Breaking and Entering

The year is 1994 and psychologist Richard Shapiro has accidentally burned down a California state forest. Weeks earlier, his young patient had committed suicide, and the blazing forest hastens Richard's slide toward mental breakdown. He and his wife Louise, an exasperated school guidance counselor, decide to start their and their daughter's lives anew in small-town Michigan. They look forward to a life of simplicity: the cornfields, the friendly neighbors, the Victorian house they renovate for a song. And those are just the opening pages of Breaking and Entering, Eileen Pollack's utterly absorbing, juicy, and timely new novel.

But the Shapiros' hopes for idyll quickly fade: Richard starts joining a Michigan Militia member for target practice even though the friend believes Richard will go to hell for being a Jew; Louise falls for a Unitarian minister who seems to offer everything Richard lacks; and 6-year-old Molly runs away from home without anyone noticing. Meanwhile, Louise's liberal politics threaten her employment prospects and Molly finds graphic anti-choice propaganda strewn across their front lawn. When the Oklahoma City bombing happens and Richard and his militia friends find themselves on the defensive we see just how enmeshed the Shapiros have become in America's cultural and political battles, and just how high the stakes really are. 

A Priest and a Rabbi Walk Into a Book

Isaac Frankel’s recently-released first novel, Sacred Apples, fascinatingly explores the intersection of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—both in Jerusalem, where the plot unfolds, and beyond. With some lines taken directly from the Bible and the Talmud, and the rest matching their high, formal tone, the novel's language evokes Jerusalem's religious atmosphere and heritage. The story follows a young Catholic priest, Father Joseph, and, through his friendships and acquaintances, a religiously diverse cast of characters.

One of the most poignant of these relationships is between Father Joseph and a Haredi rabbi living in the orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim. The two pursue a friendship (despite their communities' harsh disapproval), and it is ultimately their trust and faith in people, regardless of religious background, that brings about a somewhat miraculous turn of events that saves Father Joseph's life.

Frankel, himself an observant Jew who regularly visits a monastery in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, creates characters whose complex relationships with each other illustrate the value of being open to the wisdom of religious traditions other than one's own.

Sydney Taylor Blog Tour February 11-15

2013 Blog Tour

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2013 gold and silver medalists and a few selected Notables with a Blog Tour, February 11-15, 2013! Interviews with winning authors and illustrators will appear on a wide variety of Jewish and kidlit blogs. For those of you who have not yet experienced a Blog Tour, it’s basically a virtual book tour. Instead of going to a library or bookstore to see an author or illustrator speak, you go to a website on or after the advertised date to read an author’s or illustrator’s interview.

Below is the schedule for the 2013 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Please follow the links to visit the hosting blogs on or after their tour dates, and be sure to leave them plenty of comments!

THE 2013 SYDNEY TAYLOR BOOK AWARD BLOG TOUR

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

Ann Redisch Stampler, author of The Wooden Sword
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older ReadersCategory
At Shelf-Employed

Carol Liddiment, illustrator of The Wooden Sword
Sydney Taylor Honor Award winner in the Older ReadersCategory
At Ann Koffsky’s Blog

Continue reading. 

The Loopy Truths of Jewish Signatures

By now you've probably heard: Jack Lew, President Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, signs his name like your Uncle Saul after too much Manischewitz. And now his sloppy John Hancock may get scribbled across our $10s and $20s for years to come.

Though Lew is the one currently in the spotlight, he isn't the only Jew who writes like a kindergartner.

Have you seen Adam Sandler's comedic autograph? How about Mark Spitz's waterlogged scribble? Or Henry Kissinger's, which is a diplomatic crisis in the making? Luckily, we have Dr. Robert Yaronne's The Genius of Jewish Celebrities: What Their Handwriting Reveals to tell us what all this scribbling means.

"We all possess secrets – strengths as well as weaknesses – which carve their influence into our subconscious, essentially controlling our behavior, and this is revealed in handwriting," Yaronne writes.

Among his findings: Bette Midler’s open "B" indicates a very talkative personality. Ben Stiller’s "N" indicates a self-deprecating character. And Goldie Hawn's illegible signature suggests she's hiding her true identity. Hiding or not, if autograph were any indication, she may have what it takes to be the Secretary of the Treasury, too.