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  • One Small Spark & More Than Enough

    One Small Spark & More Than Enough
    2025/10/03

    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/one-small-spark-more-than-enough.html

    TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/-_ly-iTlaYO1hZfUChOPKsYnXTI?utm_source=copy_url

    If you're a regular Book of Life listener, you know I always ask guests for tikkun olam suggestions about ways to repair the world. Well, that's what this entire episode is about. I've got a pair of Jewish activist picture books for you: One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story by Ruth Spiro, and More Than Enough: Inspired by Maimonides Golden Ladder of Giving by Richard Michelson, a story about tzedakah. These are both gorgeous picture books that convey their important messages without being preachy - absolutely worth sharing with the kids in your life to help turn them into mensches.

    LEARN MORE:

    • Richard Michelson’s author website and art gallery website

    • Ruth Spiro’s website

    • Borrow or Buy More Than Enough

    • Borrow or Buy One Small Spark

    • Read-alike suggestions: Ruth Suggests Out and About: A Tale of Giving by Liza Wiemer; Rich suggests The Midnight Mitzvah by Ruth Horowitz

    CREDITS:

    • Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
    • Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
    • Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
    • Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    • Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
    • Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
    • Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    • Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
    • Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

    Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    47 分
  • September Throwback: Sweep, The Story of a Girl and Her Monster

    September Throwback: Sweep, The Story of a Girl and Her Monster
    2025/09/16

    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/september-throwback-sweep-story-of-girl.html

    TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/september-throwback-sweep-the-story?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

    To continue with the themes of golems and fighting for justice that we explored in our most recent episode about Kyle Lukoff's A World Worth Saving, AND in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives. It's an interview about the middle grade historical fantasy Sweep: The Story of a Girl and Her Monster by Jonathan Auxier which originally aired in May, 2019, and it's also about golems, and fighting for justice.

    Since 2019, Author Jonathan Auxier has become a podcaster too. He and Matt Bird cohost A Good Story Well Told, a show about the craft of storytelling.

    LEARN MORE:

    • Jonathan Auxier’s website

    • Borrow or Buy Sweep

    • A Good Story Well Told - Jonathan’s podcast

    • Original show notes with links to books and games mentioned in the interview

    • Follow-up episode with Jonathan: Superfight!

    • Bonus Content in Substack Newsletter

    CREDITS:

    • Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
    • Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
    • Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
    • Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    • Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
    • Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
    • Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    • Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
    • Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

    Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    49 分
  • A World Worth Saving

    A World Worth Saving
    2025/09/01
    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-world-worth-saving.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/_6lUDoKCnGpaSn-_alokxvSNtEo?utm_source=copy_url A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff is a queer Jewish fantasy adventure in which a trans boy and an unusual golem must save the world by Yom Kippur! I interviewed Kyle about this new middle grade novel, as well as his seasonally appropriate picture book, I'm Sorry You Got Mad, a wonderful reflection on the art of apology. Shana Tova! LEARN MORE: Kyle Lukoff’s website Borrow or Buy A World Worth Saving Borrow or Buy I’m Sorry You Got Mad Kyle’s recommended queer Jewish reading: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (interview on The Book of Life in January 2023) Throwing Sheyd, a podcast about Jewish demonology that Kyle used for research Bonus content at The Book of Life Podcast Substack newsletter CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai IsraelCo-sponsored by the Association of Jewish LibrariesSister podcast: Nice Jewish BooksTheme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String BandNewsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.comFacebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit MavensFacebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcastInstagram: @bookoflifepodcastSupport the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    28 分
  • August Throwback: Summer Coolness

    August Throwback: Summer Coolness
    2025/08/17
    SHOW NOTES: TRANSCRIPT: In honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you another episode from the archives: Summer Coolness, released in June 2007. The episode featured a now-defunct website called ReaderGirlz, and the website Nextbook that morphed into Tablet Magazine in 2009. There were also many mentions of MySpace. I interviewed Melissa Schorr, author of Goy Crazy, who, according to her website, seems to have mostly moved on from kidlit to journalism. I must say, her most recent book from 2017, Shame Nation: Choosing Kindness and Compassion in an Age of Cruelty and Trolling, looks extremely on point. And the episode featured the band Sababa, which happily is still in existence, and in fact, they've recently released their fourth album called When We Rise. LEARN MORE: ReaderGirlz history on Wikipedia, and Guest Lorie Ann Grover Author Melissa Schorr and her book, Goy Crazy Sababa website, and Guest Scott Leader Nextbook history on Wikipedia, and Guest Julie Sandorf Julie’s reading recommendations: o Joy Comes in the Morning by Jonathan Rosen o Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror by Jeffrey Goldberg o When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson o Disobedience by Naomi Alderman Bonus content for this episode on The Book of Life's Substack Newsletter CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai IsraelCo-sponsored by the Association of Jewish LibrariesSister podcast: Nice Jewish BooksTheme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String BandNewsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.comFacebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit MavensFacebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcastInstagram: @bookoflifepodcastSupport the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    27 分
  • The Five Books Podcast

    The Five Books Podcast
    2025/08/01
    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-five-books.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/newZynBRoGzWkdF7PaTnzDLDSP4?utm_source=copy_url The Five Books is a new literary Jewish podcast hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen in partnership with the Jewish Book Council. I'm very happy to welcome another show to our little corner of the book world, so I invited Tali to do a mutual interview. We interviewed each other, and the episode will appear on both our podcast feeds. LEARN MORE: The Five Books Podcast website Highlights of past episodes: o Yale Strom on The Book of Life o Gayle Forman on The Five Books Recommended podcasts: o Heidi: Nice Jewish Books, Recognizably Jewish, Fuse 8 and Kate o Tali: Identity/Crisis, Call Me Back, The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, How to Fail For the full list of all the books we discussed, plus links to other past podcast swaps I've recorded, see the Substack post for this episode. CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai IsraelCo-sponsored by the Association of Jewish LibrariesSister podcast: Nice Jewish BooksTheme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String BandNewsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.comFacebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit MavensFacebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcastInstagram: @bookoflifepodcastSupport the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    39 分
  • Announcing: Jewish Joy Con

    Announcing: Jewish Joy Con
    2025/07/25

    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/announcement-jewish-joy-con.html

    TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/K_DNE5hooD1D-ujpoI2gQUXpsZs?utm_source=copy_url

    LEARN MORE:

    • Jean Meltzer’s website

    • Jewish Joy LLC (the Jewish Joy Book Club and the Jewish Joy Box)

    • Jewish Joy Con, March 13-15, 2026 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

    CREDITS:

    • Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
    • Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
    • Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
    • Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    • Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
    • Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
    • Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    • Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
    • Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

    Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    7 分
  • July Throwback: The Inquisitor's Tale

    July Throwback: The Inquisitor's Tale
    2025/07/20

    SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-throwback-inquisitors-tale.html

    TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/idZDWVCvKcbXcYPMmx4uUuonYQE?utm_source=copy_url

    As a follow up to my recent interview with Adam Gidwitz about Max in the Land of Lies, and in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives, from January 2017. I met Adam Gidwitz at an author "speed dating" event at the American Library Association conference, where he was promoting his middle grade fantasy The Inquisitor's Tale, which later went on to win a Sydney Taylor Book Award, a Newbery Honor, and a lot of other awards.

    If you enjoy this blast from the past, please check out other past episodes of The Book of Life from any time in the last 2 decades. Go to Bookoflifepodcast.com and Click on Archive in the sidebar, or just go to the episode list on your podcast player and keep on scrolling down, down, down.

    LEARN MORE:

    • Adam Gidwitz's website
    • Adam Gidwitz's July 2025 interview about Max in the Land of Lies
    • Original 2017 show notes for interview about The Inquisitor's Tale
    • Buy or borrow The Inquisitor's Tale

    CREDITS:

    • Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel
    • Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries
    • Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books
    • Theme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
    • Newsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.com
    • Facebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit Mavens
    • Facebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcast
    • Instagram: @bookoflifepodcast
    • Support the Podcast: Shop or Donate

    Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    24 分
  • Max in the Land of Lies

    Max in the Land of Lies
    2025/07/01
    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 adventures... AND continues the profound exploration of prejudice that we found in Book 1. Adam offers the best explanation I've ever encountered for how the Holocaust could happen. The parallels with today's world are frightening, AND illuminating. To put it simply, this is a book that I think *everyone* needs to read right now. LEARN MORE: Buy or borrow Max in the House of Spies (Book 1) Buy or borrow Max in the Land of Lies (Book 2) Adam Gidwitz’s website Tikkun Olam suggestions: EveryLibrary.org and SGCCAmerica.com "Espionage! Secrets! Suspense!" Holocaust Books with Adam Gidwitz & Steve Sheinkin” on The Book of Life, July 2024 Bonus content for this episode on Substack CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai IsraelCo-sponsored by the Association of Jewish LibrariesSister podcast: Nice Jewish BooksTheme Music: The Freilachmakers Klezmer String BandNewsletter: bookoflifepodcast.substack.comFacebook Discussion Group: Jewish Kidlit MavensFacebook Page: Facebook.com/bookoflifepodcastInstagram: @bookoflifepodcastSupport the Podcast: Shop or Donate Your feedback is welcome! Please write to bookoflifepodcast@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at 561-206-2473.
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    43 分