2016 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour | Final Stop
You’ve now come to the final stop along the 2016 Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour, the culmination of a full week of insightful and inspiring award-winning author and illustrator interviews. Read...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | April Halprin Wayland, More Than Enough, a Passover Story
Photo: Webb Burns The Whole Megillah (TWN): How did you decide to write a Passover story? April Halprin Wayland (AHW): When I was little, I loved the song, Dayenu, which we sing at Passover. As an...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook Guest Post | Maggie Anton, Fifty Shades of Talmud
After penning six Jewish historical novels in ten years, I was outlining my seventh when I unexpectedly detoured into nonfiction last spring. Winding up an intense six-month (127 speaking gigs in 17...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Nancy Davidoff Kelton, Finding Mr. Rightstein
The Whole Megillah (TWM): What inspired you to write this book and this book now? Nancy Davidoff Kelton (NDK): In 2005, I wrote an essay about my mother, her illness, and my relationship with her that...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Meryl G. Gordon, The Flower Girl Wore Celery
Debut children’s book author Meryl G. Gordon speaks with The Whole Megillah about her picture book, The Flower Girl Wore Celery, published by Kar-Ben. The Whole Megillah (TWM): What was your...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Richard Michelson, Author of Fascinating: The Life of...
Fascinating: The Life of Leonard Nimoy Written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by Edel Rodriguez Knopf Books for Young Readers, 40 pages, 2016 The Whole Megillah (TWM): Since you had a personal...
View Article2016 March of the Living | An Interview with Participant, Author Kathy Kacer
Kathy Kacer (left), survivor Max Eisen, and friend. Photo courtesy of Kathy Kacer. The Whole Megillah (TWM): How did you first get involved with the March of the Living? Kathy Kacer (KK): I had thought...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | The Sundown Kid written by Barbara Bietz and illustrated...
Picture book coming in January 2017 – The Sundown Kid: A Southwestern Shabbat, written by Barbara Bietz, illustrated by John Kanzler, published by August House The Whole Megillah (TWM): How did you...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | I Dissent, written by Debbie Levy & illustrated by...
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark Written by Debbie Levy Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley 40 pp., Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2016 The Whole Megillah (TWM): What got you...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Linda B. Forgosh, Louis Bamberger: Department Store...
Louis Bamberger: Department Store Innovator and Philanthropist, written by Linda B. Forgosh. Brandeis University Press, 2016, 296 pp. The Whole Megillah (TWM): What got you interested in the life and...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Bruce Ashkenas, Shadows of Shame
The Whole Megillah (TWM): How did you come up with the idea for this book? Why this story? Why this timeframe? Bruce Askenas (BA): I got the idea for Shadows of Shame, the story of a Jewish reporter in...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Susan Lynn Meyer, Skating with the Statue of Liberty
Susan Lynn Meyer The Whole Megillah welcomes back Susan Lynn Meyer, author of the 2011 Sydney Taylor Honor Book Award Winner for Older Readers, Black Radishes and now its sequel, Skating with the...
View Article2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour | Final Stop
You’ve now come to the final stop along the 2017 Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour, the culmination of a full week of insightful and inspiring award-winning author and illustrator interviews. Read...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Linda Leopold-Strauss, A Different Kind of Passover
Linda Leopold-Strauss Photo Credit: Keepsake Photographers A Different Kind of Passover Written by Linda Leopold-Strauss and illustrated by Jeremy Tugeau (Kar-Ben, 2017) The Whole Megillah (TWM): What...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Richard Michelson, The Language of Angels
The Language of Angels: A Story about the Reinvention of Hebrew Written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by Karla Gudeon (Charlesbridge, 2017) The Whole Megillah (TWM): What got you interested in...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Sue William Silverman, Poet and Memoirist
April is National Poetry Month! The Whole Megillah will post some special content featuring poets. This is the first in the series: an interview with poet and memoirist Sue William Silverman. The Whole...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Choices by J.E. Laufer
J.E. Laufer Last year, I spent several months interviewing refugees from the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on behalf of the American Hungarian Foundation. When I received news of J.E. Laufer’s account...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s...
I came across mention of The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland (Cornell University Press, 2017) on the website of the American Historical Association. Since my...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Tammar Stein, The Six-Day Hero
Tammar Stein I had the pleasure of meeting author Tammar Stein at the August Tent: Jewish Children’s Literature program at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. She was able to take time...
View ArticleAuthor’s Notebook | Kathy Kacer and Jordana Lebowitz, To Look a Nazi in the Eye
To Look a Nazi in the Eye: A Teen’s Account of a War Criminal Trial, by Kathy Kacer with Jordana Lebowitz, Second Story Press, 2017, 231 pp. Kathy Kacer The Whole Megillah (TWM): What drew you to this...
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