PJ Library at the Sydney Taylor Book Awards


Named in memory of the author of the classic All-of-a-Kind Family series, these awards are really like the Oscars for people whose life is about Jewish children’s literature. This year the awards were given at the Association of Jewish Libraries 53rd annual conference in Boston, MA. PJ Library folks enjoyed spending time with librarians who are responsible for getting great Jewish books into the hands of their many readers.

And we were honored that our founder and president, Harold Grinspoon and Winnie Sandler Grinspoon, were on hand to receive the Body of Work Award. Here’s what the awards’ committee wrote:

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.

PJ Library and PJ Our Way titles did great at the awards this year! Congratulations to all the authors!

PJ Library Titles:

Gold Medal Winner and National Jewish Book Award Winner:

The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew

Written by Richard Michelson
Illustrated by Karla Gudeon
Published by Charlesbridge

Gold Medal Winner:

Yaffa and Fatima Shalom, Salaam

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, won a Silver Medal Honor.

Notable Winners

Big Sam: A Rosh Hashanah Tall Tale

Big Sam: A Rosh Hashanah Tall Tale

Written by Eric A. Kimmel
Illustrated by Jim Starr
Published by Apples & Honey Press, an imprint of Behrman House

The Knish War on Rivington Street

The Knish War on Rivington Street

Written by Joanne Oppenheim
Illustrated by Jon Davis
Published by Albert Whitman & Company

PJ Our Way Titles:

Three PJ Our Way titles received Sydney Taylor Honor awards (Silver Medal):

Viva, Rose!

by Susan Krawitz, published by Holiday House

by Madelyn Rosenberg and Wendy Wan-Long Shang, published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic

by Tammar Stein, published by Kar-Ben Publishing, a division of Lerner Publishing Group