The 2008 Sydney Taylor book awards were announced earlier this month. This award honors new books for children and teens that exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the Jewish experience.It looks like a great selection of books, and I will definitely be heading to the library to check some of these out!
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers:
The Bedtime Sh'ma: A Good Night Book by Sarah Gershman
with illustrations by Kristina Swarner
(EKS Publishing)
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman
(HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Strange Relations by Sonia Levitin
(Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books)
The Castle on Hester Street by Linda Heller with illustrations by Boris Kulikov (Simon & Schuster) Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale by Sarah Marwil Lamstein with illustrations by Neil Waldman (Boyds Mills Press) Light by Jane Breskin Zalben (Dutton Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group)
Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winners for Older Readers:
The Secret of Priest’s Grotto: A Holocaust Survival Story by Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola (Kar-Ben) Holocaust: The Events and Their Impact on Real People by Angela Gluck Wood
with consulting by Dan Stone (DK Publishing in association with USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education)
Sydney Taylor Honor Award Winner for Teen Readers:
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie by Mirjam Pressler, translated by Erik J. Macki (Front Street/ Boyds Mills Press)
Notable Books for Younger Readers:
My Cousin Tamar Lives in Israel by Michelle Shapiro Abraham with illustrations by Ann Koffsky (URJ Press) A Nickel, a Trolley, a Treasure House by Sharon Reiss Baker with illustrations by Beth Peck (Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group) Shuli and Me: From Slavery to Freedom by Joan Benjamin-Farren (Black Jasmine) Papa Jethro by Deborah Bodin Cohen with illustrations by Jane Dippold (Kar-Ben) Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa with illustrations by Gosia Mosz (Kar-Ben) Celebrate Passover with Matzah, Maror and Memories by Deborah Heiligman (National Geographic) Celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with Honey, Prayers and the Shofar by Deborah Heiligman (National Geographic) Five Little Gefiltes by Dave Horowitz (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group) Mendel’s Accordion by Heidi Smith Hyde with illustrations by Johanna Van Der Sterre (Kar-Ben) Abraham’s Search for God by Jacqueline Jules with illustrations by Natascia Ugliano (Kar-Ben) A Mezuzah on the Door by Amy Meltzer with illustrations by Janice Fried (Kar-Ben) Ten Good Rules: A Counting Book by Susan Remick Topek with photographs by Tod Cohen (Kar-Ben)
Notable Books for Older Readers:
Out of Line: Growing Up Soviet by Tina Grimberg (Tundra) A Picture for Marc by Eric Kimmel with illustrations by Matthew Trueman (Random House Children’s Books) Anne Frank: The Young Writer Who Told the World Her Story by Ann Kramer (National Geographic) The Silver Cup by Constance Leeds (Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group) Passover Around the World by Tami Lehman-Wilzig with illustrations by Elizabeth Wolf (Kar-Ben) The Whirlwind by Carol Matas (Orca) Penina Levine is a Hard-Boiled Egg by Rebecca O'Connell with illustrations by Majella Lue Sue (Roaring Brook Press) All Star Season by Tovah Yavin (Kar-Ben)
Notable Books for Teens:
How to Ruin My Teenage Life by Simone Elkeles (Flux) Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb (Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books) Hidden on the Mountain: Stories of Children Sheltered from the Nazis in Le Chambon by Karen Gray Ruelle and Deborah Durland Desaix (Holiday House) Homeland: The Illustrated History of the State of Israel by Marv Wolfman, Mario Ruiz and William J. Rubin (Nachshon Press)
5 comments:
Holy heck, I've never heard of these awards! I'd better get busy making notes of titles and authors and figuring out how much money I can spend on yet more books...
At least if I run out of room here at home, I can donate them to the Temple and visit them there.
susan - I'm glad I could enlighten you! I only learned about the award a month ago when I read a picture book that won the award. I will be getting a book each week from the library off of this list to read to my daughter. I hope to review many of those books here.
Since Judaism is still new to me (my hubby is Jewish, and we are raising our daughter Jewish), Jewish children's lit is a whole undiscovered literary delight!
You are going to make me bankrupt! As a school teacher, I do not earn much either!
BTW, I added you to my blogroll.
This years marks the 40th anniversary of the book award presented by the Association of Jewish Libraries. I've just written an article about how many of these books have also been recognized with Newbery and Caldecott Honors. I am spending the year reading previous winners. You can see the lists of them at www.sydneytaylorbookaward.org.
Kathe Pinchuck, Chair
Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee
Association of Jewish Libraries
I've got a Sydney Taylor Book Award blog over at www.sydneytaylorbookaward.blogspot.com if you'd like to keep an eye on award-related news. In fact, I will add a link to this post! Also, Nyssaneala, I want to let you know about the PJ Library, which provides Jewish books for young families. Check them out at pjlibrary.org.
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