Monday, May 23, 2011

NEAJL Spring 2011 meeting

We had a very good meeting this past Friday, at Gann Academy!   Thanks to Julie and all the Gann staff!

As I said at the meeting, I'll post, here, some of the things we talked about, with the relevant websites:


1. Gil reviewed the Sydney Taylor winners, and most of the honor books.  They can all be found here.  

2. Gil also reviewed some new titles, for adults, including:


A)  David Biale's History of Secular Thought


B)  The Washington Haggadah


3) Cathy recommended Rebecca Goldstein's 36 arguments for the existence of God

4) Toby recommended   Nathan Blows out the Hanukkah Candles, by Tammy Lehmann-Wilzig  a book that focuses on a child on the autism spectrum,

and, Dorie Witt's Guide to Surviving Bullying, by Brigitte Berman   , whose title speaks for itself.


5)  Ann recommended How to understand Israel in 60 days or less
       by Sarah Glidden.


6)  Ann led a discussion about programs we run at our respective libraries.  Some of the ideas were:

  • Running events in tandem with other community events
  • Summer programs: "Breakfast and Books"
  • Jewish Book Month lectures
  • One synagogue one book
  • Author talks 
  • Custom-made bookmarks to promote a library


7)  Ann led a short discussion (because of time constraints) about what to do with old books, and/or books
      that no one's borrowed for years.  She mentioned that she hired an appraiser to come and appraise 
      about 50 titles in her collection, as a way to help in her thinking about whether to keep, sell, or give them
      away. 


8)  We were delighted to welcome Jonathan Krasner, who spoke to us about 
     The Adventures of K'tonton and Hillel's Happy Holidays: Children's Books and the Making of 
     American Jewish Identity,  which focused on the authors, Sadie Rose Weilerstein and Mamie Gamoran, 
     and the  artist, Temima Gezari; he then connected this talk with the subject of his latest book,   
     Samson Benderly and his 'Boys': Masters of American Jewish Education and their 'Dream Not Yet
    Come True'

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