MAY 2023 JEWISH BOOK CARNIVAL

 

Life Is Like a Library is honored to host the May 2023 Jewish Book Carnival -- a monthly round up of links from across the blogosphere. It includes book reviews, author interviews, essays and other posts related to Jewish books.

The purposes of the Jewish Book Carnival are to build community among bloggers who feature Jewish books and their blogs, and to promote Jewish reading and fields supporting this reading such as publishing and library services.

As with the last time we hosted (in December 2022), Gila Green is the first one to submit, so she's at the top of the list. This month at Gila Green Writes, Meryl Ain shares what it's like to write a second novel.

At Jewish Books for Kids and More, Barbara Bietz interviews Laurel Snyder about her new middle-grade novel, The Witch of Woodland.

On her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, Deborah interviewed Maxim D. Shrayer about his new book, Immigrant Baggage.

On her My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus celebrates Jewish American History Month with a distinctly literary flair. 


On The Book of Life Podcast, you can celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month using these resources that include a book list and a list of webinars on Jewish kid lit, and by listening to an interview with Susan Lynn Meyer about her middle grade Jewish novel set on the American prairie, A Sky Full of Song.


The Sydney Taylor Shmooze mock award blog has a review of the new graphic novel version of The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe. The original prose version won the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the young adult category.


The Association of Jewish Libraries, in cooperation with ALA Graphics, is pleased to bring you this beautiful new Jewish American Heritage Month poster, with original art by Sean Rubin, illustrator of the 2021 Sydney Taylor Book Award winning picture book, The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel. Order your poster and matching bookmarks here: https://jewishlibraries.org/celebrate-jewish-american-heritage-poster/

And, at Life Is Like a Library, it's that time of year to read books about Counting the Omer and making positive changes. 

Heidi Rabinowitz has started a new Instagram account, Kidlit Kippot at https://www.instagram.com/kidlitkippot/, to curate images of Jewish representation in illustrations (kippot and other visual markers of Judaism), especially in non-Jewish kidlit. Please follow @kidlitkippot and if you have examples, please send images to Heidi at bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com.

Enjoy!

JEWISH BOOK CARNIVAL - DECEMBER 2022

 

Life Is Like a Library is honored to host the December Jewish Book Carnival -- a monthly round up of links from across the blogosphere. It includes book reviews, author interviews, essays and other posts related to Jewish books. 

The purposes of the Jewish Book Carnival are to build community among bloggers who feature Jewish books and their blogs, and to promote Jewish reading and fields supporting this reading such as publishing and library services.

This month Gila Green Writes hosts author Haviva Ner-David who shares her experience of novel writing and tries to answer the question: What Is Fiction Writing About, After All?

On The Book of Life Podcast, Heidi Rabinowitz interviews two Sephardic authors, Bridget Hodder (The Button Box) and Sarah Aroeste (Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom). It's Always a Party with a Sephardi!

The Sydney Taylor Shmooze has plenty of Hanukkah book reviews, including this review of Hanukkah at Monica's by Varda Livney, reviewed by Rinat Hadad Siegel.

The Association of Jewish Libraries has published an open statement against book banning on their blog, People of the Books.

On her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, Deborah interviewed Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz about her new children's picture book, The Boston Chocolate Party.

At Jewish Books for Kids... and More, Barbara Bietz shares a Hanukkah book roundup.

Sarah Lavane, author of Unmatched: An Orthodox Jewish Woman's Mystifying Journey to Find Marriage and Meaning, talks to Michael Feldstein from Jewish Link about shidduch resumes, matchmakers and Orthodox singles.

On her My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus routinely compiles news of Jewish literary interest. Here's one recent post: Jewish Literary Links.

In Tablet Magazine, Rachel Fremmer picks The Best Jewish Children's Books 0f 2022. 

And at Life Is Like a Library, Winter in Israel means bird migration and hot soup.

Happy Hanukkah!

Jewish Book Carnival - September 2019

Welcome to the Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly event where bloggers who blog about Jewish books can meet, read and comment on each others’ posts.


The purposes of the Jewish Book Carnival are to build community among bloggers who feature Jewish books on their blogs, and to promote Jewish reading, and fields supporting this reading such as publishing and library services.

It's September, which means back to school, back to a "regular" schedule, and time to think about the upcoming Jewish holidays.  Here's what our bloggers have been reading:

• "Honour thy father and thy mother." At A Jewish Grandmother, Batya Medad reviews 
• The Lost Kitchen, Miriam Green's story of how she and her father cope with her mother's
•  Alzheimer's Disease.  More than just the saga of dealing with Miriam's mother's 
• increasing dementia, The Lost Kitchen is also a cookbook and includes poetry.

On her My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus recently posted a list of 12 Jewish books, new for 
this fall, that are on her radar, including Birthright - Erika's collection of poetry, which 
will be coming out in November.

The Book of Life Podcast shares an interview with Sadaf Siddique of the South Asian kidlit 
site Kitaab World, about her Counter Islamophobia Through Stories campaign. Listen for 
the parallels with AJL's Love Your Neighbor campaign to fight anti-Semitism through kidlit! 

The Association of Jewish Libraries has posted a new book list: 
Selected Holocaust Literature for Youth, pulled from the 200+ titles recognized 
by the Sydney Taylor Book Award over the years. 

Amalia Hoffman, whose The Brave Cyclist, about Righteous Gentile and champion
bicycle racer Gino Bartali was recently published (Capstone, 2019), reviews Susan 
Dubin's Katzele and the Silver Candlesticks (Armani the Cat Publishing, 2019). 

Gila Green is happy to share her interview with Rachel Barenbaum with you. Her debut 
novel, A Bend in the Stars, was a New York Times Summer Reading Selection and 
a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection. It is also a Boston Globe Bestseller. 

Talia Carner's The Third Daughter (HarperCollins, 2019), was inspired by a story by 

Sholem Aleichem. Read Part I of her essay for the Jewish Book Council. 

From author/artist Ann Koffsky, coloring pages using the same designs from her book 

Creation Colors (Apples & Honey Press, 2019). Great for Rosh Hashanah!

At Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, Deborah interviewed Debbie Levy about Levy's new 

children's picture book, The Key from Spain: Flory Jagoda and Her Music.

In the run-up to the Rosh HaShana, you can find a book-based pamphlet of

Reflections and Resources on Teshuvah on the Memory & Redemption site. While the 

questions for discussion are drawn from one of the darkest periods of Jewish history, 

they prove the transformative power of hope for the future.

And, at Life Is Like a Library, it's the annual Elul book list.

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!

Enjoy!

Virus-free. www.avast.com

May Jewish Book Carnival

Welcome to the May 2017 Jewish Book Carnival -- a selection of book reviews; interviews with authors, publishers, librarians and others about Jewish books; and essays about Jewish books and literature. 

The purposes of the Jewish Book Carnival are to build community among bloggers who feature Jewish books in their posts and to promote Jewish reading, and fields supporting this reading such as publishing and library services.

This month's selections:


At The Book of Life, Heidi Rabinowitz interviews Suzanne Nelson about her teen novel Serendipity’s Footsteps. Become a patron of The Book of Life for as little as $1/month and Suzanne will send you an autographed copy of Serendipity’s Footsteps!

Jill at Rhapsody in Books reviews I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes her Mark by Debbie Levy.  This book for children explains how Ruth's early experience of prejudice against Jews, women, and other groups inspired her later dedication to equal rights for everyone. Originally posted for Women's History Month (March), this 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers is a great read any time of the year.

At AJL's People of the Book blog, Kathleen Bloomfield, the president of the School, Synagogue and Center Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries addresses the current violence and hate with "literary suggestions for children that affirm the values of kindness and acceptance of others."

At Israel Blogger, Batya Medad is very happy that Rabbi Emanuel Feldman has republished his lovely and honest memoir, The 28th of Iyar, his day by day journal written during the weeks leading up to the Six Days War and the war itself. Feldman and his family had been winding down their sabbatical year in Israel when the Arab countries began threatening to annihilate the State of Israel...

On the Fig Tree Books Blog, a series of posts spotlighting past winners of the Edward Lewis Wallant Award continues with a look at Allegra Goodman's Kaaterskill Falls, which took the prize for 1999.

I attended the Jerusalem Women Writers' Conference (JWWS) on May 9th.  You can read about the great speakers and sessions at Life Is Like a Library.

Over on the Jewish Book Review author Deborah Kalb shares her big secret with Rivka Levy (and you), and explains why she stopped writing for adults and started writing fiction for children instead.

On My Machberet, Erika Dreifus reports on the celebration for this year's finalists for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature (and looks back on the very first such event, ten years ago).

Deborah Kalb interviews a wide variety of authors on her blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb. Here's a recent interview she did with Peter Szabo about his new book, Finding Maria, which looks at his family's history and his relationship with his grandmother.

Penguin Random House's Newsletter "Signature: Making Well-Read Sense of the World" covers all aspects of reading and literature, but I was drawn to two recent posts:

 from author David Samuel Levinson -- "5 Novels That Illuminate the Problems and Dangers of Anti-Semitism"

and "No Excuse for Ignorance: Books to Understand the Holocaust" by Lorraine Berry. 

Thank you to all our contributors.