REVIEWS May/June 2011 Volume 1, No
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Association of Jewish Libraries REVIEWS May/June 2011 Volume 1, No. 2 2011 Reference & Bibliography Award Winners Announced DANIEL SCHEI D E The Research Libraries, Archives, and Special Bleaney and Pablo García Suárez, this bibliography Collections Division of the Association of Jewish is an important contribution to Libraries (AJL) is very pleased to announce the study of Jews in the Islamic the winners of its 2011 Judaica Reference and World due to its thematic and Bibliography Awards. geographical scopes, especially considering the difficulties in In the reference category, covering such a diverse field and the winner is The Encyclopedia multitude of languages. More of Jews in the Islamic World, information on the Bibliography published by Brill. Edited can be found at http://www. by Dr. Norman Stillman of brill.nl/bibliography-jews- the University of Oklahoma, islamic-world. this 5-volume encyclopedia is the first English-language Thanks to Our Sponsors: We would like to thank reference that deals with a Dr. Greta Silver of New York City and Eric Chaim part of Jewish history that is Kline of Los Angeles, who respectively sponsor obscure and inaccessible for the annual Judaica Reference and Bibliography many readers. The Encyclopedia Awards. The 2011 awards will be presented at the of Jews in the Islamic World opens a new window AJL 46th Annual Convention banquet, which will into this world and will inevitably generate more take place on Tuesday evening, June 21, 2011 at the research and interest in the field. An online version Marriott Montréal Château Champlain in Montréal, is currently available as well. More information on Québec. the Encyclopedia can be found at http://www.brill. For more information about AJL’s Judaica nl/default.aspx?partid=227&pid=26005. Reference & Bibliography Awards, including past An honorable mention has been awarded to The winners, please visit http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ Eerdman’s Dictionary of Early Judaism, edited by John main/Awards/ReferenceBibliographyAwards.aspx. J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow. It is an essential Awards Committee: The Reference & reference in a field of study that has rapidly Bibliography Awards Committee includes Michlean expanded in recent decades. More information on the Amir (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum), Dictionary can be found at http://www.eerdmans. Yoram Bitton (Columbia University), Rachel Leket- com/shop/product.asp?p_key=9780802825490. Mor (Arizona State University), Daniel Rettberg In the bibliography category, the winner is The (Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati), Pinchas Roth Bibliography of Jews in the Islamic World, published (Hebrew University), Rachel Simon (Princeton by Brill. Edited by María Angeles Gallego, Heather University), and Daniel Scheide, chair (Florida Atlantic University). AJL Online Visit the AJL Web site at http://www.jewishlibraries.org. To subscribe to Hasafran, AJL’s electronic discussion list, send the message: “sub hasafran [your first and last name]” to: [email protected]. AJL is now on Facebook. Become a fan. Association of Jewish Libraries P.O. Box 1118 Dear AJL Reviews Readers, Teaneck, NJ 07666 212-725-5359, [email protected] I am very glad to share with you our second digital issue. Since the The AJL Newsletter (Irene Levin-Wixman z”l, founding editor) was published in print publication of the first issue in February, I got many positive comments from 1979 to 2010 by the Association of and a very few negative ones. The negative comments dealt with the Jewish Libraries to inform members about association activities and issues related to technical aspects of scrolling, font size, and printing; all of these issues Judaica libraries. As of January 2011 it is are easily manageable within the Adobe Acrobat software. If you have split into two separate electronic publica- tions – the AJL News and the AJL Reviews. any questions or further comments, please do not hesitate to contact me Receipt of these publications is one of the by email at [email protected] or phone at 512-495-4399. benefits of membership. Annual dues are $50 for individuals or institutions. In this issue you will find 82 adult reviews (fiction and non-fiction) Please send requests for membership and and 35 children and teen reviews. This is an increase of 17% since last dues information to: AJL VP for Membership issue. One of the benefits of the digital format is that it allows us to Joseph Galron review and post a large number of reviews with no additional cost. PO Box 3816 Columbus, OH 3210-0816 We also have a spotlight for adult titles that deal with the Holocaust Tel.: (614) 292-3362, Fax: (614)292-1918 (Holocaust Remembrance Day – Yom ha-Shoah – was May 1st), and an [email protected] extensive review for three titles about the Cairo Genizah that happen to General Editor be published simultaneously. Uri Kolodney University of Texas Libraries The University of Texas at Austin I would like to take this opportunity and urge you to read the AJL One University Station S5400 Austin, TX 78712-8916 News; it is not too late to learn about the forthcoming AJL convention [email protected] in Montreal! I wish you all a cool, pleasant summer, and a lot of reading Copy Editing and Page Layout time! Karen Ulric Golda Och Academy Uri Kolodney 1418 Pleasant Valley Way West Orange, NJ 07052 [email protected] Send adult books for review to: Daniel Scheide S.E. Wimberly Library Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road Don’t Forget to Read Contents Boca Raton , FL 33431-6424 561-297-0519 AJL News [email protected] Titles for Children & Teens p.3 Adult Review Editor The May/June 2011 edition Spotlight p.3 Merrily F. Hart of AJL News is chock full of Bible p.6 5090 Oak Tree Court Ann Arbor, MI 48108 information! Biography p.7 [email protected] Look for: Fiction p.7 Children and YA Review Editors Folklore p.8 Linda Silver & Anne Dublin [email protected] • More information about the History p.9 [email protected] 2011 Convention, and the Holidays p.9 Advertising Rates wonderful city of Montreal. Holocaust p.11 1 1 Full page $200 7 /2 x 9 /2 5 1 Israel p.12 Half-page (vert) 110 3 /8 x 9 /2 1 3 • More AJL Award Winners! Half-page (horiz) 110 7 /2 x 4 /4 Judaism p,13 Quarter-page 55 3 5/ x 4 3/ Sydney Taylor Manuscript, 8 4 Life Membership, Fanny Yiddish p.13 All ads must be prepaid. Please submit all Reviews of Titles for Adults p.14 inquiries, finished copy, and checks to: Goldstein Merit Award Karen Ulric Spotlight p.14 Golda Och Academy • An extensive edition of Nonfiction p.16 1418 Pleasant Valley Way West Orange, NJ 07052 Chapter Chatter - news from Literature & Poetry p.37 973-669-8000 x253 all over! Books and Audio Received p.38 [email protected] Reviews of Multimedia p.39 All links to online resources were checked • A visit to Britain’s Hebraica for accuracy on May 10, 2011. We cannot be and Judaica Libraries with responsible for broken links to those resources Stephanie (Sarah Leah) in the future. Gross AJL Reviews May/June 2011 Volume I, No. 2 ISSN 2160-0910 2 AJL Reviews May/June 2011 Reviews of Titles for Children and Teens Gleitzman, Morris. Then. New In The Spotlight York: Holt, 2010. 208 pp. $15.99. (9780805090277). Gr.6 – 8. Dowswell, Paul. The Auslander. The fanciful stories about the New York: Bloomsbury, 2011. 292 Shoah currently being published pp. $16.99. (9781599906331) Gr. 7-12. are quite different from the heart- Peter and his family were wrenching stories written by survivors “Volksdeutscher,” bi-lingual Germans and their families, or from historical who lived in a part of Poland that fiction which endeavors to replicate Germany was hell-bent on recovering historical events. What do we make after it had been taken from them of a film like Life is Beautiful directed in punishment for starting World by Roberto Benigni, or titles like The Book Thief by Markus War I. Peter had suffered in Poland Zusak, or The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, or because of this and from his perfect Once and Then by Morris Gleitzman? Are they fantasy Aryan looks. The bullies among the or fiction? Or perhaps myth or legend? Or, maybe even Polish boys call him “Adolfki;” and truthfully, Peter and truth? his father were not unhappy when the Germans invaded. Upon first reading Once (Holt, 2010), I thought it Because his parents died in an auto accident just before was implausible that Felix, the child left by his parents the Germans reached their farm, Peter was sent to an in the Christian orphanage, would not realize what orphanage. There, the “race” doctor termed him to be a was happening, but upon reflection I understood that perfect Aryan after measuring his nose, forehead chin, etc. his misinterpretation through Once (and continued in (The Nazi “scientists” kidnapped “Aryan-looking” Polish Then) was really on target. He represents normality and youth for adoption by Aryan families to in Germany. innocence. After all, what parent or child could possibly This was part of their Lebensraum program.) Peter is so fathom the evil that was to befall them, or of which human perfectly Aryan that - after sufficient indoctrination - beings were capable? The children epitomize innocence, the doctor offers him to an important friend in Berlin, while they are almost totally surrounded by evil. In Then, Dr. Kaltenbach. Peter is excited and looking forward the two children, Felix and Zelda jump off a train on its to being adopted by this family, but in time, he is made way to a Nazi death camp; their friend Chaya is killed in uneasy by the narrow Nazi philosophy, their rituals, the process and the children bury her, leaving little 6 year- the expected total submersion of one’s feelings for those old Zelda with her short legs and wearing only slippers, approved by the Nazis and their proscriptions about the less strength to keep up with Felix as he drags her up the untermenschen (others).