Lisa, Thanks for sharing this. I remember being on the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee that year and asking the same question about cute animals in Jewish books. Jane Zalben's Benny books were a breakthrough and the book was designated an honor book. Patricia Polacco's The Keeping Quilt was the prize recipient that year.
So happy to see that Benny and his family are still around. Aileen GrossbergLampert LibraryCongregation Shomrei EmunahMontclair, NJChair, Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award Competition On Sunday, July 9, 2023, 12:27:49 AM EDT, Lisa Silverman via Hasafran <hasafran@lists.osu.edu> wrote: Hello all, For those of us who fondly recall the "Beni" series, School Library Journal has an informative article by Betsy Bird entitled, " Celebrating Jewish Holidays All Year Round: An Interview with Jane Breskin Zalben. " Hello all,For those of us who fondly recall the "Beni" series, School Library Journal has an informative article by Betsy Bird entitled, " Celebrating Jewish Holidays All Year Round: An Interview with Jane Breskin Zalben." Here is a quote from it: "Years and years ago Jane Breskin Zalben created the “Beni” series, and now, twenty-five years later an all new collection is available to readers in BENI’S TINY TALES: AROUND THE YEAR IN JEWISH HOLIDAYS (available everywhere August 8th)." https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/07/06/celebrating-jewish-holidays-all-year-round-an-interview-with-jane-zalben-about-benis-tiny-tales/__;!!KGKeukY!z-W9XK3eFbKG1v6mJOP2_IGXgZyI1fG8sKD-6SM8QCNkzxwKH7fkqEXo88aX6aDRNDXiyn8TMUAxfvfufSl3kb8K4dokDg$ | | Celebrating Jewish Holidays All Year Round: An Interview with Jane Breskin Zalben About Beni’s Tiny TalesHow would Jewish people take to anthropomorphic animals? You mean cute mice were okay for Christmas books, but Jewish children shouldn’t have cute bears? Was I missing something?afuse8production.slj.com | Lisa SilvermanRetired director, Sperber Jewish Community LibraryCurator, Jewish Journal Streaming Guide__ Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) ================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran@lists.osu.edu To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: galro...@osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!z-W9XK3eFbKG1v6mJOP2_IGXgZyI1fG8sKD-6SM8QCNkzxwKH7fkqEXo88aX6aDRNDXiyn8TMUAxfvfufSl3kb8BUifPtA$ Earlier Listserver: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!z-W9XK3eFbKG1v6mJOP2_IGXgZyI1fG8sKD-6SM8QCNkzxwKH7fkqEXo88aX6aDRNDXiyn8TMUAxfvfufSl3kb8BUifPtA$ AJL HomePage https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.JewishLibraries.org__;!!KGKeukY!z-W9XK3eFbKG1v6mJOP2_IGXgZyI1fG8sKD-6SM8QCNkzxwKH7fkqEXo88aX6aDRNDXiyn8TMUAxfvfufSl3kb-ZPthoNw$ -- Hasafran mailing list Hasafran@lists.osu.edu https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran
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