x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

Heidi Rabinowitz

The Book of Life is an interview-format podcast about Jewish kidlit, mostly, with occasional coverage of Jewish YA/adult books, music, film and web, established in December 2005. Host: Heidi Rabinowitz Sponsors: Feldman Children"s Library at Congregation B"nai Israel of Boca Raton, Florida & the Association of Jewish Libraries

arts books

All Episodes

02:11

Announcement: Share Your Shelf

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2026/01/06

TRANSCRIPT: Hello! This is Heidi Rabinowitz, your host at The Book of Life Podcast, and I have some news to share. A year ago I started a Substack newsletter for The Book of Life Podcast to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary. The free Substack posts include podcast episodes, show notes, transcripts, Jewish kidlit news, and calls to action. A number of listeners have very kindly pledged to upgrade to paid subscriptions to support the show. I am now turning on paid subscriptions, and I'm

en

01:29:50

20th Anniversary Retrospective Spectacular!

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/12/14

SHOW NOTES & TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/podcast-20th-anniversary-retrospective?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true It's The Book of Life's 20th Anniversary! In celebration, here's a super deluxe retrospective episode, with short clips from every year of the podcast. We'll start with this anniversary year, 2025, and then move back through time to 2005. HANUKKAH TREATS: Miniature Zine about the podcast -- print and fold! folding

en

44:33

A Hanukkah Classic Crossover with Fuse 8 n' Kate

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/12/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-hanukkah-classic-crossover-with-fuse.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/2QqWmvmeK1xGjP9AmSJelGqNVCg?utm_source=copy_url Fuse 8 n' Kate is a weekly podcast hosted by School Library Journal, in which super-librarian Betsy Bird and her sister Kate evaluate 20+ year old picture books to decide whether they should be considered classics. Since The Book of Life is 20 years old (and hopefully a classic), I asked Betsy and Kate to collaborate on a

en

22:57

November Throwback: Jewish Book Month

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/11/13

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/november-throwback-jewish-book-month.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/sEuzJ-GYxRIHREm5DRtY94hYkFI?utm_source=copy_url Continuing the celebration of my 20th year of podcasting, I've got another archival episode for you from 2006, about Jewish Book Month. In the early days of The Book of Life I usually had multiple guests in each episode, and this one includes four: Folklorist Howard Schwartz, talking about his picture book Before You Were

en

57:33

Jean Meltzer, Queen of Jewish Joy

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/11/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/11/jean-meltzer-queen-of-jewish-joy.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/65Uhjlmyb1QYDBa_KvBpl0TCTyU?utm_source=copy_url Back in July 2025 I did a brief interview with Jean Meltzer, so she could tell you about Jewish Joy Con, an exciting event coming to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 2026. But I promised you a longer interview later - and here it is! Jean talks about her writing, her Jewish Joy Book Club and subscription box, more about the

en

25:35

October Throwback: Laurel Snyder Redux

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/10/16

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/october-throwback-laurel-snyder-redux.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/eP9KxOhurmOFV6jIhbWPC5jYX8Y?utm_source=copy_url Continuing the celebration of my 20th year of podcasting, I've got a 2013 archival episode for you with author Laurel Snyder, who at that time was best known for her iconoclastic picture book, Baxter The Pig Who Wanted to Be Kosher. Amazingly, Laurel says that The Book of Life podcast actually impacted her writing! In a

en

46:46

One Small Spark & More Than Enough

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/10/03

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/10/one-small-spark-more-than-enough.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/-_ly-iTlaYO1hZfUChOPKsYnXTI?utm_source=copy_url If you're a regular Book of Life listener, you know I always ask guests for tikkun olam suggestions about ways to repair the world. Well, that's what this entire episode is about. I've got a pair of Jewish activist picture books for you: One Small Spark: A Tikkun Olam Story by Ruth Spiro, and More Than Enough: Inspired by

en

49:23

September Throwback: Sweep, The Story of a Girl and...

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/09/16

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/september-throwback-sweep-story-of-girl.html TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/september-throwback-sweep-the-story?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true To continue with the themes of golems and fighting for justice that we explored in our most recent episode about Kyle Lukoff's A World Worth Saving, AND in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an

en

28:08

A World Worth Saving

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/09/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-world-worth-saving.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/_6lUDoKCnGpaSn-_alokxvSNtEo?utm_source=copy_url A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff is a queer Jewish fantasy adventure in which a trans boy and an unusual golem must save the world by Yom Kippur! I interviewed Kyle about this new middle grade novel, as well as his seasonally appropriate picture book, I'm Sorry You Got Mad, a wonderful reflection on the art of apology. Shana Tova! LEARN

en

26:32

August Throwback: Summer Coolness

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/08/17

SHOW NOTES: TRANSCRIPT: In honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you another episode from the archives: Summer Coolness, released in June 2007. The episode featured a now-defunct website called ReaderGirlz, and the website Nextbook that morphed into Tablet Magazine in 2009. There were also many mentions of MySpace. I interviewed Melissa Schorr, author of Goy Crazy, who, according to her website, seems to have mostly moved on from kidlit to journalism. I must say, her

en

38:51

The Five Books Podcast

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/08/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-five-books.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/newZynBRoGzWkdF7PaTnzDLDSP4?utm_source=copy_url The Five Books is a new literary Jewish podcast hosted by Tali Rosenblatt Cohen in partnership with the Jewish Book Council. I'm very happy to welcome another show to our little corner of the book world, so I invited Tali to do a mutual interview. We interviewed each other, and the episode will appear on both our podcast feeds. LEARN MORE: The

en

07:16

Announcing: Jewish Joy Con

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/07/25

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/announcement-jewish-joy-con.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/K_DNE5hooD1D-ujpoI2gQUXpsZs?utm_source=copy_url LEARN MORE: Jean Meltzer’s website Jewish Joy LLC (the Jewish Joy Book Club and the Jewish Joy Box) Jewish Joy Con, March 13-15, 2026 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL CREDITS: Produced by Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel Co-sponsored by the Association of Jewish Libraries Sister podcast: Nice Jewish Books Theme

en

24:15

July Throwback: The Inquisitor's Tale

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/07/20

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-throwback-inquisitors-tale.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/idZDWVCvKcbXcYPMmx4uUuonYQE?utm_source=copy_url As a follow up to my recent interview with Adam Gidwitz about Max in the Land of Lies, and in honor of my 20th year of podcasting on The Book of Life, I'm bringing you an episode from the archives, from January 2017. I met Adam Gidwitz at an author "speed dating" event at the American Library Association conference, where he was

en

43:26

Max in the Land of Lies

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/07/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/07/max-in-land-of-lies.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/4wQEsnmUalkzvYUesd-o7pDjudQ?utm_source=copy_url Last July, Adam Gidwitz was on the podcast talking about his middle grade Holocaust historical fantasy novel, Max in the House of Spies, and he told us it was part of a duology. Well, now the second book is out, and I think it's even more powerful than the first one. Max in the Land of Lies continues Max's page-turning, hair raising

en

20:38

Pride Month Throwback: The New Queer Conscience

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/06/16

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-throwback-new-queer.html TRANSCRIPT: https://open.substack.com/pub/bookoflifepodcast/p/pride-month-throwback?r=16b2w9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true In celebration of Pride Month and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing an archival episode from June, 2021. It’s an interview with Adam Eli, a young activist and author of The New Queer Conscience, a manifesto about how the queer

en

43:06

Pride Month Special: The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/06/01

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/06/pride-month-special-gender-binary-is.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/0xdCC0WUSVL8flI0x3kljyCApps?utm_source=copy_url I don't normally interview an author about a single chapter of a book, but for my friend Lee Wind, I'm making an exception. He's written a fascinating nonfiction book, The Gender Binary Is a Big Lie: Infinite Identities Around the World, and Chapter 2 is about "The Six Genders of Classical Judaism." I just had to learn more

en

07:50

A Special Message from Heidi (A High, a Low, a Call...

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/05/28

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/a-special-message-from-heidi-high-low.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/tomHSY9SlPPB1XDOQwsavTXOeUM?utm_source=copy_url I'm squeezing in this quick extra episode to share with you my personal response to the shooting at the Capitol Jewish Museum, with calls to action and a message of hope. LEARN MORE: HIGH E Train Talks interviews Heidi about 20 years of The Book of Life Podcast LOW The Forward's reporting on the shooting of Yaron

en

24:21

#JAHM Throwback: The Book of Life in America, 2006

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/05/18

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/jahm-throwback-book-of-life-in-america.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/bd9VMkp1cnjgHm9z4cbdq7Usaak?utm_source=copy_url In celebration of May’s Jewish American Heritage Month (aka #JAHM) and The Book of Life’s 20th year of podcasting, I’m re-releasing the eighth-ever episode of the show, from July 2006. The theme was “The Book of Life in America.” In the early years of the show, each episode featured multiple guests, and topics ranged

en

32:17

Mendel the Mess-Up

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/05/04

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/05/mendel-mess-up.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/MYzjopAD_3R8aSnpGTydMmKNjv4?utm_source=copy_url Terry LaBan is an alternative cartoonist, a graphic recorder (we'll talk about what that means later), and now he's written his first graphic novel, called Mendel the Mess Up. I'm going to borrow the description from the starred review in Publishers Weekly. They said "Put Fiddler on the Roof and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in a

en

46:30

A Feather, A Pebble, A Shell

The Book of Life: Jewish Kidlit (Mostly) ·

2025/04/16

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2025/04/listen-to-podcast-read-transcript-buy.html TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/EnXlWNdrqXuQ4V3kzlKGwyqpPWk?utm_source=copy_url A Feather, A Pebble, A Shell is a lovely meditation on the natural landscape of Israel, written and illustrated by Miri Leshem-Pelly. Miri's voice is calm and dreamy, and I could hear birds chirping and dogs barking in the background as she spoke. Our conversation was both fun and serious. We talked about art, nature,

en

343 results

Similar Podcasts

Start The Breakthrough Full Audiobook Now, Thriller Fans!

thebookvoice.com

Get Hooked On The Life-Enhancing Full Audiobook Experience!

thebookvoice.com

西四五条

主播郑捕头

Podcast Patapoe

0d0a

On Mic Podcast

Jordan Rich