The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Who Brought the Hamantaschen? by Marcia S. Gresko, illustrated by Steve Mack Kar-Ben Publishing (imprint of Lerner Publishing Group), 2025 Category: Picture Books/Board Book Reviewer: Sarah Clarke   Buy at Bookshop.org This is a board book aimed at the youngest of readers. The story features a diverse group of children dressed up for Purim with a delicious fruit treat in hand for the Purim party. Along with the costumes and the snacks, the book emphasizes colors: green grapes, yellow bananas, orange papayas and more. Of course, the question is asked: "who brought the hamantaschen?" The grandparents, of course! At the end of the book, we see a full spread of costumes, kids, and snacks. This book is bright and colorful with child-friendly illustrations that will appeal to toddlers. Gresko’s text is simple and appropriate for this age group and will most definitely hold their attention and create meaningful conversations with the adult reader. With the children and the grandpa...

  When we began The Sydney Taylor Shmooze in 2020, we framed it as a mock award blog that would predict which books might win the Real Sydney Taylor Book Award. However, our content soon eclipsed our original scope. As a new year of reviewing approaches, we took stock and realized it was time to embrace what the Shmooze has become. As of 2025, we are no longer a mock award blog, but a book review source that considers the vast majority Jewish children's books published each year. We will continue to provide critiques of new Jewish board books, picture books, middle grade books, and young adult books that are eligible for the Sydney Taylor Book Award, although we will no longer hold a mock award vote. The Sydney Taylor Book Award is the only literary prize that focuses solely on Jewish children's literature, and The Sydney Taylor Shmooze is the only review source with that same narrow focus. We deeply appreciate all the dedicated volunteer reviewers who have contributed t...

  The 2025 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour took place last week, featuring interviews with winners of the REAL Sydney Taylor award on a variety of blogs, podcasts, and Bookstagram accounts. You can find links to all of those interviews in this Archive of all past blog tours, 2009-present , on The Book of Life Podcast's webpage. Scroll to the bottom to find the 2025 blog tour. Spring 2025 books have been assigned to reviewers, so watch this space for reviews of new Jewish children's/YA books, coming soon!

The Real Sydney Taylor Book Awards were announced on January 27, 2025. Below are the real winners, honors, and notable books for 2025. We've linked to the Shmooze reviews, but you'll notice that there are a few books we didn't review. We try to cover all the Jewish books published each year but sometimes we miss a few.  Listen to a podcast interview with awards chair Aviva Rosenberg on The Book of Life about this year's winners! Picture Book Winner: An Etrog from Across the Sea by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen, published by Kar-Ben Picture Book Honors Joyful Song by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Susan Gal, published by Levine Querido Rising by Sidura Ludwig, illustrated by Sophia Vincent Guy, published by Candlewick Amazing Abe: How Abraham Cahan's Newspaper Gave a Voice to Jewish Immigrants by Norman H. Finklestein, illustrated by Vesper Stamper, published by Holiday House The Tree of Life: How a Holocaust S...

We are pleased to announce our fifth year of Mock Sydney Taylor Book Awards! The top Jewish juvenile books published in 2024 were chosen from our shortlist by popular vote. Thank you to the many people who helped us select these titles! Links to more information below.  Titles are linked to Bookshop.org for your convenience. Authors and illustrators are linked to their websites. The Sydney Taylor Shmooze review for each book is provided. PICTURE BOOKS MOCK PICTURE BOOK WINNER Ping-Pong Shabbat   by Ann Koffsky , ill. Abigail Rajunov Little Bee Books, 2024 Review: Sydney Taylor Shmooze   MOCK PICTURE BOOK HONOR A Feather, A Pebble, A Shell   written & illustrated by Miri Leshem-Pelly Kar-Ben Publishing, 2024 Review:  Sydney Taylor Shmooze MOCK PICTURE BOOK NOTABLE Workitu's Passover by Zehava Workitu Goshen & Maayan Ben Hagai , ill. Eden Spivak Green Bean Books, 2024 Review: Sydney Taylor Shmooze MIDDLE GRADE   MOCK MIDDLE GRADE WINNER Finn and Ez...

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