SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/max-in-land-of-lies.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/4wQEsnmUalkzvYUesd-o7pDjudQ?utm_source=copy_url Last July, Adam Gidwitz was on the podcast talking about his middle grade Holocaust historical fantasy novel, Max in the House of Spies, and he told us it was part of a duology. Well, now the second book is out, and I think it's even more powerful than the first one. Max in the Land of Lies continues Max's page-turning, hair raising adventur...
Jul 01, 2025•43 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-throwback-new-queer.html TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/pride-month-throwback?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true In celebration of Pride Month and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing an archival episode from June, 2021. It’s an interview with Adam Eli, a young activist and author of The New Queer Conscience, a manifesto about how the ...
Jun 16, 2025•21 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-special-gender-binary-is.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/0xdCC0WUSVL8flI0x3kljyCApps?utm_source=copy_url I don't normally interview an author about a single chapter of a book, but for my friend Lee Wind, I'm making an exception. He's written a fascinating nonfiction book, The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities Around the World , and Chapter 2 is about "The Six Genders of Classical Judaism." I just had to learn more...
Jun 01, 2025•43 min
SHOW NOTES : https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-special-message-from-heidi-high-low.html TRANSCRIPT : https://otter.ai/u/tomHSY9SlPPB1XDOQwsavTXOeUM?utm_source=copy_url I'm squeezing in this quick extra episode to share with you my personal response to the shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum, with calls to action and a message of hope. LEARN MORE: HIGH E Train Talks interviews Heidi about 20 years of The Book of Life Podcast LOW The Forward's reporting on the shooting of Yaron Lischins...
May 28, 2025•8 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/jahm-throwback-book-of-life-in-america.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/bd9VMkp1cnjgHm9z4cbdq7Usaak?utm_source=copy_url In celebration of May’s Jewish American Heritage Month (aka #JAHM) and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing the eighth-ever episode of the show, from July 2006. The theme was “The Book of Life in America.” In the early years of the show, each episode featured multiple guests, and topics ranged beyon...
May 18, 2025•24 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/mendel-mess-up.html TRANSCRIPT : https://otter.ai/u/MYzjopAD_3R8aSnpGTydMmKNjv4?utm_source=copy_url Terry LaBan is an alternative cartoonist, a graphic recorder (we'll talk about what that means later), and now he's written his first graphic novel, called Mendel the Mess Up. I'm going to borrow the description from the starred review in Publishers Weekly. They said "Put Fiddler on the Roof and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in ...
May 04, 2025•32 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/04/listen-to-podcast-read-transcript-buy.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/EnXlWNdrqXuQ4V3kzlKGwyqpPWk?utm_source=copy_url A Feather, A Pebble, A Shell is a lovely meditation on the natural landscape of Israel, written and illustrated by Miri Leshem-Pelly. Miri's voice is calm and dreamy, and I could hear birds chirping and dogs barking in the background as she spoke. Our conversation was both fun and serious. We talked about art, nature, books...
Apr 16, 2025•47 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/04/bonus-passover-interview-next-year-in.html Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama's First Presidential Seder , written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by E.B. Lewis, is a nonfiction picture book that gives us the true backstory of how Passover first came to be celebrated in the White House. It's a stunning book; it received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist , and was named to the Association of Jewish Libraries' Spring 2025 Hol...
Apr 10, 2025•2 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/dara-horns-one-little-goat-passover.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/zU6o8qxtZlvMmyrGuICLUOmimzQ?utm_source=copy_url Dara Horn is the author of 5 Jewish novels for adults, the provocatively titled nonfiction essay collection People Love Dead Jews, and now a graphic novel for kids: One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe. She writes brilliant, insightful articles for The Atlantic and other publications which set my brain on fire when I read ...
Mar 08, 2025•1 hr 2 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/03/night-owls.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/NeK1Grf7bTzi-TYHpbLocZlEbH4?utm_source=copy_url Night Owls is an paranormal YA romance adventure about Clara and Molly, two estries who run an art house cinema in the Village in New York City. In case you're wondering, estries are Jewish owl-shifting bread-eating female vampires! This book is my new favorite, and I'm not the only one. This debut novel won gold from the Sydney Taylor Book Award AND...
Mar 01, 2025•38 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/02/finn-and-ezras-bar-mitzvah-time-loop.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/FR6MxDDT0mG1gxfhcfN-6KoLAHA?utm_source=copy_url Finn & Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop by Joshua S. Levy is a 2025 Sydney Taylor Honor Book, and I'm thrilled to interview my friend Josh as part of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. February 10-14, 2025, winning authors and illustrators will be interviewed on various blogs, podcasts, and Bookstagram accounts, and of ...
Feb 11, 2025•29 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-2025-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/g5yluS6SsAbhu4hkoKy62TZUgac?utm_source=copy_url The winners of the 2025 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children's and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 27, 2025 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Aviva Rosenberg is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she joined us t...
Jan 27, 2025•47 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/01/one-of-kind-life-of-sydney-taylor.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/pOzW-X6i92Kh4g_Ou-vEKIAGWcM?utm_source=copy_url Sydney Taylor was the first author to write kids books that served as windows into Jewish life, not just mirrors. Her All-of-a-Kind Family series was game changing. These were the first books about Jewish characters to become popular with readers of all backgrounds, and they are still popular today. Jo Taylor Marshall, Sydney's...
Jan 18, 2025•18 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-bubbe-of-them-all-kar-ben-publishing.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/K9B8p4G3Nr-quRj9KYrkhRaGZio?utm_source=copy_url Appropriately, as we kick off this podcast's 20th anniversary year, in this episode we are going to think about change and continuity. We say goodbye to an old friend, Joni Sussman, who is retiring after twenty years of leading the Jewish children's publishing company Kar-Ben. And we'll say hello to a new friend, Fran Gr...
Jan 02, 2025•20 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/12/cheering-on-jewish-books-hanukkah-gift.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/o0Yx3uuZxPHcUStwWsJbUa7xkmY?utm_source=copy_url HANDOUT: https://tinyURL.com/CheeringJewishBooks VIDEO WITH SLIDES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSBTYGDhCl4&t=2s For Hanukkah 2024, I got you a Jewish Book Advocacy Kit! Let me explain. My local public library invited me to give an online talk in honor of Jewish Book Month. As I thought about what to say, I remembe...
Dec 25, 2024•23 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-very-december-25th-hanukkah.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/UWPCM0P5Hpt6NgXH36TIfIelswY?utm_source=copy_url Happy Hanukkah! Christmas and Hanukkah overlap this year, with Hanukkah beginning on December 25, so it's a good time to think about the juxtaposition of these two holidays. Hanukkah is a minor holiday but its proximity to Christmas brings it extra attention. Let's talk about that! GUESTS: Henry Herz, editor of The Festival of Ligh...
Dec 01, 2024•39 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/jewish-book-month.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/EHJzDppX2El7s3XjfPnLd-PqW4I?utm_source=copy_url Here's a bonus episode for you, in honor of Jewish Book Month, which is marking its 99th year. Arielle Landau, the program coordinator at the Jewish Book Council, joins me to talk about the Council's special campaign to Celebrate Jewish Books, and how YOU can participate! Watch my Instagram @BookOfLifePodcast and Facebook for daily Jewish Book...
Nov 24, 2024•14 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/creature-double-feature-part-i-deke.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/9oU8bBDsH32kp0wvR50fWFGLTF0?utm_source=copy_url For the month of November 2024, we've got a 2-part series, CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE: ANTISEMITISM AND THE SUPERNATURAL . Our first guest is Deke Moulton, author of Don't Want to Be Your Monster (about Jewish vampires) and Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf (about Jewish werewolves). These middle grade fantasy novels go beyond si...
Nov 01, 2024•45 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/11/creature-double-feature-part-ii-emi.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/LlqEguYzidUDn_uqBHgEK5B1QKY?utm_source=copy_url For the month of November 2024, we've got a 2-part series, CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE: ANTISEMITISM AND THE SUPERNATURAL . Our guest for Part II is Japanese American Jewish author Emi Watanabe Cohen. Her debut novel was The Lost Ryū (about dragons), and her sophomore novel is Golemcrafters (about golems, of course). I loved The ...
Nov 01, 2024•47 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/festive-friends-part-i-teshuvah-and.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/x1-e3vOomTqZOrPvQPzePL4ZOKQ In honor of this holiday-packed month, I've got a 2-part series for you. I'm calling it Festive Friends , because each episode features a pair of friends talking about books relevant to our fall holidays. Here in Part I, the Festive Friends are Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing , and Marjorie Ingall, author of Getting to Sorry . While neither ...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 15 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/festive-friends-part-ii-asian-jewish.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/xKGzqMhNsej4ALLe6F7e2wBfNJg October 2024 is packed with Jewish holidays, so we've got a 2-part series for you to celebrate: Holiday Friends. In each episode, we hear from a pair of friends about their books that will help us celebrate the Jewish holidays. In Festive Friends Part I we heard from Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing , and Marjorie Ingall, author of Getting t...
Oct 01, 2024•39 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/09/our-jewish-emotional-support-books.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/LVQ-f8Gwpfw2LLKvE4Y7TGOzHes?utm_source=copy_url At the Association of Jewish Libraries 2024 annual conference in San Diego, CA, I met up with Sheryl Stahl, host of our sister podcast, Nice Jewish Books. Inspired by the cartoon seen here, Sheryl and I interviewed our friends and colleagues about their Jewish "emotional support books" and the results turned into this podcast ...
Sep 01, 2024•34 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-mitzvah-of-voting-edited-encore.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/ql3_Vi81NBwkvNT97SKZiyh8_yM?utm_source=copy_url Four years ago in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, I ran a 3-part series called The Mitzvah of Voting . Here we are in 2024 in a presidential election year again and defending our democracy is more important than ever! Here's an edited encore presentation of that 2020 podcast, with all three parts combined and streamlined....
Aug 15, 2024•27 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-state-of-middle-grade.html I love middle grade books! But what defines a middle grade book? What are the challenges to publishing for this age group? What is the state of middle grade literature today? To learn more, I invited 2 experts on the genre: ~ Librarian Karen Jensen, author of "Treatise on the State of Middle Grade and Young Adult Publishing Today" and creator of the Teen Librarian Toolbox blog on School Library Journal's website ...
Aug 01, 2024•35 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/07/espionage-secrets-suspense-holocaust.html Two incredible authors, Adam Gidwitz and Steve Sheinkin, joined me to talk about their most recent books, Max in the House of Spies and Impossible Escape . As many listeners know, I tend to avoid Holocaust books because I've kind of overdosed on them during a long career of working with Jewish children's literature... but both of these books are SO good that I couldn't ignore them. Max in the House of ...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 3 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/06/joyful-song-with-leslea-newman-susan-gal.html Joyful Song: A Naming Story is Lesléa Newman's newest picture book, and once again she's paired up with the amazing Susan Gal. This dynamic duo brought us Here Is the World in 2014 and Welcoming Elijah in 2020. Their new 2024 book is about a baby naming at synagogue, and about the diverse and loving community that welcomes the little girl into the world. The two-mom family makes it a great book for...
Jun 02, 2024•55 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/05/ruth-behar-on-across-so-many-seas.html Lucky Broken Girl, Letters from Cuba, Tia Fortuna's New Home , and now, Across So Many Seas . Award winning author Ruth Behar keeps finding new ways to share her Sephardic and Ashkenazi Cuban Jewish heritage with us, and it's fresh and fascinating every time. In her latest sweeping middle grade novel, Across So Many Seas , she introduces us to four generations of a Sephardic family, from the Spanish Inqui...
May 01, 2024•36 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/04/project-shema.html As you may remember, in December 2023 I participated in The Artists Against Antisemitism auction, which raised funds for Project Shema. Today we'll talk with April Powers, Vice President of Diversity Equity and Inclusion at Project Shema, to learn more about their mission and how it can help us kidlit folks. LEARN MORE: Transcript of interview Project Shema Jewbian Princess "Skin in the Game: How Antisemitism Animates White ...
Apr 01, 2024•45 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-miracle-seed.html The Miracle Seed is Martin Lemelman's nonfiction graphic novel about how modern science brought the Judean date palm back to life after a thousand year extinction. We met in person at the local public library's recording studio to talk about his book, his art, and the truly amazing story of how seeds found at an archaeological dig at Masada in Israel were able to be germinated after centuries, and about the significance o...
Mar 01, 2024•27 min
SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/01/the-2024-sydney-taylor-book-awards.html The winners of the 2024 Sydney Taylor Book Awards, recognizing the best Jewish children's and young adult literature of the year, were announced on January 22, 2024 at the American Library Association's Youth Media Awards event. Aviva Rosenberg is the current chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee, and she joined us to discuss the 2024 winners of the award. LEARN MORE: Sydney Taylor Book Awards ...
Jan 22, 2024•40 min
