cavendish, 2009.
- Naomi’s Song. Selma Kritzer Silverberg. Jewish Publication Society, 2009.
The 2010 Sydney Taylor Notable Book for ALL AGES
- JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible. Retold by Ellen Frankel. Illustrated by Avi Katz. Jewish Publication Society, 2009.
____________________________________________________________
It has been my honor and my privilege to be a member of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee for the past four years. My term ends with this award year. I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to an opportunity that has brought me back in touch with my passion for Jewish children’s literature and with the people who ignite the fires for that passion in others – Jewish librarians and educators.
On one hand, I am now free to read and review whichever books I want. This means, without naming names or titles, if a self-published work comes to my door and I know just by looking at it that there is good reasons why it is self-published, I no longer have to go through the effort of reading the book, giving it a score and writing a review. It means that I am able to search for those secular books with Jewish values content that I feel are so important to have in our libraries. It means that I may, on occasion be able to sit back and enjoy reading an adult book just for myself once or twice a year.
On the other hand, I am truly going to miss my interaction with my fellow committee members. You have probably heard the joke about 3 Jews, 4 opinions. Well, imagine a committee of six Jewish women – Professional Jewish women – librarians, booksellers, authors, educators, managers – Opinionated professional Jewish women. Now imagine that these six women have spent a year reading, scoring and reviewing approximately 150 Jewish children’s books. They must arrive at a consensus as to which book will win the top prize in each of three categories: Younger Readers, Older Readers and Teen Readers. Following that discussion, an agreement about Honor books takes place and then a discussion about Notable books.
Somehow, over a period of about 7-10 days, with a group that spans the continent and all its time zones, the Committee manages to pull this off every year, professionally, amicably, tactfully. Our significant others know that during this period we are not to be far from email access, and don’t even think about talking to us as our minds our on the books, the books, the books, the Awarding of the Books. I wonder, do the Newbery and Caldecott Committees go through similar tzuris (Yiddish for troubles)? In the end, we all agree, we are happy and next year’s books are showing up on the doorstep. The cycle begins again.
Fortunately, during my time on the Committee, I have been blessed to serve under two remarkable Committee Chairs, Rachel Kamin and Kathe Pinchuck. It takes stamina, political savvy and emotional armor to sift through all the comments and steer this group in the a direction that will lead to consensus, both Rachel and Kathe managed the task perfectly.
So now the winners have been announced. In July, I will join my colleagues in Seattle for the AJL Convention, where we will discuss some of the books that did not make the list in our presentation “The Sydney Taylor Committee Tells All.” It is one of the high points of the Conference. Would you like to join us? Become a member of the Association of Jewish Libraries and meet us in Seattle.
Happy Reading!
Kathy B.
PS There were also twenty-two Notable Books selected by the Committee for 2010. All the Winners and the Notable titles can be found at www.sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com.
©2010 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review were provided by the publishers cited.
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I finished Bloggiesta!
01/10/10
It’s 10:08 PM and I have been working on my website all weekend. I have accomplished more than I would have thought possible. I cannot articulate how much I appreciate the individuals in the kidlitosphere who had the energy and the ideas to make this happen. I needed a kick in the butt and there they were to provide it. Thank you all so very much. So here is what I did this weekend:
I have spent approximately 16 hours over the course of the last three days working on things connected with my website. That is simply fantastic. Thank you Maw Books, Pedro and everyone associated with Bloggiesta for the chips, the salsa or whatever it is that put that fire in my belly to move me forward. See you in June!
Happy Reading,
Kathy B.