Kid-Friendly Criteria

Mock Award Programs are often done with students, who may find the official Sydney Taylor Book Award criteria difficult to interpret. Here is our "kid-friendly" version of the criteria, below. A book that meets each standard on the list is eligible for the award. A book that passes each standard with flying colors is a good selection for a Mock Winner!

Please note that Jewish content is necessary for a book to be eligible for the Sydney Taylor Book Award but Jewish authorship is not.

1. The book has literary merit.

"Literary merit" just means it's a good book, but how do you tell if a book is good? If you can answer YES to these questions, the book has literary merit.

• Are the characters in the book interesting? Do they feel real to you, like you could be friends with them?
• When characters are talking, do they sound natural, the way people would really speak?
• Does the plot (the storyline) make sense?
• Whether realistic fiction or fantasy, does the world of the story feel real - can you imagine being there yourself?
• Is the writing clear? Does the author use fun or beautiful language? Do they give interesting descriptions?
• Do the characters learn and grow during the story? Does the book make you think about things in a new way or teach you anything you didn't know before?
• Is the book unique - does it present something new and different from other books you've read?
• Did you enjoy the book enough that you want to read it again or share it with a friend?
• If the book is illustrated, is the art skillfully created? Do the illustrations make reading the book more fun or interesting?

2. The book has positive and authentic Jewish religious or cultural content.

"Positive" means that the book shows good things about Jews and Judaism. "Authentic" means genuine, realistic, or accurate, and without stereotypes. Jewish religious or cultural content can include any of the following:

• Characters who are identifiably Jewish and who do NOT embody Jewish stereotypes.
• Jewish holidays, including Shabbat
• Jewish customs like b'nai mitzvah
• Jewish culture like food, music, or language (Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino)
• Jewish setting like a Jewish home or neighborhood, a synagogue, a shtetl, or Israel
• Events that are important in Jewish history like the Exodus from Egypt or the Holocaust

3. The book is appropriate for the intended grade level in style, vocabulary, format, and illustration.

Is the book easy to read and understand, or were there too many big words, confusing ideas, or pictures of things that you did not recognize?

4. Whether fiction or nonfiction, the book is solidly rooted in authentic and accurate detail through scholarship and research by the author.

The author should have done their homework to make sure they get the details right in their book. As far as you know, were things about history or culture correct in this story? You can read professional reviews of the book to see if other reviewers caught any mistakes. Also, if the book has an author's note at the back, and/or a list of websites or books for further reading, that's a good sign that the author has done their homework.

5. Particular attention will be paid to titles that demonstrate the broad diversity of the Jewish experience, including diversity of time period and country of origin.

The majority of Jews have European heritage and light skin, but Jews come in all colors and live all over the world. There are many fine books about white-presenting Ashkenazi (European) Jews in Jewish population centers like New York City, or in historical periods that are important in Jewish history, like the Holocaust. However, the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee wants to encourage more writing about other Jewish experiences, so we hope that you will read books about Jews of color, Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews, Jews by choice, interfaith Jews, neurodivergent or disabled Jews, LGBT+ Jews, and Jews in times and places less often seen in children's literature (like times other than early 20th century immigration or WWII, and places other than the northeastern United States or Eastern Europe).

There are ten official criteria, but the rest are more technical and administrative. The five criteria above will help you consider whether a book is of high enough quality to deserve a mock award.