The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

Heidi Rabinowitz
  • 4.7 (19)
  • Books
  • Updated Bimonthly

The Book of Life is an interview-format podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly, with occasional coverage of Jewish YA/adult books, music, film and web, established in December 2005. Host: Heidi Rabinowitz Sponsors: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida & the Association of Jewish Libraries

  1. 3d ago

    New Faces: Leila Sales at Kar-Ben Publishing

    CLICK HERE FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT Kar-Ben Publishing has been producing Jewish children's books for over 50 years. After the recent retirement of 20-year veteran Joni Sussman, we've got new leadership at Kar-Ben with Editorial Director Leila Sales. Here's my conversation with Leila about the behind-the-scenes transition at the beloved institution that is Kar-Ben. This is Part 1 in my 2-part "New Faces" series. Part 2 will introduce you to the new owner of Behrman House and Apples & Honey Press, Derek Stordahl.  Episode drops July 16, 2026. Author Jane Yolen z"l passed away recently at age 87. She was the incredibly prolific author of 450 books, both secular and Jewish. She wrote the landmark 1988 Holocaust novel The Devil's Arithmetic, and she was the winner of the 2022 Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award. I interviewed Jane Yolen in 2018, along with her co-author Barbara Diamond Goldin, about their book Meet Me at the Well: The Girls and Women of the Bible. Stick around after Leila's interview for an excerpt from Jane Yolen, and click the "Remembering Jane Yolen" link below for the full episode. LEARN MORE:  Kar-Ben Publishing Leila Sales' website Book of Life interview with past Kar-Ben leadership: Joni Sussman and Fran Greenman-Schmitz The Book Engineer Champions of Change podcast from Capitol One Gaining Ground: The Fight for Black Land film from John Deere Highlighted Kar-Ben Book: The Right Blessing by Rabbi Kerry M. Olitsky and Rabbi Samantha Orshan Kahn Tikkun Olam suggestion: support National Public Radio Bonus content on Substack Leila's Share Your Shelf Segment Remembering Jane Yolen (1939-2026) 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    28 min

  2. Jun 1

    A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon

    CLICK HERE FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT What better way to kick off pleasure reading season than with a fun Jewish romantasy? A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon offers a richly-imagined fantasy realm, a magic school, puzzles, quests, adventure, and of course, romance. When I got to the last page and realized it ends on a cliff-hanger, I was low key distraught! That's why I had to call up author Hannah Reynolds to chat with her about this delightful romp, such a departure from her usual contemporary YA romances. SHOW NOTES: Hannah Reynolds' website and Instagram Buy A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon The Jewish Book Garden's Summer Reading Club BookBub (Hannah's day job) Bonus content on Substack 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    34 min

  3. May 3

    The Jewish Book Garden

    CLICK HERE FOR FULL SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT My friend Susan Kusel has all the Jewish literary bases covered. She's an author, she's a synagogue librarian, she's been a buyer for a bookstore, and like me, she's a past chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee. We are basically Best Book Buddies, and we do a lot of projects together to promote Jewish kidlit. Our newest project is The Jewish Book Garden, a website/newsletter on Substack. In this episode, Susan and I break down what The Jewish Book Garden is, who it's for, and what you can expect to find in your inbox when you subscribe to it. Don't miss our announcements about our Summer Reading Club and our new Zoom discussion group! SHOW NOTES: The Jewish Book Garden The Jewish Book Garden Summer Reading Club Jewish American Heritage Month | Canadian Jewish Heritage Month Heidi's Tikkun Olam suggestion: support Indivisible.org Susan Kusel's website Susan's Share Your Shelf segment Bonus content on Substack 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    26 min

  4. Apr 12

    Candles and Memories

    Click here for full SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT I recently heard a piece on NPR about the little jars that hold yarhzeit memorial candles, and how some people repurpose these glasses to hold juice or to use as cookie cutters. It was an interesting look at how death is treated as a part of life in the Jewish tradition. That concept is very beautifully conveyed by the two picture books we'll be talking about in this episode. My guests are Alison Goldberg, author of The Remembering Candle, and Richard Ho, author of A Flame Burns On.  SHOW NOTES: Alison Goldberg's website and Instagram Richard Ho's website and Instagram Buy The Remembering Candle | Eighteen Flowers for Grandma Buy A Flame Burns On | Two New Years Suggested read-alikes: Goodbye: A First Conversation About Grief, Something Sweet: A Sitting Shiva Story, I Wish That You Knew Tikkun olam suggestion: support Food Research & Action Center, frac.org NPR story on yahrzeit candles Bonus content on Substack 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    36 min

  5. Mar 22

    The Passover Pet Surprise

    Click here for full SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT Argentine author Ana María Shua has written over 100 books and is super famous in Latin America but The Passover Pet Surprise is her first Jewish children's book. As you'd expect from such an accomplished writer, it's a well told, heartwarming story with a hint of ambiguity, which works well during a holiday where we are commanded both to retell and to inquire! SHOW NOTES: Author Ana María Shua's website (in Spanish) Illustrator Ángeles Ruiz's website Buy The Passover Pet Surprise or La gran sorpresa de Pésaj Read Heidi's review of The Passover Pet Surprise on The Jewish Book Garden Tikkun Olam suggestion: support Magen David Adom 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    20 min

  6. Mar 8

    Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz

    Click here for full SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT If you enjoy a good heist story, here's one with a lot of heart. Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz is a middle grade novel about a Jewish girl who gets into good trouble in order to right a wrong. Banding together with friends and frenemies helps her expand her thinking and bring more generosity into the world.  SHOW NOTES:  Diana Harmon Asher's website, Instagram, and Facebook Buy Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz, Sidetracked, and Upstaged Diana's Tikkun Olam suggestion: donate to food banks at community colleges 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    24 min

  7. Feb 22

    Shabbat Shalom, Let's Rest and Reset

    Click here for full SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT If you've ever read books to a baby or toddler, you're familiar with board books, those small sturdy books with stiff cardboard pages that can withstand drool and rough handling. But just because these books are designed for babies doesn't mean they are baby-ish. Suzy Ultman's deceptively simple storytelling in board book format has brought about a historic moment. For the first time ever, a board book has won a Sydney Taylor Book Award. Among the four Jewish board books Suzy has created so far, the one that got her the gold was Shabbat Shalom, Let's Rest and Reset. Her signature bright, quirky, cheerful art, paired with reassuring, calming text, invites us to stop all the doing and just be. If you need to give a baby gift, I highly recommend one or all of Suzy's Jewish board books... but you might actually want to get copies for yourself because they are like tiny mantras about Jewish concepts and Jewish pride. SHOW NOTES: Suzy Ultman's website and Instagram Buy Shabbat Shalom, I Like Your Chutzpah, It's a Mitzvah, and How Do You Jew? Creative Bug online classes from Suzy Ultman Heidi's tikkun olam suggestion: use Democracy.io to email your reps 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    28 min

  8. Feb 9

    The Keeper of Stories

    Click here for full SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT Welcome to the 17th annual Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour, taking place February 9-12, 2026. I am participating in the Blog Tour by interviewing Caroline Kusin Pritchard and Selina Alko, author and illustrator of The Keeper of Stories, which was a Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Picture Book category. SHOW NOTES: Here's the schedule for the 2026 Blog Tour Here's the archive of all past blog tours, beginning in 2009 Caroline Kusin Prichard's website and Instagram Selina Alko's website and Instagram Buy The Keeper of Stories, The Day the Books Disappeared, The Remembering Candle, and Otherwise Known as Judy the Great Article in PEN America about censoring censorship, "Don't Mention It" Video by Adam Gidwitz on the value of school visits Geraldine Brooks, The People of the Book, on The Book of Life in 2008 Caroline's podcast, Kidlit Happy Hour 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. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.

    41 min
See All (350)

4.7
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

The Book of Life is an interview-format podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly, with occasional coverage of Jewish YA/adult books, music, film and web, established in December 2005. Host: Heidi Rabinowitz Sponsors: Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida & the Association of Jewish Libraries

Information

  • Creator
    Heidi Rabinowitz
  • Years Active
    2006 - 2026
  • Episodes
    350
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Feldman Children's Library, Congregation B'nai Israel This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License.
  • Show Website
    The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

You Might Also Like