Dear Safranim: Please feel free to distribute this press release to your local Jewish news, any teachers you know, and to use it in your own organization's newsletter! Thanks! Heidi Estrin -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESS RELEASE October 1, 2004 For immediate release For more information, contact: Heidi Estrin Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee, Chair Association of Jewish Libraries c/o Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel 2200 Yamato Road Boca Raton, FL 33431 (561) 241-8118 ext. 206 Fax (561) 241-1701 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY READING GUIDE CELEBRATES AUTHOR'S 100TH BIRTHDAY A new readers' guide is available for the book All-of-a-Kind Family, the classic children's story about five little girls growing up on the Lower East Side. The 'All-of-a-Kind Family' Companion is on the website of the Association of Jewish Libraries in PDF format, free for downloading at www.jewishlibraries.org. The Companion is an excellent resource for Jewish Book Month or any time of year. Teachers, librarians, parents, and children who love All-of-a-Kind Family will be excited to find information about the author, discussion questions and activities, and a list of "read-alikes:" similar children's books about Jewish families and immigration. Dr. Hasia Diner, Professor of American Jewish History at NYU, provides an essay about the Lower East Side setting. June Cummins, Sydney Taylor's biographer, contributes a section about the life of author Sydney Taylor. The "All-of-a-Kind Family All Grown Up" section describes what happened to each of the characters (all based on real people) in adulthood. Marci Bloch, librarian at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C. says "I really like the 'What happened to them after the books' section, as I'm sure will all my students, who love the books as much as I do!" Sydney Taylor wrote All-of-a-Kind Family as a way to record her memories for her daughter, but didn't intend it for publication. Her husband secretly submitted the manuscript to a contest sponsored by Follett. Taylor was surprised when she got a call from the publisher, telling her that she had won the contest and that her book was going to be published! After the first book came out in 1951, she went on to write four others in the series: More All-of-a-Kind Family (1954), All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown (1957), All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown (1972), and Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family (1978). October 30 marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sydney Taylor, who was born on the Lower East Side in 1904. "We created the Companion to celebrate Taylor's hundredth birthday and to celebrate the ongoing popularity of her books," says Heidi Estrin, editor of the readers' guide and chair of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. "Hers were the first Jewish children's books with mainstream appeal. They marked a turning point in children's publishing. We commemorate Taylor's importance every year when we select the winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award, but this year we wanted to do something to remind people of the significance of Taylor's own work." "It's a wonderful companion guide that gives secular and religious school teachers alike a book guide that is inclusive, professional, and easy to use," says Phyllis Weeks, librarian at the Novi Public Libary in Michigan. "From my experience in the public schools and as a public librarian now, I see it as an extremely useful tool for background, introduction, and discussion purposes." Happy birthday, Sydney Taylor! # # # Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the AJL =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
