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Today is the final day, the “grand finale” if you will, of the 2011 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. We hope you’ve been enjoying the interviews with our gold and silver medalists, and that you’ll continue to follow their work.
Don’t forget, in addition to these medalists we’ve featured in the blog tour, we’ve also got lots of fine books on this year’s Notables list. Be sure to check out those books too; here’s a PDF listing every book recognized by the awards committee for 2011.
Here are the last two stops on our blog tour. Enjoy!
Once is a 2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Teen Readers Category.
Read an interview with author Morris Gleitzman at The Fourth Musketeer with blogger Margo Tanenbaum.
Here’s a teaser:
Margo: Could you also comment on why you prefer to call Once and its sequels novels about friendship, rather than novels about the Holocaust?
Morris: My starting point for these books, even before I decided to set them against the Holocaust, was friendship. I’ve long been interested in how young people today feel growing up in a world that increasingly seems to be the product of the worst of our human tendencies. I like to write stories that don’t shy away from that worst, but which also never lose sight of the best we’re capable of. And I think loving friendships are where most of us get to show our best.
Finally, we have a wrap-up of the Blog Tour with a virtual panel featuring various winners over at The Whole Megillah with blogger Barbara Krasner.
Here’s a teaser:
Barbara: What trends do you see coming our way?
Kristina Swarner: I’ve been approached about electronic books more often lately, and have been thinking about ways to make illustrations move or interact with the readers.
Dana Reinhardt: It’s tough out there for writers of realistic fiction. But thanks to organizations like the Association of Jewish Libraries, sometimes these smaller books get attention and ultimately find their audience.
Sarah Gershman: I see more of an openness to talking about G-d, particularly in books aimed at both affiliated and unaffiliated families.
To learn more about the Sydney Taylor Book Award, please visit the Association of Jewish Libraries. You can hear podcasts of past winners receiving their awards at the AJL convention at jewishlibraries.org/podcast.
Thanks for reading the 2011 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour!