Why are Jewish childrens books in the U.S. such drek? Im not referring specifically to the ones mentioned in this article. What I mean is how few and far between are books for Jewish children that are Jewishly substantive and also just plain good books. Millennia of culture and we still get bubbe and latke stories and reheated shtetl and Catskills nostalgia. Why were not one but two something from nothing books published in the 1990s? (Theyre wonderfully illustrated, but how many books do we need for our kids to learn how to be cheap with fabric?) How does a dinosaur say enough already with the dinosaur books? How many English-language books for Jewish children published in the last 70 years can hold a candle to Deborah Pessins 1946 Aleph-Bet Story Book? Why are so few Israeli books for children and teens translated into English (Sami Michaels Storm Among the Palm Trees would be amazing)? Why are the standards so low for such a supposedly literary people? I suppose part of the answer to these questions is that the people who want Jewish reading of quality for their kids have plenty to draw from in the traditional Jewish library and dont need new confections. But the general picture doesnt reflect well on the vaunted creativity of American Jews. P.S. Case in point, the best Jewish childrens books Ive seen recently are the Talmud Yisraeli series published by Yediot in Israel. My 9 year old daughter loves it. Yoel Finkelmans essay on the last here: thetalmudblog.wordpress/2013/10/21/daf-yomi-4-kids-a-simulacrum-of-a-simulacrum-of-talmud-study-guest-post-by-yoel-finkelman/)
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 23:49:13 +0000
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