The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

One of a Kind: The Life of Sydney Taylor by Richard Michelson, illustrated by Sarah Green Calkins Creek (imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Heidi Rabinowitz Buy at Bookshop.org As readers of The Sydney Taylor Shmooze blog know, Sydney Taylor was the author of the All-of-a-Kind Family series, the first popular mainstream books to feature Jewish characters. The Association of Jewish Libraries' children's book award is named in Taylor's memory. One of a Kind is a picture book biography of Sydney Taylor, detailing her childhood, relationships, influences, career moves, and the fulfillment of her dream to become an author. Taylor's complex and active lifetime has been skillfully simplified here, with straightforward language and a thematic throughline of Syd's desire for social justice, manifested at last in the publication of All-of-a-Kind Family . The facts are based closely upon Taylor's own writings and family reco...

You Are a Star, Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Dean Robbins, illustrated by Sarah Green Scholastic Press (imprint of Scholastic), 2022 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rachel J. Fremmer Buy at Bookshop.org This picture book biography of the famed jurist is told in the first-person. With its short punchy phrasing and relatively large sans-serif font, it is aimed at slightly younger audiences than its predecessors, including Ruth Bader Ginsburg:The Case of R.B.G. vs. Inequality by Jonah Winter and I Dissent!: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy. It is also the only picture book biography of her written since her death. With sentences like, “Would you believe that my school even banned women from the library?” and attention paid to Ginsburg’s other interests, like Greek mythology (when she was a child), dancing, and opera (throughout her life), and others, this biography makes Ginsburg relatable. The realistic illustrations which include Ginsburg enjoying her many hobbies, holdin...