[ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award winners

[Susan Kusel]

I am delighted to announce the 2018 Sydney Taylor Book Awards!


The press release and winner list are below.

-Susan






For More Information Contact:

Susan Kusel, Chair
Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee
Association of Jewish Libraries
sydneytaylorbookaw...@jewishlibraries.org

January 10, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2018 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners Announced
Winners of the annual Sydney Taylor Book Award were announced by the 
Association of Jewish Libraries today. Named in memory of Sydney Taylor, author 
of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series, the award recognizes books for 
children and teens that exemplify high literary standards while authentically 
portraying the Jewish experience.

2018 is the 50th Anniversary of the Sydney Taylor Awards. The first winner was 
The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig in 1968, published 
by the Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

GOLD MEDALISTS
The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew by Richard 
Michelson, illustrated by Karla Gudeon, published by Charlesbridge, won the 
Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Younger Readers category. This beautiful 
picture book tells the story of how Hebrew became an everyday language in 
Israel, after being out of use for two thousand years. The folk art 
illustrations are an illuminating match.

Refugee by Alan Gratz, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, 
won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the Older Readers category. The journeys of 
three different young refugees from Nazi Germany, 1990s Cuba and present-day 
Syria come together to form an emotional and timely narrative about the refugee 
experience.

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe, translated by Lilit Thwaites, 
published by Godwin Books, an imprint of Henry Holt and Company, a division of 
Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, won the Sydney Taylor Book Award in the 
Teen Readers category. This powerful story of Dita Kraus and her protection of 
a handful of books in the Auschwitz concentration camp shows the importance of 
hope in the darkest of times.

Harold Grinspoon and PJ Library won the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award. PJ 
Library, a project of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, is a family engagement 
program that sends free books celebrating Jewish values and culture to families 
with children 6 months through 8 years old. This program has revolutionized the 
field of Jewish children’s literature by providing dramatically improved access 
to Jewish books for families. It has also significantly increased the 
publication of children’s books with Jewish content. The Body of Work Award has 
been given twelve times in the 50-year history of the Sydney Taylor Awards. The 
last recipient was author Eric Kimmel in 2004.

SILVER MEDALISTS
Eight Sydney Taylor Honor Books were also recognized.
For Younger Readers, the Honor Books are: Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam 
adapted by Fawzia Gilani-Williams, illustrated by Chiara Fedele, published by 
Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner Publishing Group and Drop by Drop: A 
Story of Rabbi Akiva by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg, 
published by Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner Publishing Group.

For Older Readers, the Honor Books are: Viva, Rose! by Susan Krawitz, published 
by Holiday House, which was also the recipient of the 2015 Sydney Taylor 
Manuscript Award; This Is Just a Test by Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long 
Shang, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic; and The Six-Day 
Hero by Tammar Stein, published by Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner 
Publishing Group.

For Teen Readers, the Honor Books are: To Look a Nazi in the Eye: A Teen’s 
Account of a War Criminal Trial by Kathy Kacer with Jordana Lebowitz, published 
by Second Story Press; Almost Autumn by Marianne Kaurin, translated by Rosie 
Hedger, published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic; and The 
Girl with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke, published by Albert Whitman & 
Company.


In addition to the medal winners, the Award Committee designated twelve Notable 
Books of Jewish Content for 2018. More information about the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award and a complete listing of the award winners and notables can be found at 
http://www.sydneytaylorbookawards.org

Winning authors and illustrators will receive their awards at the Annual 
Conference of the Association of Jewish Libraries, to be held in Boston, MA 
from June 18-20, 2018. Gold and silver medalists will also participate in a 
blog tour February 4-8, 2018. For more information about the blog tour please 
visit www.jewishlibraries.org/blog.



The Language of Angels and Refugee were also named winners of the 67th Annual 
National Jewish Book Awards, which were announced today as well. A full list of 
all the winners can be found on the Jewish Book Council’s website 
https://www.

Re: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

[Susan Dubin]

Congratulations to all the honorees and to the committee. I am looking forward 
to seeing them here in Las Vegas! Please let me know who will be coming as soon 
as you can so I can reserve their rooms and plan accordingly.
Suzi Dubin

From: Aimee Lurie 
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 7:49 AM
To: hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
Subject: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

Dear Friends:

It is my pleasure to announce that Laurel Snyder and Catia Chien, author and 
illustrator of The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, Patricia Polacco author 
and illustrator of The Blessing Cup, and Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi 
Hunters:  How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious 
Nazi, are the 2014 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. 

The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that 
exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the 
Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic 
All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the 
Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada this June.

Snyder and Chien will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award’s Younger Readers category for The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, 
published by Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. 
Written in gentle verse, the tumultuous days leading up to the Jews flight from 
Egypt are described from the perspective of an unnamed slave girl in this 
beautifully illustrated story. It provides a unique introduction to the 
Passover holiday for young readers in an honest, but age-appropriate way. 
Committee member Charna Gross notes: “We all know about our history as slaves 
in Egypt, the ten plagues, the Exodus, and the splitting of the Red Sea. But in 
Snyder’s retelling, accompanied by Chien’s dream-like illustrations, we are 
somehow transported to the rusty red banks of the Nile, witnessing each plague. 
This book is a marvel.”

The award in the Older Readers category will be presented to Patricia Polacco 
for The Blessing Cup, a Paula Wiseman Book,  published by Simon & Schuster 
Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In this prequel to The 
Keeping Quilt, Polacco shares the story of another treasured family heirloom. 
The miraculous journey of the remaining teacup from a china tea set, 
deliberately left behind when her Jewish ancestors were forced to leave Czarist 
Russia, from the shtetl to America will strike an emotional chord with readers. 
“I was moved to tears reading this book. The gorgeous illustrations and 
heartfelt story remind readers of the importance of sharing from generation to 
generation our own family histories and the incredible sacrifices made by our 
ancestors to start new lives in America,” said committee chair, Aimee Lurie. In 
1988, The Keeping Quilt was the Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger 
Readers.

 
Neal Bascomb will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s 
Teen Readers category for The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors 
Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi published by Arthur A. Levine Books, 
an imprint of Scholastic.  A stunning account of the spy mission to capture 
Adolf Eichmann by an elite team of Israeli spies is dramatically brought to 
life by Neal Bascomb.   According to committee member Barbara Krasner, "It is 
obvious that he spent decades conducting meticulous research on several 
continents to produce this winning and chilling narrative. Bascomb has set a 
new nonfiction gold standard for young readers.”

 Six Sydney Taylor Honor Books were named for 2014. For younger readers, two 
Honor Books were selected, both published by Kar-Ben a division of Lerner 
Publishing Group: Stones for Grandpa by Renee Londoner with illustrations by 
Martha Avillés and Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov with 
illustrations by Cosei Kawa. The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible 
Became Possible...on Schindler’s List by Leon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran and 
Elisabeth B. Leyson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & 
Schuster Children’s Publishing Division) and Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past: 
The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948 by Carol Matas 
(Scholastic Canada) garnered recognition as an Honor Books for Older Readers. 
For Teen Readers, the honor goes to Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati (Flux, 
an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide) and The War Within These Walls by Aline Sax 
with illustrations by Caryl Strzelecki and translated by Laura Watkinson 
(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers). 


In addition to the medal-winners, the Award Committee designated thirteen 
Notable Books of Jewish Content for 2014.   Attached is a list of all of the 
winners, including the notables.  More information about the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award can be found at www.Sydn

Re: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

[Amalia Warshenbrot]

Mazal tov to the winner and thank you to the committee members.  Their remarks 
add to the appreciation of the titles.

Amalia Warshenbrot
AJL,  SSC President

 From: Aimee Lurie 
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 10:49 AM
To: hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
Subject: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners
Dear Friends:

It is my pleasure to announce that Laurel Snyder and Catia Chien, author and 
illustrator of The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, Patricia Polacco author 
and illustrator of The Blessing Cup, and Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi 
Hunters:  How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World’s Most Notorious 
Nazi, are the 2014 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award. 

The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that 
exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the 
Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic 
All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the 
Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada this June.

Snyder and Chien will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award’s Younger Readers category for The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, 
published by Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. 
Written in gentle verse, the tumultuous days leading up to the Jews flight from 
Egypt are described from the perspective of an unnamed slave girl in this 
beautifully illustrated story. It provides a unique introduction to the 
Passover holiday for young readers in an honest, but age-appropriate way. 
Committee member Charna Gross notes: “We all know about our history as slaves 
in Egypt, the ten plagues, the Exodus, and the splitting of the Red Sea. But in 
Snyder’s retelling, accompanied by Chien’s dream-like illustrations, we are 
somehow transported to the rusty red banks of the Nile, witnessing each plague. 
This book is a marvel.”

The award in the Older Readers category will be presented to Patricia Polacco 
for The Blessing Cup, a Paula Wiseman Book,  published by Simon & Schuster 
Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In this prequel to The 
Keeping Quilt, Polacco shares the story of another treasured family heirloom. 
The miraculous journey of the remaining teacup from a china tea set, 
deliberately left behind when her Jewish ancestors were forced to leave Czarist 
Russia, from the shtetl to America will strike an emotional chord with readers. 
“I was moved to tears reading this book. The gorgeous illustrations and 
heartfelt story remind readers of the importance of sharing from generation to 
generation our own family histories and the incredible sacrifices made by our 
ancestors to start new lives in America,” said committee chair, Aimee Lurie. In 
1988, The Keeping Quilt was the Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger 
Readers.

 
Neal Bascomb will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award’s 
Teen Readers category for The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors 
Captured the World’s Most Notorious Nazi published by Arthur A. Levine Books, 
an imprint of Scholastic.  A stunning account of the spy mission to capture 
Adolf Eichmann by an elite team of Israeli spies is dramatically brought to 
life by Neal Bascomb.   According to committee member Barbara Krasner, "It is 
obvious that he spent decades conducting meticulous research on several 
continents to produce this winning and chilling narrative. Bascomb has set a 
new nonfiction gold standard for young readers.”

 Six Sydney Taylor Honor Books were named for 2014. For younger readers, two 
Honor Books were selected, both published by Kar-Ben a division of Lerner 
Publishing Group: Stones for Grandpa by Renee Londoner with illustrations by 
Martha Avillés and Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov with 
illustrations by Cosei Kawa. The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible 
Became Possible...on Schindler’s List by Leon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran and 
Elisabeth B. Leyson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & 
Schuster Children’s Publishing Division) and Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past: 
The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948 by Carol Matas 
(Scholastic Canada) garnered recognition as an Honor Books for Older Readers. 
For Teen Readers, the honor goes to Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati (Flux, 
an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide) and The War Within These Walls by Aline Sax 
with illustrations by Caryl Strzelecki and translated by Laura Watkinson 
(Eerdmans Books for Young Readers). 


In addition to the medal-winners, the Award Committee designated thirteen 
Notable Books of Jewish Content for 2014.   Attached is a list of all of the 
winners, including the notables.  More information about the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award can be found at www.SydneyTaylorBookAward.org







Aimee Lurie, Chair
Sydney Taylor Boo

Re: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

[Lisa Silverman]

Kudos to the committee for their hard work selecting these well-deserved 
awards. I am looking forward to the award ceremony in Las Vegas!

[cid:image001.jpg@01CF16CE.B65E2150]

Lisa Silverman  Library Director, Sinai Temple Blumenthal Library
10400 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES, CA 90024
310-481-3215 (direct)  310-481-3218 (main)   
library.sinaitemple.org<http://library.sinaitemple.org/>



From: hasafran-bounces+lsilverman=sinaitemple@lists.service.ohio-state.edu 
[mailto:hasafran-bounces+lsilverman=sinaitemple@lists.service.ohio-state.edu]
 On Behalf Of Aimee Lurie
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2014 7:50 AM
To: hasafran@lists.service.ohio-state.edu
Subject: [ha-Safran] Sydney Taylor Book Award Winners

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false

 Dear Friends:

It is my pleasure to announce that Laurel Snyder and Catia Chien, author and 
illustrator of The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, Patricia Polacco author 
and illustrator of The Blessing Cup, and Neal Bascomb, author of The Nazi 
Hunters:  How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured the World's Most Notorious 
Nazi, are the 2014 winners of the Sydney Taylor Book Award.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award honors new books for children and teens that 
exemplify the highest literary standards while authentically portraying the 
Jewish experience. The award memorializes Sydney Taylor, author of the classic 
All-of-a-Kind Family series. The winners will receive their awards at the 
Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada this June.
Snyder and Chien will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book 
Award's Younger Readers category for The Longest Night:  A Passover Story, 
published by Schwartz & Wade, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. 
Written in gentle verse, the tumultuous days leading up to the Jews flight from 
Egypt are described from the perspective of an unnamed slave girl in this 
beautifully illustrated story. It provides a unique introduction to the 
Passover holiday for young readers in an honest, but age-appropriate way. 
Committee member Charna Gross notes: "We all know about our history as slaves 
in Egypt, the ten plagues, the Exodus, and the splitting of the Red Sea. But in 
Snyder's retelling, accompanied by Chien's dream-like illustrations, we are 
somehow transported to the rusty red banks of the Nile, witnessing each plague. 
This book is a marvel."
The award in the Older Readers category will be presented to Patricia Polacco 
for The Blessing Cup, a Paula Wiseman Book,  published by Simon & Schuster 
Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. In this prequel to The 
Keeping Quilt, Polacco shares the story of another treasured family heirloom. 
The miraculous journey of the remaining teacup from a china tea set, 
deliberately left behind when her Jewish ancestors were forced to leave Czarist 
Russia, from the shtetl to America will strike an emotional chord with readers. 
"I was moved to tears reading this book. The gorgeous illustrations and 
heartfelt story remind readers of the importance of sharing from generation to 
generation our own family histories and the incredible sacrifices made by our 
ancestors to start new lives in America," said committee chair, Aimee Lurie. In 
1988, The Keeping Quilt was the Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner for Younger 
Readers.

Neal Bascomb will receive the 2014 gold medal in the Sydney Taylor Book Award's 
Teen Readers category for The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors 
Captured the World's Most Notorious Nazi published by Arthur A. Levine Books, 
an imprint of Scholastic.  A stunning account of the spy mission to capture 
Adolf Eichmann by an elite team of Israeli spies is dramatically brought to 
life by Neal Bascomb.   According to committee member Barbara Krasner, "It is 
obvious that he spent decades conducting meticulous research on several 
continents to produce this winning and chilling narrative. Bascomb has set a 
new nonfiction gold standard for young readers."
Six Sydney Taylor Honor Books were named for 2014. For younger readers, two 
Honor Books were selected, both published by Kar-Ben a division of Lerner 
Publishing Group: Stones for Grandpa by Renee Londoner with illustrations by 
Martha Avillés and Rifka Takes a Bow by Betty Rosenberg Perlov with 
illustrations by Cosei Kawa. The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible 
Became Possible...on Schindler's List by Leon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran and 
Elisabeth B. Leyson (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & 
Schuster Children's Publishing Division) and Dear Canada: Pieces of the Past: 
The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948 by Carol Matas 
(Scholastic Canada) garnered recognition as an Honor Books for Older Readers. 
For Teen Readers, the honor goes to Dancing in the Dark by Robyn Bavati (Flux, 
an imprint