Thank you, AJL!

The Association of Jewish Libraries Convention took place last week in Pasadena. Four days packed with wonderful sessions, friends, and fun. My experiences being the chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee have been rewarding beyond measure. Here's a taste of this year's convention through my eyes:


My name tag!

Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners - Susan Goldman Rubin and Rob Sharenow

SharingChanukah Lights with Debbie Feder and Aimee Lurie

Sharing a smile with the lovely Susan Goldman Rubin



Aimee Lurie, incoming chair of the STBA Committee and me!

For more photos and info visit the AJL Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/#!/jewishlibraries

SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARDS ANNOUNCED!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

2012 Sydney Taylor Book Awards Announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries

Michael J. Rosen and Robert Sabuda, author and artist of Chanukah Lights, Susan Goldman Rubin, author of Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein, and Robert Sharenow, author of The Berlin Boxing Club, are the 2012 winners of the prestigious Sydney Taylor Book Award. The awards were announced at the mid-winter meeting of the School, Synagogue and Community Center Division of the Association of Jewish Libraries.The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.

The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the Association of Jewish Libraries convention in Pasadena, California this June.

Rosen and Sabuda will receive the 2012 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s Younger Readers Category for Chanukah Lights, published by Candlewick Press. This exquisite book celebrates Jewish history by pairing poetic prose with intricate paper cut pop-up art. Barbara Bietz, Chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, said: “From the shtetl to skyscrapers, the white pop-up scenes against a background of deep rainbow colors illuminate Jewish life for the eight nights of Chanukah. Together, children and adults will marvel at the stunning scenes that magically unfold with each turn of the page.”

The gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s Older Readers Category will be presented to Susan Goldman Rubin for Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein, published by Charlesbridge Publishing. This biography shares the inspiring story of the young musician and his commitment to succeed in spite of his family’s opposition. Through hard work, determination and a spirit that won’t quit, Bernstein’s dream is realized as he takes the stage as a conductor at Carnegie Hall. Numerous photos help bring Bernstein’s journey to life. Committee member Barbara Krasner commented: “Music Was It" shows the struggle between the old and new worlds - the immigrant generation and the American generation. Susan Goldman Rubin's well-researched and polished narrative was filled with tension that today's kids can relate to.”In 2000, Goldman Rubin received the Sydney Taylor Honor Award for Fireflies in the Dark: The Story of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis. Her book, The Cat with the Yellow Star: Coming of Age in Terezin, was a 2006 Sydney Taylor Honor Book.

Robert Sharenow will receive the 2012 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s Teen Readers Category for The Berlin Boxing Club, published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishing. This historical novel reveals the history of Nazi Germany through the eyes of Karl Stern, a typical 14-year-old German boy. Karl never gave much thought to being Jewish and had little connection with any religious life. When classmates bully Karl, he is forced to face the dangers in his own community. Given the opportunity to learn boxing from German champion Max Schmeling, Karl jumps at the chance. He grows strong and learns to defend himself. But as the Nazi’s gain power and his family is in peril, Karl questions who he can trust. Aimee Lurie, incoming Chair of the Award Committee noted: “The superb writing, meticulous research, and dramatic look into the world of boxing pack a punch that will leave teens mesmerized! Readers will be captivated and inspired by Karl's transformation from being the victim of anti-semitic violence to a strong, confident young man who is able to protect his family.”

For complete list of winners, honors, and notables please visit:

http://www.jewishlibraries.org/main/Portals/0/AJL_Assets/documents/awards/stba/2012%20STBAawardsList.pdf

Association of Jewish Libraries Conference

The Association of Jewish Libraries is gearing up for their annual convention. This year the big event will be held in Seattle - July 4 - 7. Among many other exciting sessions will be the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee discussing current Jewish books for children and presenting awards for the year.

If you would like to learn more, please visit the AJL Blog at www.jewishlibraries.org/blog

Syndey Taylor Book Awards

At the Association of Jewish Libraries Convention in Chicago, the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee presented Adventures in Book Reviewing which included recommended books, “hot and not” selections, and previews of new books for the coming year. The audience was enthralled with presentations by this year’s Gold Medal winners, Richard Michelson and Raul Colon, the author and illustrator of AS GOOD AS ANYBODY, and Karen Hesse, author of BROOKLYN BRIDGE.

After a delicious meal at a star-studded Authors Brunch and book signing event, I attended a session called How I learned about Amazing Jewish Books through Social Media, featuring Mark Blevis, host of Just One More Book, a podcast about children’s literature. He and Heidi Estrin, host of the Book of Life pod cast, introduced us to the various social networking options available for librarians to learn about new books and more, including blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.

The Awards Banquet was the perfect event for our final evening together. The honorees including the Gold Medal winners, and the Silver Medal Winners - Richard Michelson, Arunka Siegel, and Anna Levine gave heartfelt, emotional speeches. It was an honor to share in the celebration.

Author's Panel - The Stories Behind the Stories

I am still basking in the glow of the wonderful Association of Jewish Libraries Convention. It was held in beautiful Chicago and the organizers did an incredible job. I had a chance to meet up with the other members of the Sydney Taylor book Award Committee. I’ll be writing about our session, Adventures in Book Reviewing, in another post.

The first session I attended featured an impressive line-up of children’s authors, including Esme Codell shared her experiences as a teacher that inspired her book, VIVE LA PARIS. Ilene Cooper presented some of the stunning illustrations from THE GOLDEN RULE, a lovely book that represents many faiths. Brenda Ferber touched us with the real-life story that inspired JULIA’S KITCHEN, a thoughtful novel about love and loss. Esther Hershenhorn charmed the group with her personal experiences that led to the creation of CHICKEN SOUP BY HEART. It’s fascinating and inspirational to learn how stories come to life.

Linda Silver - Jewish Values Finder

I am delighted to welcome Linda Silver to my blog. Linda is a specialist in Jewish children's literature. A retired librarian, Linda has worked in school and public libraries as well as in synagogue and Jewish educational libraries.

Her professional activities include leadership positions in the Association of Library Service to Children (ALSC/ALA) and in the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL). She has been a member of the Newbery-Caldecott Committee, an ALSC board member, president of the School, Synagogue, and Center Division of AJL, president of the Cleveland AJL chapter, and chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. In 2004, Linda received the AJL's Fanny Goldstein Merit Award in recognition of her contributions to the Association and to the profession of Judaic librarianship. She teaches workshops and gives talks on Jewish children's literature and writes about it extensively as a reviewer and co-editor of children's book reviews for the AJL Newsletter and as editor of the online Jewish Valuesfinder,www.ajljewishvalues.org.

Linda's most recent publication is a book published in 2008 by Neal-Schuman entitled The Jewish Values Finder: A Guide to Values in Jewish Children's Literature. Past publications include Jewish Classics for Kids (AJL, 2006), Excellence in Jewish Children’s Literature: A Guide for Book Selectors, Reviewers and Award Judges (AJL, 2003), and Developing a Judaic Children’s Collection (AJL, 2001) as well as many magazine, journal, and newspaper articles. Her current writing project is a guide to Jewish children's literature for the Jewish Publication Society. Linda lives with her husband in Cleveland, Ohio.

Linda’s contribution to children’s literature is inspiring. I’m honored that she was able to spend some time to share her knowledge and experience.

Tell me a little bit about the history of Jewish Values Finder and how parents, educators and librarians can access the information.

The predecessor of the Jewish Valuesfinder was Marcia Posner's Juvenile Judaica, a print publication that listed books of Jewish content, briefly described them, and gave their subjects and themes. After the first edition, which was published in 1985 and sold by AJL, several supplements were issued. Publication was suspended around 1995. In 2002, Marcia asked me to create a new publication that would continue her work in some form. She contributed the funds needed to develop the online guide, which was launched in 2003 and is accessible to anyone with a computer at www.ajljewishvalues.org. The publishing director at Neal-Schuman read an article about the Jewish Valuesfinder and contacted me, asking if I would write a book.

What drew you to create such a database?

Although more and more books of Jewish content for kids were being published, there was very little written about them. Individual reviews and short bibliographies existed but nothing that compiled all of that burgeoning literature on a continuous basis or evaluated it or identified it by the Jewish values embodied in it. As a Judaic librarian in synagogues and a bureau of Jewish education, I was very aware of how often parents and teachers looked for literature that was rich in Jewish values and how there were no guides to help find it.

This month the Jewish Values Finder was published in book form. How does the book differ from the web site? Will there be updated versions available every year?

The book contains information that the online does not, including a history of Jewish children's literature in America, selection criteria for books of Jewish content, collection development guidelines, and a list of Jewish publishers. While the online guide identifies books by more than 100 separate values, The Jewish Values Finder book organizes books by eighteen different values - each one conceptualized rather broadly. The chapter on mitzvot, for example, includes books that would be identified by many different mitzvot in the online guide. The book is portable; the online guide is not. The book is finite in the number of titles it contains whereas new titles are always being added to the online guide, which already contains books published in 2008. As for updates, I don't know what the publisher's plans are and suppose they depend on how well this book does.

If an author or publisher wants a book considered for inclusion in the Jewish Values Finder is there a submission process?

Anyone who wants a book for children or teens considered for the Valuesfinder can send me a copy for review. First, they should read about the criteria for selecting titles for inclusion in the Valuesfinder by going to www.ajljewishvalues.org. They can also email me at silverlr@roadrunner.com.

Do you see any significant trends in Jewish literature for children?

There's more Jewish "chicklit" being written and more novels for teens in general. Overall, they make me cringe: “chicklit" celebrates the very traits which sexist adult novels have always associated with women, traits that brand women as petty, materialistic, narcisistic, concerned mainly with their looks and how much money they can spend. The focus in most books for teens is on the self - on the main character and her or his personal, often narrow, concerns. There is very little sense of peoplehood or of being a part of the nation of Israel. In this sense, they are anti-Jewish.

Are there any books “missing” from the genre that you would like to see published?

The art of the picture book is one of the highest achievements in modern children's literature but there's little evidence of that among picture books of Jewish content, whose illustrations are usually banal or at best, pretty. I'm also struck by how conservative, how safe most books of Jewish content are. By this, I don't mean I yearn for the vulgarity that is so commercially successful in secular books for kids but I do wish there was more off-beat or experimental writing, more mischief, more fantasy. For this to happen, reviewers are going to have to be more welcoming of the off-beat and publishers less risk-averse.

Linda, thank you for your commitment to children’s literature!