reviews - Jewish Book Council

59 TH NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARDS
THE CHAMPION OF CHILDREN:
THE STORY OF JANUSZ KORCZAK
Tomek Bogacki
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
In 1912, a well-known doctor and writer
named Janusz Korczak designed an
extraordinary orphanage for Jewish children
in Warsaw, Poland. Believing that
children were capable of governing themselves,
he encouraged the orphans to elect
a parliament, run a court, and put out their own weekly newspaper.
Even when Korczak was forced to move the orphanage into the Warsaw
Ghetto after Hitler’s rise to power, and couldn’t afford to buy
food and medicine for his charges, he never lost sight of his ideals.
Fully committed to giving his children as much love as possible during
a terrifying time, Korczak refused to abandon them.
In his most beautiful and heartfelt book to date,
with evocative acrylic illustrations and spare,
poignant prose, Tomek Bogacki tells the story of a
courageous man who, during one of the grimmest
moments in world history, dedicated his life’s
work—and ultimately his life itself—to children.
JEWISH FAMILY LITERATURE
In Memory of Dorothy Kripke
Winner:
CELEBRATING THE JEWISH YEAR: THE
SPRING AND SUMMER HOLIDAYS:
PASSOVER, THE OMER, SHAVUOT,
TISHA B’AV
Paul Steinberg; Janet Greenstein Potter, ed.
Jewish Publication Society
JPS’s new holiday series is now complete,
with publication of The Spring
and Summer Holidays volume
As we move from season to season, Paul
Steinberg shares with us a rich collection
of readings from many of the Jewish
greats—Maimonides, Rashi, Nehama Leibowitz, Irving Greenberg,
Shlomo Carlebach, Marge Piercy, Elie Wiesel, Martin Buber, Abraham
Joshua Heschel, Arthur Green, and others—and he guides us in
discovering for ourselves the many treasures within each text. Helpful
and informative as well as pleasurable reading, the book’s mixture of
styles ranges from popular, reasoned, conceptual, to more scholarly.
Some of the readings teach us about the history of each holiday, as
well as its theological, ethical, agricultural, and seasonal importance
and interpretation; others give us inspiration and much food for
thought. These stories, essays, poems,
anecdotes, and rituals help us discover
how deeply Jewish traditions are rooted
in nature’s yearly cycle, and how
beautifully season and spirit are
woven together throughout the Jewish
year.
14 Jewish Book World Spring 5770/2010
Finalists:
JPS ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN’S BIBLE
Ellen Frankel; Avi Katz, illus.
Jewish Publication Society
Acclaimed storyteller and Jewish
scholar Ellen Frankel has masterfully
tailored 53 Bible stories that will both
delight and educate today’s young readers.
Using the 1985 JPS translation (NJPS) of
the Hebrew Bible as her foundation,
Frankel retains much of the Bible’s original
wording and simple narrative style as
she incorporates her own exceptional storytelling technique, free of
personal interpretation or commentary.
Included in the volume is an “Author’s Notebook,” in which Frankel
shares with rabbis, parents, and educators the challenges she faced in
translating and adapting these stories for children, such as how she deals
with adult language in the original Bible text and themes inappropriate
for most young readers.
With his enticing, full-page color
illustrations of each Bible story,
award-winning artist Avi Katz ignites
readers’ imaginations. His brush captures
the vivid personalities and many
dramatic moments in this extraordinary
collection.
SACRED PARENTING: JEWISH WISDOM
AND PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR
YOUR FAMILY’S EARLY YEARS
Elaine Rose Glickman
URJ Press
Parenting can be lonely, isolating, and
confusing. Yet parenting is also holy
work. In this comprehensive volume, a
rabbi and mother of three shares the treasures
of Jewish teaching and Jewish thought
on parenting.
Using the words of Genesis and Deuteronomy,
the songs of the Psalmist, the instructions of Proverbs, and the wisdom
of ancient and modern sages, Sacred Parenting guides readers to
parent with spirituality, mindfulness, and partnership with God. Its
methods are multifaceted, grounded in Jewish tradition, contemporary
parenting best-practices, and real-world experience. Topics include bedtime,
discipline, transmitting values, and much more.
In addition to providing a spiritual outlook and
practical guidance, Sacred Parenting invites readers to
delve more deeply into Jewish living. The book contains
a treasury of prayers for myriad occasions, an
accessible explanation of Jewish holidays and milestones,
and suggestions for meaningful, age-appropriate
observance of Jewish occasions.
www.jewishbookcouncil.org