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This list of “9 Excellent Jewish Kids Books for Hanukkah Gifts and Beyond” was curated by Bianca Schulze.

Prizes and samples provided by Penguin Random House Children’s Books The Children’s Book Review | November 16, 2015 Come together with friends celebrating different holidays! Enter to win 2 copies of Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein (Penguin Random House Children’s Books, 2015), one to keep, and one to share. One (1) winner receives: Two copies of Dear Santa, Love, Rachel […]

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: November 19, 2011

Gloria Spielman

Gloria Spielman is the author of two picture books Janusz Korczak’s Children and Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime which has been awarded a Silver Medal in the 2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in the category of Non-Fiction Picture Book. A former high school English teacher, Gloria has also written English teaching books and contributed to multi-media English courses. She has many more wonderful books in the works that we can look forward to reading soon.

Nicki Richesin: Congratulations on your lovely Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime. It’s a beautifully compelling book about his legendary career and how he brought the world’s attention back to the ancient art of pantomime, but it’s also the story of how he survived World War II. What inspired you to create this well-deserved homage to Mr. Marceau?

Gloria Spielman: Thank You, Nicki. I always enjoy reading The Children’s Book Review; it’s such a terrific resource for anyone in the world of children’s books, so I was thrilled to talk to you.

I’d much rather tell you what inspired me to write my first book, Janusz Korczak’s Children, it’s a far better story. My then third grade daughter had to do a project on Korczak for Holocaust Memorial Day, and that got me reading and thinking.

The truth is, the original inspiration for Marcel Marceau actually came from my friend Mandy. She was looking at Janusz Korczak and said “You know, you should write about Marcel Marceau. He was really interesting.” She told me of his work with the resistance and after she left I did some reading. Mandy was right. I started to imagine the pictures. I often imagine a picture book in pictures as well as words. My editor agreed. So did the publisher. And I started to write. I wish could say I saw a wonderful mime performance when I was a child and fell in love with it, but that would be a lie.

I was astonished to learn that Marceau was a part of the French resistance. He bravely smuggled Jewish children through the forests to safety and entertained allied troops. He led such a fascinating life. Did you discover anything that surprised you when doing your research?

It was all fascinating.  But there is only so much that can go into a 32 page book. One anecdote that would have made a great picture book illustration is when Marceau came face to face with the man he called his creative father, Charlie Chaplin. He told Chaplin how he paid tribute to him in his American performance and began to imitate him in the middl

Thank you Heidi Estrin and Alyx Block for the shout-out and kind words about my blog on "The Book of Life" podcast! This wonderful series is called "Why Be Social?"

Check it out!
http://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-be-social-part-3-suggestions.html

I'm a librarian in a Hebrew school in Brookline, Mass, so I thought I would post these resources for anyone interested in Jewish books for kids:

The Book of Life Podcast (http://www.bookoflifepodcast.com), a monthly podcast showcasing children's lit and interviews with authors, and

Association of Jewish Libraries website (www.jewishlibraries.org), which has extensive lists of recommended reading for all ages and links to lots of other great resources as well.

Enjoy!

EXCUSE ME WHILE I PAINT THE SKY
by
Gregory K.


I do not like the sky today.
It’s got a greyish hue.
I guess I’ll get my paint brush out
And turn it back to blue.

I think my paint’s the perfect shade
To make a gorgeous sky.
Now I’m not sure my brush can reach...
But still I gotta try.


(I'm posting an original poem-a-day through April in celebration of National Poetry Month. Links to this and other poems here on GottaBook (and there are lots of others, because poetry is NOT just for April) are collected over on the right of the blog under the headline "The Poems".)