The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

    As we are sure you remember, The Sydney Taylor Shmooze is a mock award blog created to encourage discussion of books eligible for the Sydney Taylor Book Award. The purpose is to grow awareness of the genre and of the criteria for the Award, and to help readers critically consider Jewish literature for youth. Well, now we've experienced almost a full year of Jewish kidlit together and it's time to think about handing out some mock awards! Here's what you can expect in the upcoming months: We will continue posting book reviews for eligible 2020 titles through the end of the December, 2020. Monday-Friday January 4-8, 2021 Voting Round 1 . Anyone may vote (except for current members of AJL's Sydney Taylor Book Award committee). Voters may select one favorite title in each of three categories (Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult). Every book reviewed on the blog this year will be on the ballot. Monday-Friday January 11-15, 2021 Voting Round 2 . The top books th...

A Crowded Farmhouse Folktale by Karen Rostoker-Gruber, illustrated by Kristina Swarner Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Karin Fisher-Golton Buy at Bookshop.org A Crowded Farmhouse Folktale holds its space beautifully in a somewhat crowded field of picture book retellings of the Yiddish folktale known as “It Could Always Be Worse” or “The Overcrowded House.” The tale has been retold many times for good reason. The message that happiness derives from perception is timeless, and one that we humans seem to need to be reminded of again and again. In the tale, the lesson is taught in humorous fashion by a wise person—typically a rabbi, but in this telling a wise woman—asking the inhabitants of the crowded house to bring in more people and/or animals, so that when they return to the usual number of inhabitants, the house seems comparatively roomy. Author Karen Rostoker-Gruber sets this picture book version on a farm—an engaging setting for her young audience. She uses repetition and rhyme, ...

 Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Rachel Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org Chance: Escape from the Holocaust by Uri Shulevitz is a tour de force, a culmination of his life’s work, in which he traces his family’s journey from Poland to various locations in the Soviet Union during World War II. In direct, simple, and yet beautiful prose, he matter-of-factly recounts the horrors and the hunger - such hunger! - of those days. The book also traces his personal evolution as an artist, reader, and writer. In a particularly appropriate choice of words, he says that, as a refugee, his “only refuge was drawing” and that drawing was his “home.” The title of the book reflects Shulevitz’s belief - dare I say theology? - that he and his parents were saved by chance alone. He asks why he and his non-observant parents were saved while his deeply devout grandfather was not and concludes “I have no answers.” This philosophy, hard for anyone to accept, ma...

Rip to the Rescue by Miriam Halahmy Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Jane Kohuth   Buy at Bookshop.org Thirteen year-old Jack Castle has been bullied for years because he us deaf in his left ear. It is 1940 and London is reeling from the Blitz. Jack’s father, a disabled veteran of World War I has been moody and angry since the war began, often reprimanding Jack and telling him how useless he is. In order to prove his worth, Jack, who is tall, has lied about his age in order to join the Messengers, teenage boys who ride their bikes through air raids to deliver critical messages. He keeps this job from his parents, who believe Jack is guiding his grandfather to a shelter and staying with him during raids. During one air raid, Jack is injured, and help comes in the form of twelve-year-old Paula, who takes him home to her father, who is a doctor. Soon Jack also finds a stray dog with a ripped ear, whom he names “Rip.” Jack’s father, like many people at the time, had Jack’s pet cats eut...

A Very Big Problem by Amy-Jill Levine & Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, illustrated by Annie Bowler Cateogry: Picture Books Reviewer: Laurie Adler   Buy at Bookshop.org An argument is piercing through the serenity of God’s garden. Each creation, from rain to earthworms to children, takes a turn to argue why it’s the most important, and refrains that “God should love me the most. It’s only fair.” At the end, God gently intercedes and explains that there is enough love for everyone; each part of nature is crucial to the whole, and “without all of you together, there would be no garden at all.” This gentle story was written to read like a midrash, an ancient Rabbinic story or parable, that expands upon the creation chapters in Genesis. It’s simplicity, alliteration, and repeating refrain will captivate preschool children, while its many ecological facts will broaden their knowledge of our world. Annie Bowler’s bold and colorful illustrations seem to spill out from the pages to perfectly c...

The Girl from Over There: The Hopeful Story of a Young Jewish Immigrant by Sharon Rechter, illustrated by Karla Gerard  Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Judith S. Greenblatt   Buy at Bookshop.org An unnamed Israeli kibbutz, post World War II, is the setting for this work of historical fiction. A tattered and terrified 11 year old girl, Miriam, has arrived from “over there.” The adults in the kibbutz welcome her, but 11 year old Michal, self described as the “class queen,” is consumed by jealousy and hatred. While Michal’s clique are initially suspicious and cruel, soon only Michal continues to play mean tricks. Not surprisingly, Miriam returns Michal’s hatred. However, Miriam, helped by Michal’s boyfriend Dan, learns to accept her new surroundings, and decides to reach out to Michal. As more new arrivals are welcomed and tell their stories of the horrors of the war. Michal gradually comes to understand how much Miriam has suffered, and after much hesitation apologizes. Writte...

No Vacancy by Tziporah Cohen Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Stacy Mozer   Buy at Bookshop.org No Vacancy is the story of eleven-year-old Miriam Brockman whose family moves to upstate New York to run a motel. Unfortunately, they learn pretty quickly that the previous owners had overvalued the hotel's income potential. The book is set against a backdrop of religious identity and acceptance. Miriam and her family are Jewish and have some religious practices, such as not eating pork and celebrating Shabbat with Friday night dinner, and her uncle who comes to visit is shomer shabbat . However, the area of New York they have moved to has seen few Jews. When Miriam and her new friend, Kate, find an image at the run-down drive in movie theater that looks like the Virgin Mary, the town is suddenly in the midst of miracle mania. When this leads to antisemitic vandalism on the hotel, the predominantly Christian town has to stand together with their new Jewish neighbors. I think this book s...

  Review: A Ceiling Made of Eggshells by Gail Carson Levine Category: Middle Grade Reviewer: Meg Wiviott   Buy at Bookshop.org    Loma loves taking care of her young nieces and nephews – her “littles”. More than anything else, she wants to be a Mamá with a husband and children of her own. But Loma’s grandfather, Belo, an influential advisor to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, wants her to accompany him as he travels throughout Spain helping Jews and conducting royal business. At first, Loma is thrilled; she is seven years old when Belo notices her aptitude with numbers and singles her out from all her siblings. But the years pass and Belo refuses to look for a husband for her. Loma resigns herself to having the “littles” as her only children. After the King and Queen inform Belo and his friend Don Solomon Bohor, another Royal advisor, of their plans to banish all the Jews from Spain, Belo is incapacitated by an illness. Fearing the royal couple may kidnap him and f...

  The Association of Jewish Libraries' Sydney Taylor Book Award committee has three open spaces coming up for the 2022 and 2023 award years. Committee members chosen will serve from January 2021 through the June 2023 AJL conference. Each year, committee members will read 120+ picture books, Middle Grade and YA of Jewish content and score them. Committee members will also attend all AJL conferences during their term, and all meetings called by the committee chair.  You do not need to be an AJL member to apply, however being a committee member is contingent upon AJL membership.  The application can be found at  https://jewishlibraries.org/STBA_committee_application .  Applications close November 20, 2020. More information about the award may be found at https://jewishlibraries.org/content.php?page=Sydney_Taylor_Book_Award .