Here is my list of Tu B’Shevat Books for 2012:

Green Bible Stories for Children by Tami Lehman-Wilzig. Illustrated by Durga Yael Bernahard. ©2011. Kar-Ben Publishing. Ages 8-11. In this extraordinary book, several Torah stories are looked at for their view toward protecting the environment. The story is retold in age appropriate language and then a series of activities is provided to link the story to the world today.

Dear Tree by Doba Rivka Weber. Illustrated by Phyllis Saroff. ©2010. Hachai Publishing. In this endearing story, a young boy writes a New Year’s (Tu B’Shevat)  letter to his tree wishing it all good things for the year to come. The lovely illustrations show, in detail, exactly what the boy hopes the tree receives – sunlight, rain, birds, bees, strength, etc. The boy promises to take good care of his tree and knows, in return, the tree will provide fruit and shade.  As appropriate for Earth Day as for Tu B’Shevat.  (Ages 3-8)

Gabby & Grandma Go Green written and illustrated by Monica Wellington. ©2011. Beginning with sewing the bags they will use to go shopping, Gabby and her grandmother shop at the Farmer’s Market, walk to the park, recycle their plastic bottles and newspapers and check out Earth Day books at the library. Instructions for making cloth bags and many “Green Tips” accompany the simple text. The brightly colored pictures are a collage of cut-out photographs and gouache on paper artwork.  (Ages 3-7)

A Grand Old Tree written and illustrated by Mary Newell DePalma. ©2005. Arthur A. Levine Books. The life cycle of trees is explained in this marvelously simple yet eloquent book. The bright, colorful tissue paper collage illustrations show a tree filled with life, branching out, creating new trees and finally aging until it’s branches wither back into the earth where it gives life to another generation of trees. (ages 3-7)

Who Will Plant a Tree? By Jerry Pallotta. Illustrated by Tom Leonard. ©2010. Sleeping Bear Press. An amazing fact of nature is the different ways seeds have found to disperse themselves. Some seeds have developed burrs to stick to the fur coats of black bears, others have tough coverings to withstand being coughed up by an owl or pooped out by an elephant, and even others have developed parachutes to float in the wind. Whatever it is seeds find their way around the environment in a variety of interesting and wily ways. Using simple language and extraordinarily beautiful illustrations, this book for young readers makes it clear that from horses to humans, we all have a role in planting trees around the world. (Ages 4-8)

As you find ways to celebrate the trees around you during this Tu B’Shevat remember these beautiful words from Rabbi Shneour Zalman (1745-1813):

“All that we see — The heaven, the earth, and all that fills it — All these things are the external garments of God.”

As such, they should be respected and protected.  May you have a wonderful holiday.

Happy reading.

Kathy B.

©2012 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review were provided by the publisher, my local public library or are from my own collection.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

I am honored and thrilled to have been invited by Sarah Aronson, author of Beyond Lucky, to moderate a

If you are anywhere near Wellesley, please plan to join us on Thursday evening, November 17 at 7:00 PM at the Wellesley Free Library, 530 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482. See you there!

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.

forwordsbooks is thrilled to be hosting this month’s Jewish Book Carnival, a gathering of blogs about Jewish books and other happenings in the Jewish world.  Please visit this month’s participants and comment on their web sites making sure you tell them you saw their post at the September Jewish Book Carnival.

Would you like to get to know more about the authors who write your favorite books?  Or perhaps you are looking for a little background music while you read? Check out these fantastic websites:

Listen to The Book of Life’s newest podcast episode featuring Sarah Darer Littman talking about her novel Life, After, a 2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Book for teens. Her novels are always brave, taking on subjects that others might fear to talk about.

Barbara Krasner at The Whole Megillah: The Writer’s Resource for Jewish-Themed Children’s Books provides a very special look inside the book with an Author-Agent-Editor Three-in-one Special Notebook about OyMG byAmy Fellner Dominy

Jewish Book Council’s Intern, Alyssa Berlin, discusses the trend in “Reading with Soundtracks.” This is an awesome look at the connection between books and music. Be sure you have your MP3 player and ear buds on hand.

Erika Dreifus shares a Q&A with author Anna Solomon about THE LITTLE BRIDE, Solomon’s new historical novel featuring a Jewish mail-order bride who travels from Odessa and lands in South Dakota.

With so many new books to choose from each month, it is wonderful to have dedicated reviewers to let us know about the best of the bunch.

Amy Meltzer at Homeshuling: A Jewish Parenting Blog provides an excellent review of the new Kar-Ben book, Joseph and the Sabbath Fish by Eric Kimmel in her blog Joseph and the Sabbath Fish, or I Love Eric Kimmel, Part Two.

Barbara Krasner at The Whole Megillah: The Writer’s Resource for Jewish-Themed Children’s Books reviews  OyMG by Amy Fellner Dominy

BostonBibliophile is taking the Art of the Novella Reading Challenge.  Read the review of her third novella, Stempenyu: A Jewish Romance by Sholem Aleichem, and follow her progress toward her goal of reading six novellas in 30 days.

Also from the Jewish Book Council, guest blogger Wayne Hoffman (Sweet Like Sugar) offers a Gay Jewish Reading List .

Visit Sylvia Rouss’ website to read her newest book, Jognau, the Dreamer, an original story by Sylvia Rouss and Raoul Wallenberg Prize winner, Ambassador Asher Naim, illustrated by Dawn Phillips.  Ambassador Naim and Sylvia have donated the story to the Scholarship Fund for Ethiopian Jews. Sylvia’s son Jordan, an attorney, and his good friend Geoffrey Bennett, an NPR producer, volunteered to produce and narrate the animated version which you can also see on the site.

Then hop over to Barbara Bietz’s  “Jewish Books for Children with Author Barbara Bietz” for some inside information from Sylvia about how she came to meet Ambassador Asher Naim and subsequently write a book in partnership with him. It is always very interesting how the stars align in writers’ lives.

Jonathan Kirsch reviews Portraits in Literature: The Jews of Poland, An Anthology edited by Hava Bromberg Ben-Zvi, reminding us that while over half the Jewish victims of the Holocaust were Polish Jews, “Poland was the seat of a vibrant and enduring Jewish civilization that survives on the printed page and, in a real sense, in many of our own ideas about what it means to be Jewish.”

Here at forwordsbooks, we kicked off the New Year with “The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far: Honoring One’s Parents/Kibud Av v’Em,” a look at books that support this most difficult of all commandments.

And last but not least, learn how the research can have a bigger impact on the writer than the writing, in this fascinating blog by Linda K. Wertheimer:

In “Visiting Mosques Teaches Countless Lessons, “Jewish Muse blogger Linda K. Wertheimer recounts the lessons she learned when she visited mosques while shadowing middle school students as they learned about world religions. She was surprised at how much she learned along with them.

As always there is much to read, explore and learn from each of these wonderful websites.  Don’t forget to tell them you were here and where you heard about them, if you drop by for a visit. Next month’s Carnival will be hosted at Homeshuling. For more information about the Jewish Book Carnival and a list of all the participants, please visit the Association of Jewish Libraries’ Jewish Book Carnival blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you a sweet, healthy and book-filled New Year.

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

]]> http://forwordsbooks.com/the-september-jewish-book-carnival/feed/ 6 http://forwordsbooks.com/a-time-for-silence-and-a-time-for-speaking/ http://forwordsbooks.com/a-time-for-silence-and-a-time-for-speaking/#comments Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:03:17 +0000 Kathy B. http://forwordsbooks.com/?p=1866 I have spent the past several months preparing for this upcoming New Year – 5772. I have been

• Thinking about the new idea I began last year, Speak Volumes: A Jewish Values Based Family Reading Program, and how I want to enrich it this year.
• Reading a ton of books, Jewish and secular.
• Celebrating my son’s graduation from college and my mother’s 80^th birthday.
• Meeting and learning from many wonderful authors.
• Working on writing my own book.
• Working at several part time jobs that are creative and fun.

The outcome of all of this and more is many stories, thoughts and books to share. I am looking forward to the upcoming weeks and months.

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review came from my own collection, my local public library or the publisher as review copies.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

First Rain. By Charlotte Herman. Illustrated by Kathryn Mitter. Albert Whitman & Company, © 2010.   Abby and her parents are making Aliyah/moving to Israel. They are all so excited, but sad to be leaving Grandma behind in America. Abby and her Grandma send many letters and emails back and forth about all that Abby is learning. (Ages 4-8)

Chicken Man. Written and illustrated by Michelle Edwards. NewSouth Books, © 2009. Rody lives on a kibbutz in Israel. After trying many jobs, it is clear that the chicken house is the best place for him to work. (ages 5-9)

Snow in Jerusalem. By Deborah DaCosta. Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright & Ying-Hwa Hu. Albert Whitman & Company, © 2001.  Avi lives in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, Hamudi lives in the Muslim Quarter. Unknown to them, they are both taking care of the same white cat. When they find out, a big surprise is waiting for them. (Ages 5-9)

The Man Who Flies with Birds. By Carole Garbuny Vogel and Yossi Leshem. Kar-Ben Publishing, © 2009. An Israeli bird lover, scientist and aeronautics specialist, combines his passions to save lives, protect the environment and bring peace to Israel. (Ages 7-11)

Sharing Our Homeland: Palestinian and Jewish Children at Summer Peace Camp. By Trish Marx. Illustrated by Cindy Karp. Lee & Low Books, © 2010. In an attempt to foster peace and understanding between Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli children, Menashe Summer Peace Camp was created. This is how Alya, an Israeli Palestinian girl and Yuval, an Israeli Jewish boy, experienced their summer at Peace Camp. (Ages 8-12)

Samir & Yonatan. By Daniella Carmi. Translated by Yael Lotan. Scholastic, © 2000. Samir, a young Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip, finds himself in an Israeli hospital for knee surgery following a bicycle accident. He is in a ward filled with Jewish children. He is befriended by Yonatan, who is in the hospital for hand surgery. Together, they learn from and about each other what it might take to build a better world. (Ages 10-14)

Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak. By Deborah Ellis. Groundwood Books, © 2004. Interviews with children living in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank about their experiences, hopes and dreams as children living in a war-torn country. (Ages 11-14

Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood. By Ibtisam Barakat. Farrar, Straus Giroux, © 2007. A child’s viewpoint of growing up on the West Bank during the 1967 Six Day War. (Ages 11-15)

Freefall. By Anna Levine. Greenwillow, © 2008. Aggie is going into the Israeli army, as all Israeli citizens must do at the age of eighteen. However, instead of choosing a desk job, she decides to try out for an elite combat unit, even though she will have to gain weight and go through a series of harsh training camps to do it. (Ages 13-16)

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea. By Valerie Zenatti. Translated by Adriana Hunter. Bloomsbury, © 2005. Winner of the Syndey Taylor Award. Tal Levine wants to correspond with a Palestinian, so she asks her soldier brother to throw a bottle containing a letter with her email address into the Gaza Sea. Surprisingly, she gets a response from “Gazaman.” Their exchanges provide a remarkable insight into this difficult region. (Ages 14-18)

Reading these books should provide you and your family with a solid overview of the modern Jewish experience. However, as I did last month and will from now on, I have prepared a list of discussion questions and activities that parents and/or teachers can use when reading these books together with children to reinforce your understanding of Eretz Yisrael/The Land of Israel and learn together about the country that is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians. If you would be interested in using this material, please see the Family Reading Program Section of my website for June/Sivan. Wishing you dreams of vacations far away, perhaps on the shores of the Mediterranean in Tel Aviv!

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review came from my own collection, my local public library or the publisher as review copies.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

• Mars Tribute Marks Memory of Shepard’s Flight
• Andre Ethier’s Streak Jolts Memories of DiMaggio’s Greatness

I will leave it to you to read the stories surrounding these newsworthy events. Of interest to me is that craters on Mars and 29 consecutive hits in baseball games are both cause for remembering significant moments in history.

Just this past Sunday, May 1 was Yom Hashoah/Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Events were organized all around the country and all over the world to remember the 6 million Jews and 5 million others individuals who were murdered by the Nazis during World War II. Even more than 65 years after the events of the war took place, memorials, museums and tributes are being created to honor the memories of individuals and groups who were part of that experience.

Whether it is the Holocaust, manned space flight or as-yet-unbroken baseball records, it is important that our children understand why we remember, and how we memorialize events 1 year, 5 years, or 40, 70, or even 1000s of years after they have taken place. This may seem like a large undertaking, but with the benefit of a few good books, a few helpful questions and some fun activities, the task is not so difficult at all.

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review were provided by my local public library.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

I did not feel joy.

A man was killed, by the United States military, by individuals representing me. Justice may have been served, but I did not feel happy about it.

I did not want to dance in the street, wave flags or sing.

Yet, as I listened further to the news story, I heard that crowds of people had gathered in Washington, DC and Boston, MA (where I live) to dance and sing and rejoice. If memory serves me, we were horrified by scenes of just such celebrations taking place in some countries overseas on September 11^th 2001. What exactly makes our celebrations different from theirs? We are both celebrating death.

I will not celebrate death.

I celebrate life.

I celebrate the lives of the people, many of them heroes, who were lost in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and on that Pennsylvania field on 9/11. I celebrate the lives of the firemen, police officers and emergency crews that were lost on that day trying to help others to live. I celebrate the lives of the service men and women who have been lost since that day protecting us from further harm.

I celebrate the safety we have experienced as a result of those individuals who give their lives to keep us all out of harm’s way every day.

I celebrate the life we are living now and try with all the power that is in me to see a brighter future.

I celebrate anyone who works toward a world of mutual respect, a world built on that simple principle: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I will try my hardest to be one of those people…one children’s book at a time.

L’Chaim/To Life,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.

I read recently that the reason the Jewish people have survived in exile these thousands of years is because of the joy we discover in our life cycle events, in our holidays, in everything we do. I like that sentiment.

I take great joy in reading. As my website states:

“To say I am passionate about books would be somewhat of an understatement. Books are for me what shoes were for Imelda Marcos. There can never be too many. I can never read enough.

It isn’t about the books really. It is about reading. I do not remember a time in my life when I did not have a book in my hand. Plus an extra just in case I finished that one. And maybe another one in the car, just to be on the safe side.

I think it has to do with escape. Books take me far away from my current reality and that was often a wonderful relief for me.”

It still is a wonderful relief for me. Even today, when friends and family ask me for the title of a good book, my response is “I am not reading adult books, but here are a couple of great picture books and a YA novel that just knocked me off my feet.” Usually, I get a sympathetic pat on my hand or a shake of the head as they simply turn and walk away. Nevertheless, my choices for this month’s reading are books that made me laugh, made me cry or knocked me off my feet, but in the end filled me with joy. I hope they do the same for you:

Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. Written and illustrated by Simms Taback. © 1999, Viking. Winner of the Caldecott Medal for Best Picture Book.  Joseph had a little overcoat, but when it got worn out he made it into something else, then something, then something else… Ages 3-8 years.

The Castle on Hester Street. By Linda Heller. Illustrated by Boris Kulikov. © 2007, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. The original edition of this story won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in 1982. This edition with its colorful illustrations is pure delight. As grandpa tells his young granddaughter about coming to America, he embellishes his story with flying goats, enormous buttons and grand castles. Her grandmother of course, insists on telling an accurate account of their travels and courtship. Both stories are filled with love. Ages 4-9 years.

The Bee Tree. Written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco. © 1993,  Philomel. When Mary Ellen gets bored with studying, her grandfather takes her on a hunt for the bee tree. The wild chase ends with a neighborhood tea party and a very sweet lesson.  Ages 4-9 years.



When Jessie Came Across the Sea. By Amy Hest. Illustrated by P.J. Lynch. © 1997, Candlewick Press. When the rabbi of her small village decides to give 13-year-old Jessie his ticket to America, she is not sure how she can leave her grandmother behind.  However the entire town, including her grandmother, knows it is the right thing for her to leave. As Jessie sails to America, she encounters storms, young love, homesickness and hardship.  Upon her arrival in New York, however, her skills as a dressmaker enable her to get a job and make a home for herself. Soon she has raised enough money to bring her grandmother to America in time for her wedding to the young man she met aboard ship.

Wishing you a fun-filled Purim!

Happy reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review were from my personal collection or  provided by my local public library.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

Plan.   Edit. Develop.   Review.  Organize.

It is late, but I am still working hard at getting a few more mini-challenges under my belt. I reviewed my emails with Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? I never knew gmail had so much power. I do not think I will ever use Outlook again.

I just read “10 Things Bloggers Should Not Do,” which I thought was going to be a quick read, but turned out to be a very interesting and thorough review of what I am and am not doing on my site. Thanks to Hannah at Word Lily for that one.  I scored myself high on 5 points, very low on 4 points and just OK on 1 point. I have a lot of work to do.

I finished uploading all the Book Reviews I had written to date – 19 in all! I also purchased a new computer online while I was at it. Overall, I would say this was a pretty darn productive weekend.

I have so much more to do. I am wondering when the next Bloggiesta is…I already have a list ready to go.

Happy Reading,

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in this review were provided by my local public library.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

PEDRO!!

Plan.   Edit.   DEVELOP. Review.   Organize.

I still cannot find all my blogs. I am worried I have done something really stupid, but I lack the technical knowledge to figure out exactly what the stupid thing was that I did. In

the meantime, I have made a banner (not the best, but hey! it’s my first) and have some ideas for how I will use it and create others for my monthly goal of writing a blog a month about a Jewish Value and the books that support it.

Thanks to Calista at SMS  Book Reviews for the ideas and the wonderful websites to link to. I had a lot of fun creating the banner and the icon for this mini-challenge.

Now on to more Book Review uploading and another mini challenge.

Happy Reading!

Kathy B.

©2011 Kathleen M. Bloomfield and forwordsbooks.com all rights reserved.
Books used in many of my reviews are provided by my local public library.
I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book title referred to on my web site and purchase it from Amazon,

I may receive a very small commission on your purchase.

You will incur no additional cost, however.

I appreciate your support.

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