USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: Who Built That? Bridges by Didier Cornille

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In this latest addition to his popular Who Built That? series, Didier Cornille presents ten of the most important bridges in the world, from the Brooklyn to the Golden Gate; from the first in cast iron to the longest in concrete; from small footbridges to the tallest in the world. Cornille introduces each engineer or … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: Who Built That? Bridges by Didier Cornille

‘Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening’ by Manal Al-Sharif

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Congratulations to the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women have achieved the freedom to drive this week! Change happens very slowly and then all of a sudden. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sowNSH_W2r0 Manal Al-Sharif driving on the streets of Saudi Arabia Manal Al-Sharif was the very public face of the #Women2Drive campaign in the Kingdom of … Continue reading ‘Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman’s Awakening’ by Manal Al-Sharif

Title Pick: A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman

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**WINNER OF THE 2017 MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE**The award-winning and internationally acclaimed author of the To the End of the Land now gives us a searing short novel about the life of a stand-up comic, as revealed in the course of one evening’s performance. In the dance between comic and audience, with barbs flying back and forth, a … Continue reading Title Pick: A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman

Publisher Spotlight: Chin Music Press

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Bruce Rutledge and Yuko Enomoto founded Chin Music Press in 2002 while living in Tokyo. At the time, media conglomerates were swallowing up publishing companies, greatly reducing the opportunities for risky books to get into print. The time was ripe for small presses to fill the gap, especially with contemporary and edgy literature from Japan. … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Chin Music Press

Excerpt: Lives of the Dead by Hanoch Levin

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At Night I Weep With Longing At night I weep with longing For all that I’ve no eyes to weep with – Think – but have no brain to think  – About the city lights, the time we laughed. If only you knew, if only you knew My wife, my soul’s passion, How I will … Continue reading Excerpt: Lives of the Dead by Hanoch Levin

USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: The Midsummer Tomte and the Little Rabbits by Ulf Stark

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It's summer in the big forest and the rabbit children are looking forward to their first Midsummer party. Owl, who knows everything, says Midsummer is a time for dancing, love and magic. What a fun time they will have! Then a terrible storm sweeps through the forest and the woodland animals must find shelter at … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: The Midsummer Tomte and the Little Rabbits by Ulf Stark

Buried Yiddish Treasures in Lithuania

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The past seems to bubble up to the surface more frequently and picturesquely in Lithuania than in other places. The country is famous for its deposits of amber, fossilized tree resin. These golden nuggets are brought up from deep underground, sometimes containing bits of long-dead insects and plants. Lithuania is also the burial ground of … Continue reading Buried Yiddish Treasures in Lithuania

Title Pick: Isra Isle by Nava Semel

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This novel is inspired by a true historical event. Before Theodore Herzl there was Mordecai Manuel Noah, an American journalist, diplomat, playwright, and visionary. In September 1825 he bought Grand Island, downriver from Niagara Falls, from the local Native Americans as a place of refuge for the Jewish people and called it “Ararat.” But no … Continue reading Title Pick: Isra Isle by Nava Semel

Even Higher: Three Yiddish Retellings for Children

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Growing up, I knew very little about Yiddish literature with the exception of The Wise Men of Chelm. My elementary school librarian read us the tales of the people so wise they tried to repopulate a river with canned herring. In middle school, I played Dorothy in the Solomon Schechter production of the Wizard of … Continue reading Even Higher: Three Yiddish Retellings for Children

Isaac Babel’s Ghost Was Not on the Guest List

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Pain, Euphoria, Utopia at a Polish-Ukrainian literature festival in Amsterdam By Arturo Desimone “I’m thrown back by a boot, I have no strength left, In vain I beg the rabble of pogrom, To jeers of “Kill the Jews, and save our Russia!” My mother’s being beaten by a clerk. O, Russia of my heart, I … Continue reading Isaac Babel’s Ghost Was Not on the Guest List