The Jewish Book Council announced this week the winners of the Louis Posner Memorial Award for Illustrated Children’s Book and The Sydney Taylor Book Awards for 2015 are out!
Louis Posner Memorial Award for Illustrated Children’s Book Winner
The Patchwork Torah by Allison Ofanansky, illustrated by Elsa Oriol
Fragments of damaged and rescued Torahs from several periods of history are woven together in this touching tale of four generations of a Torah scribe and his family. [picture book, ages 5 and up]
Louis Posner Memorial Award for Illustrated Children’s Book Finalists
The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro
The dramatic story of neighbors in a small Danish fishing village who, during the Holocaust, shelter a Jewish family waiting to be ferried to safety in Sweden. It is 1943 in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Anett and her parents are hiding a Jewish woman and her son, Carl, in their cellar until a fishing boat can take them across the sound to neutral Sweden. The soldiers patrolling their street are growing suspicious, so Carl and his mama must make their way to the harbor despite a cloudy sky with no moon to guide them. Worried about their safety, Anett devises a clever and unusual plan for their safe passage to the harbor. Based on a true story. [picture book, ages 9 and up]
Never Say a Mean Word Again: A Tale from Medieval Spain by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Durga Yael
The story of two boys, one Jewish and one Muslim, is based on the real-life actions of the Jewish poet Samuel Ha-Nagid, a royal advisor in 11th century Muslim Spain. They are friends but when they have a conflict, one boy’s father comes up with a creative solution of working it out. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
2015 Sydney Taylor Book Awards announced by the Association of Jewish Libraries
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger Readers
My Grandfather’s Coat by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock
A rollicking, rhyming, fun rendition of a favorite folksong about a many-times recycled coat–by the award-winning, bestselling team of Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Younger Readers
Goldie Takes a Stand by Barbara Krasner with illustrations by Kelsey Garrity-Riley
A glimpse at the early life of Israel’s first female prime minister, who was born in Russia and grew up in Milwaukee, this story is based on a true episode in the early life of Golda Meir. [picture book biography, ages 6 and up]
Never Say a Mean Word Again by Jacqueline Jules with illustrations by Durga Yael Bernhard
The story of two boys, one Jewish and one Muslim, is based on the real-life actions of the Jewish poet Samuel Ha-Nagid, a royal advisor in 11th-century Muslim Spain. They are friends but when they have a conflict, one boy’s father comes up with a creative solution of working it out. [picture book, ages 4 and up]
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Older Readers
Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust by Loic Dauvillier & Greg Salsedo, illustrated by Marc Lizano
In this gentle, poetic young graphic novel, Dounia, a grandmother, tells her granddaughter the story even her son has never heard: how, as a young Jewish girl in Paris, she was hidden away from the Nazis by a series of neighbors and friends who risked their lives to keep her alive when her parents had been taken to concentration camps. [picture book comic, ages 6 and up]
Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Older Readers
Death by Toilet Paper by Donna Gephart
Benjamin is about to lose a whole lot more than good toilet paper. But even with his flair for clever slogans, will he be able to win a cash prize large enough to keep a promise he made to his dad before he died? [chapter book, ages 9 and up]
The Whispering Town by Jennifer Elvgren, illustrated by Fabio Santomauro
The dramatic story of neighbors in a small Danish fishing village who, during the Holocaust, shelter a Jewish family waiting to be ferried to safety in Sweden. It is 1943 in Nazi-occupied Denmark. Anett and her parents are hiding a Jewish woman and her son, Carl, in their cellar until a fishing boat can take them across the sound to neutral Sweden. The soldiers patrolling their street are growing suspicious, so Carl and his mama must make their way to the harbor despite a cloudy sky with no moon to guide them. Worried about their safety, Anett devises a clever and unusual plan for their safe passage to the harbor. Based on a true story. [picture book, ages 9 and up]
The Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Teen Readers
Storm by Donna Jo Napoli
A sixteen-year-old stowaway discovers her destiny on Noah’s ark in this riveting reimagining. [young adult, ages 14 and up]
Sydney Taylor Honor Books for Teen Readers
Isabel’s War by Lila Perl
Set in the Bronx during World War II, Isabel’s War is a beautiful evocation of New York in the 1940s and of a girl’s growing awareness of the world around her. [young adult, ages 12 and up]
Like No Other by Una LaMarche
In the timeless tradition of West Side Story and Crossing Delancey, this thoroughly modern take on romance will inspire laughter, tears, and the belief that love can happen when and where you least expect it. [young adult, ages 12 and up]
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Welcome to the 54th Kid Lit Blog Hop where we continue to develop a dynamic and engaged community of children’s books bloggers, authors, publishers, and publicists. So, you are always more than welcome to join us by popping in a post and hopping around to meet some of your fellow Kid Lit bloggers and authors!
This week, we are excited to be including a Twitter Linky Party to be held in conjunction with the Kid Lit Blog Hop. These linky parties are designed to give you the opportunity to connect with and grow your network of fellow kid lit bloggers, authors, and parents through your various social media platforms.
We are pleased to be welcome a new permanent KLBH host with us (you’ll remember she co-hosted with us a few weeks ago!): Rebecca from A Book Long Enough, a wonderful new book blog written by a librarian and Mom of three. Big welcome Rebecca!
Hostesses:
Mother Daughter Book Reviews
Julie Grasso, Author/ Blogger
Cheryl Carpinello, Author / Blogger
Stacking Books
BeachBoundBooks
Pragmatic Mom
Best 4 Future: Bringing Up Baby Bilingual
Reading Authors
The Logonauts
A Book Long Enough
Happy Hopping everyone and enjoy the Hop!
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2. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Link up any Kid Lit related post in the Kid Lit Blog Hop. This can be a link to a children’s book review, a discussion about children’s literature/literacy, or a post on a recently-read children’s book or one that you love from your childhood.
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3. KID LIT BLOG HOP: Please visit AT LEAST the TWO LINKS from the Kid Lit Blog Hop directly ahead of your own and leave them some love in the form of a comment. We are trying to build a community of bloggers, readers, parents, authors, and others who are as passionate about children’s literature as we are so please CONNECT and follow any or all of the blogs that interest you!
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My books:
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Massachusetts Book Award Long List
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award Long List
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
Thank you for sharing these! I haven’t read any of them, and they all sound good.
Thanks so much MaryAnne! I didn’t realize there were two awards for Jewish books so that was fun to discover!
I’ve only read a few: Like No Other; Hidden & My Grandfather’s Coat (but my daughter read & loved Death by Toilet Paper). More great books to put on the neverending list!
Thanks, Mia!
Thanks so much for your great books suggestions (as always!). I heard great things about Hidden! I need to buy a copy of that one. Like No Other and My Grandfather’s Coat are new to me.
The Whispering Town reminds me of Number the Stars from Lois Lowry. Denmark acted extraordinarly during the Holocaust, sheltering their Jewish population from the Nazis and shipping them to safety in neutral Sweden. A book based on a true story is a winner when we share it with young readers. Impressive list. Also I would love to be part of the Kid Lit Blog Hop, but I think I miss some information. I will try to check previous posts to see how I can participate.
Hi Evelyne,
I’ll introduce you to Renee who coordinates the Kid Lit Blog Hop. There’s one more great picture book about the Danish king during WWII: The Yellow Star: The Legend of King Christian X of Denmark that you might like (and to add to our pile!). 🙂
Thanks for sharing your list with us at Mommy Monday!
XOXO
Thanks so much for stopping by Mrs. AOK!
I love this blog. Thank you so much. I have a 7 year old (AR level 3.8-5.8) who is incredibly interested in WW2, Hitler, Israel, Palestine. He is quite a squeamish little boy, so anything too scary (blood or violence) he won’t finish reading. All the biographies about Hitler were too much for him, but I found the “What was Pearl Harbor” and “Who was Anne Frank?” bio and he really enjoyed that. Are there any books about the conflict between Israel / Palestine that you could recommend that would be age appropriate for him. I am looking for an easy primer for my second grader. We watched a DVD about Israel from the library that he enjoyed, but left him with many questions.
Hi Thanya,
I’m now just starting a list of picture books on the Arab world and I’ll try to find Israel/Palestine books for you but I think they might in the non-fiction section which I haven’t researched. I’ll ask around to find for you to add to the list. Thanks for your great suggestion!