The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

The Real Sydney Taylor Book Awards were announced on January 30, 2023! Below are the real winners, honors, and notable books for 2023! We've linked to the Shmooze reviews, but you'll notice that there is one book we didn't review. We try to cover all the Jewish books published each year but sometimes we miss a few.  Listen to a podcast interview with awards chair Martha Seif Simpson on The Book of Life about this year's winners! The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs by Chana, illustrations by Susan Gal. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2022. ISBN: 9781338225891. Thirty-five years after Nazis destroyed her beloved shtetl of Eishyshok, Poland, Yaffe Eliach recovered thousands of precious photographs preserved by relatives and survivors to recreate her community at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Susan Gal’s expressive illustrations bring to life this true story of love and rem

We are pleased to announce our third year of Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards! The top Jewish juvenile books published in 2022 were chosen from our shortlist by popular vote. Thank you to the many people who helped us select these titles! Click on the links to read the reviews.   PICTURE BOOKS Mock Winner: Alone Together on Dan Street by Erica Cohen  Lyons Mock Honor: The Tower of Life by Chana Stiefel Mock Notable: The Very Best Sukkah by Shoshana Nambi MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS Mock Winner: Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe Mock Honor: Honey and Me by Meira Drazin Mock Notable: Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack YOUNG ADULTS BOOKS Mock Winner: The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum Mock Honor: Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman Mock Notable: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb The Real Sydney Taylor Book Awards will be announced on Monday, January 30, 2023 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Tune in live at

CLICK HERE TO VOTE This is Round 2 of the 2023 Mock Sydney Taylor Book Award vote. This ballot includes the top three titles in each age category from Round 1. Anyone may vote for the 2023 Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards (except for current members of AJL's Sydney Taylor Book Award committee). Voters may select one title in each of three categories (Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult). Please vote for the titles you think are most worthy of receiving the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Criteria are here:  https://www.sydneytaylorshmooze.com/p/criteria.html . To read reviews of all titles on this year's ballots, please see:  https://www.sydneytaylorshmooze.com/2023/01/2023-mock-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html CALENDAR: Monday-Friday, January 9-13, 2023 - Round 1 voting Monday-Friday, January 16-20, 2023 - Round 2 voting Sunday, January 22, 2023 - Mock Award results announced Monday, January 30, 2023 - Real Award winners announced Monday, January 30, 2023 - Exclusive interview with

  CLICK HERE TO VOTE We created The Sydney Taylor Shmooze in 2020, so this is our third year of mock award voting. In our first two seasons the ballots listed every book reviewed that year, which was unwieldy. Additionally, results were impacted by plural voting and authors campaigning for votes. To address those issues, this year we have selected our top ten books in each age category, and voters will be asked to sign into their Gmail accounts in order to register their votes, so that each person can only vote once. The selections we offer are based on our personal preferences and our professional judgement as active advocates of Jewish youth literature and past chairs of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee. Our choices, and your votes, have no connection to or impact on the Real Sydney Taylor Book Award committee. Anyone may vote for the 2023 Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards (except for current members of AJL's Sydney Taylor Book Award committee). Voters may select one title in

PICTURE BOOKS A Persian Passover by Etan Basseri review by Bridget Hodder Tía Fortuna's New Home by Ruth Behar review by Shirley Reva Vernick Big Dreams, Small Fish by Paula Cohen review by Sarah Aronson The Greatest Song of All by Megan Hoyt review by Shanna Silva Alone Together on Dan Street by Erica Cohen Lyons review by Arlene Schenker A Synagogue Just Like Home by Alice McGinty review by Cynthia Levinson The Very Best Sukkah by Shoshana Nambi review by Suzanne Grossman I Hate Borsch! by Yevgenia Nayberg review by Mirele Kessous The Tower of Life by Chana Stiefel review by Jeannette Brod Shoshi's Shabbat by Caryn Yacowitz review by Jacqueline Jules MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS The Lost Ryū by Emi Watanabe Cohen review by Heidi Rabinowitz Honey and Me by Meira Drazin review by Jacqueline Jules Where You've Got To Be by Caroline Gertler review by Stacy Nockowitz The Book of Elsie by Joanne Levy review by Rachel J. Fremmer Wayward Creatures by Dayna Lo

As we wrap up our third year of reviewing Jewish books for children and teens on The Sydney Taylor Shmooze, we are excitedly looking forward to choosing our Mock award winners! Here's what you can expect, and how you can be a part of it. Monday-Friday January 9-13, 2023 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). Monday-Friday January 16-20, 2023 Voting Round 2. The top books that scored highest in Round 1 will be on the second ballot, again in three categories. Sunday January 22, 2023 Mock Winners and Mock Honor Books will be announced! Monday January 30, 2023 The Real Sydney Taylor Book Award winners, honors, and notable books will be announced at ALA's LibLearnX Youth Media Awards! February 2023 A Real Award blog tour will showcase the Real Winners.

  We want to thank our dedicated team of volunteer book reviewers! They've been doing an incredible job evaluating Jewish children's and YA books for The Sydney Taylor Shmooze throughout 2022. Read their reviews so you'll be ready to VOTE for the Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards, starting January 9, 2023! If you're interested in joining our reviewing team, CLICK HERE . Todah Rabah to: Laurie Adler Sarah Aronson Dena Bach Freidele Bianshvili Sarah Blattner Belinda Brock Jeanette Brod Merle Carrus Leah Cypess Meira Drazin Ronda Einbinder Karin Fisher-Golton Rachel Fremmer Beth Gallego Aleah Gornbein Jeff Gottesfeld Judy Greenblatt Suzanne Grossman Rinat Hadad Kathryn Hall Dina Herbert Bridget Hodder Ruth Horowitz Jacqueline Jules Mirele Kessous Rebecca Klempner Ann Koffsky Cynthia Levinson Ronna Mandel Linda Elovitz Marshall Evonne Marzouk Heather Matthews Naomi Morse Stacy Mozer Stacy Nockowitz Chava Pinchuck Heidi Rabinowitz Stacey Rattner Emily Roth Arlene Schenker