BOOK REVIEWS BY AMANDA!

Amanda, a fourth grader in our Education Program, has written reviews of two children's books! Thanks, Amanda!


Vive La Paris, by Esme Raji Codell

Vive La Paris is about a girl named Paris living in Chicago. Paris is in the 5th grade, and has 4 brothers. She takes piano lessons from a neighbor named Mrs. Rosen. Mrs. Rosen helps her face challenges involving her friends and brothers. What I like best about this book is how brave Paris is, and how much Mrs. Rosen helps her, even though Mrs. Rosen is much older than Paris, is Jewish and has a completely different way of thinking.


Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse

Joseph Michtom is a 14 year old Jewish boy living in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1900s. He works at his parents’ store selling Teddy bears that his mother invented. Joseph does not like working in the store. What he really wants to do is go to Coney Island. This book tells about his adventures trying to get there.

This book has another story, one about orphans and badly treated children. These children live under the Brooklyn Bridge with their pet parrot. These two stories make you want to discover how they connect and eventually they do. I would recommend this book to 3rd grade and up. It is good for girls and boys who like realistic and/or historical fiction.

SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

The 2009 Sydney Taylor Book Award, a prize for Jewish Children's and Teen Literature from the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), has recently been announced. To see the winners, click here:

http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/awards/stba/STBAAwardList2009.pdf

To celebrate and showcase the 2009 gold and silver medalists, there will be a Blog Tour! Here is the schedule:

http://www.sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com


Sydney Taylor was the author of the All of a Kind Family series - chapter books about a family with 5 girls (and eventually, one boy) living with their Mama and Papa in the Lower East Side in the early 1900's. The author's family established this award after she died, under the auspices of the AJL, to encourage and support the writing of wonderful and engaging Jewish books for children and teens. Written in the 1950's, this series is still enjoyed by children today.

HOT READS FOR COLD DAYS!

NEW CHILDREN’S BOOKS

BIOGRAPHIES

Hill, Anne E. Sasha Cohen / biography of the Olympic figure skater.

Drucker, Malka. Portraits of Jewish American heroes

Nobleman, Marc Tyler. Boys of steel : the creators of Superman


FICTION

Hesse, Karen. Brooklyn Bridge

Michelson, Richard. A is for Abraham : a Jewish family Alphabet /

Kimmel, Eric A. A horn for Louis

Schram, Peninnah The hungry clothes and other Jewish folktales



NON-FICTION

Yolen, Jane. Naming Liberty

Michelson, Richard. As good as anybody : Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Joshua Heschel's amazing march toward freedom

Lehman-Wilzig, Tami. Passover around the world

Kuklin, Susan. Families


YOUNG ADULT

Baskin, Nora Raleigh. The truth about my bat mitzvah /

Schmidt, Gary D. Mara's stories : glimmers in the darkness / tales told within the concentration camps


ADULT NON-FICTION

BIOGRAPHY, MEMOIR

Rose, Ernestine L. Mistress of herself : speeches and letters of Ernestine Rose, early women's rights leader

Sabar, Ariel
My father's paradise : a son's search for his Jewish past in Kurdish Iraq /

Foster, Richard J., Mark Spitz : the extraordinary life
of an Olympic champion /

Spiegelman, Art. Breakdowns : portrait of the artist as a young %@[squiggle][star]! /

Bacon, Ursula. Shanghai diary : a young girl's journey from Hitler's hate to war-torn China /

Greenberg, Murray. Passing game : Benny Friedman and the transformation of football /


FAMILY/PARENTING/RELATIONSHIPS

Family matters : Jewish education in an age of choice /

Nemzoff, Ruth E. Don't bite your tongue : how to foster rewarding relationships with your adult children /

Diamant, Anita. How to raise a Jewish child : a practical handbook for family life /

Meszler, Joseph B. A man's responsibility : a Jewish guide to being a son, a partner in marriage, a father, and a community leader /


PRAYER, SPIRITUALITY, ETHICS

Tefilat nashim. The Jewish woman's prayer book /

Spitz, Elie Kaplan, Healing from despair : choosing wholeness in a broken world /

Borowitz, Eugene B. A touch of the sacred : a theologian's informal guide to Jewish belief /

Jewish stories from heaven and earth : inspiring tales to nourish the heart and soul /

Hirsch, Sherre Z. We plan, God laughs : 10 steps to finding your divine path when life is not turning out like you wanted /

Gillman, Neil Doing Jewish theology : God, Torah & Israel in modern Judaism /
Schulweis, Harold M. Conscience : the duty to obey and the duty to disobey /

HOLOCAUST, HISTORY, ISRAEL, POLITICS,

Ackerman, Diane. The zookeeper's wife /

Kisliuk, Ingrid From trauma to trepidation memories transmitted by hidden children to the second generation

Carvalho, Solomon Nunes Incidents of travel and adventure in the far West.

Goldstein, Elyse. New Jewish feminism : probing the past, forging the future

Sharansky, Natan. Defending identity its indispensable role in protecting democracy

Sarna, Jonathan D. A time to every purpose : letters to a young Jew /

Bronfman, Edgar M. Hope, not fear : a path to Jewish renaissance /

Dershowitz, Alan M. The case against Israel's enemies : exposing Jimmy Carter and others who stand in the way of peace /

Kritzler, Ed. Jewish pirates of the Caribbean : how a generation of swashbuckling Jews carved out an empire in the new world in their quest for treasure, religious freedoms and revenge

Jews and American comics : an illustrated history of an American art form

Weiss, Avraham. Spiritual activism : a Jewish guide to leadership and repairing the world

Brown, Erica. Inspired Jewish leadership : practical approaches to building strong communities

Firestone, Reuven Who are the real chosenpeople? : the
meaning of chosenness in Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam

Salkin, Jeffrey K. Righteous Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible :
ancient role models for sacred relationships

Rubinger, David, Israel through my lens : sixty years as a photojournalist


HEBREW, TORAH, STUDY

Alpert, Rebecca T. Whose Torah? : a concise guide to progressive Judaism

Kravitz, Leonard S.
Eichah : a modern commentary on the Book of Lamentations

Artson, Bradley Shavit. The everyday Torah : weekly reflections and inspirations /

Stavans, Ilan. Resurrecting Hebrew

Elkins, Dov Peretz. The wisdom of Judaism : an introduction to the values of the Talmud

MUSIC

Safam (musical group) Safam the complete collection anthology


FICTION/LITERARY ESSAYS/GRAPHIC NOVELS

Grossman, David Writing in the dark/

Nadelson, Scott. Saving Stanley : the Brickman stories /

Roth, Philip. Indignation /

Sfar, Joann. The rabbi's cat /Graphic novel.

Modan, Rutu Jamilti & other stories/ Graphic novel

Montefiore, Sebag. Sashenka .

Yehoshua, Abraham B. Friendly fire : a duet

Kellerman, Faye The Mercedes coffin (mystery)

Katzir, Judith. Dearest Anne : a tale of impossible love /

Anton, Maggie. Rashi's daughter : secret scholar

Keret, Etgar, The girl on the fridge

Agnon, Shmuel Yosef . To this day

Manseau, Peter. Songs for the butcher's daughter

Brown, Danit Ask for a convertible : stories

Silva, Daniel, Moscow rules (Thriller)


NEW FILMS

Izen, Shulamit Hineini coming out in a Jewish high
school


NEW BOOKS ON CD

Silva, Daniel, Moscow rules


Roth, Philip Indignation