{ 0 comments }

Author and illustrator Ann Koffsky has written up a delightful review of Sliding Into the New Year by Dori Weinstein. You can read it here: http://annkoffsky.com/2012/08/09/ya-ya-and-yo-yo/.

And if you’re looking for a great gift idea for Rosh Hashanah, look no further than Sliding Into the New Year. You can purchase copies directly from Dori if you know her, or here on the Yotzeret website, or on Amazon.com or through your favorite bookstore.

We have it on good authority that yes, it is permissible to read Sliding Into the New Year at a waterpark, as long as it’s not on Rosh Hashanah.

{ 0 comments }

We are pleased to present this guest blog post from author Amy Ariel, winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award (religion category) for her book, Friends Forever. Mazal tov, Amy!

“Is that the cover of your book? Can I peek at it?” Connie* asked as she checked my IV bag to see about how much longer it would run.

“Absolutely!” I smiled, turning my laptop toward one of my many favorite nurses. I had just received the draft of the cover of Friends Forever from Sheyna Galyan, the owner of Yotzeret Publishing, and it was perfect. I loved the old look of it, and I loved the picture of the two girls holding hands just as I had imagined Abigail and Hannah as I wrote their story. As I scrolled to the image of the back of the book, Connie caught her breath.

“Wow. Amy,” she said, looking from my author picture to me and back. “Your picture . . . you’re beautiful.”

I looked over my computer at my reflection in the hospital window. I was still fairly newly bald, but seeing my shiny head rarely shocked me anymore. I knew I looked tired all the time, and even though she took it all in stride, I knew from my partner’s face after she held me close that my grayish skin smelled like the chemo that was helping my body by killing the cancer cells. I was so glad to have something to talk about besides the leukemia (AML) that had recently become part of my life, but didn’t define my life.

“Thank you.” I smiled at her again. “I promise, I’ll come back and visit when I have some color back in my face . . . and maybe some hair. In the meantime, though, you have a couple of daughters, right?”

“Yep. Eight and ten.”

“Well, they are exactly the right age for my book! The main characters, Abigail and Hannah, are nine. It’s about two Jewish girls who live in Saint Paul and become friends across time when Hannah appears in Abigail’s yard in 1912. It’s a time travel story. It’s set to come out in March. We are planning a book party with friends, congregants from my synagogue, and especially my students. My mom will be there, too, in charge of the hand sanitizer!”

“I’d love a copy for my girls.” Connie looked thoughtful. “You know, I bet other nurses would be interested, too. Is it okay with you if I tell them we have an author visiting our floor?”

And suddenly, I was transformed. In her comment, I realized that in her eyes I was no longer just another leukemia patient. Now she knew what I looked like before I got sick, she knew something about my life and what I cared about, and most importantly to me, she knew that the story of my life was bigger than cancer.

Over the many months I was in and out of the hospital, while I had (over thirty-five) blood and platelet transfusions, as the chemo brought down my cell counts, and as my body worked hard to make new, healthy cells, each of my nurses asked me how the final details leading up to the publication of my book were going, what else I had written or was writing, how plans for my book party were coming, and how it was, staying in touch with my students (to whom they knew I had dedicated my book) primarily by text message and on Facebook.

I was home between rounds of chemo the first time I held my book in my hands, and I read it—again—cover to cover, a little in awe that it had actually come to be.  A few hundred people celebrated with me at the book party. I donated a copy to Mount Zion’s Purim Carnival Silent Auction with the promise to read it over the phone, chapter-by-chapter, to whoever ‘won’ it. I had expected to be reading to an elementary school student, but I smiled when one of my high schoolers texted that, having won my book, she was looking forward to bedtime stories.  Leslie Martin, my unfailingly supportive editor, several good friends, and of course my mom also helped promote Friends Forever. Many of my nurses bought my book, some for their children or grandchildren and some for themselves. Never had I imagined my audience would include the oncology floor of Southdale Hospital.

It was around that time that I learned I was in the highest risk group for having the leukemia come back, and that I would therefore have to have a bone marrow transplant (BMT) at the University of Minnesota Medical Center.  All of my hopes and plans for promoting my book myself had to be pushed aside as I refocused my energy on transplant. Only about 50% of the people who need a bone marrow transplant are able to find a matching donor; I was one of the lucky ones. Recipients and donors are only allowed to write anonymous letters to each other for a period of years after transplant, but without giving away who I am, when I wrote to thank my donor, one of the first things I shared with him was that I am a published children’s book author.

My BMT was May 12, 2011. BMT is an unbelievably intense experience. If there is a way to effectively write about it with brevity, I don’t know it. In the months that followed, I have struggled with acute graft vs. host disease, and then chronic graft vs. host disease. I have had some bad reactions to medications. I was on supplemental IV nutrition. I had my appendix out. I could go on. However, I am also still leukemia-free, and along with many other bright spots, every once in a while, I hear from someone who read and enjoyed my book, I get a great review, or I have a conversation with a friend or one of my students about what I might write next, and I am reminded that while leukemia, and now also BMT, are part of my life and always will be, they are far from the whole story of my life.

Maybe, after having a glimpse into my past eighteen months, it’s possible to have a feel for what it means to me for Friends Forever to have just won a national award recognizing it as a book that “helps children grow socially, emotionally, ethically, intellectually, and physically.” As a winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award, Friends Forever will be promoted throughout the year with additional activity and lesson plan resources. And this year, I have every reason to believe I’ll be able to promote it myself as well.

These days I have plenty of color back in my face, and although it’s still short I do finally have a full head of hair. One of these days soon, I look forward to bringing a copy of my book all decked out with a shiny Gelett Burgess award sticker to the nurses at Southdale for them to leave in the family and visitor’s room as a small thank you for their outstanding care of me when I was their patient, and with gratitude that this time as a visiting author I have no need to stay overnight.
*I’ve changed the nurse’s name as I was unable to reach her for permission to use her name in sharing this story.

{ 6 comments }

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2012

Yotzeret Publishing’s children’s book, Like a Maccabee by California author Barbara Bietz, has been chosen by PJ Library as a November 2012 book for older readers. ($8.95; October 2006; 978-1-59287-137-7) A new edition of the book with a new cover will be released later this autumn.

PJ Library is a Jewish family engagement program implemented on a local level throughout North America. A program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, PJ Library mails free, high-quality Jewish children’s literature and music to families across the continent on a monthly basis. Today, families in hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada are able to explore the timeless core values of Judaism through books and music. More information about PJ Library can be found at http://www.pjlibrary.org/.

About Like a Maccabee:

Days before Hanukkah, ten-year-old Ben’s soccer team makes the league championships. Only one thing stands between Ben and victory: the rival team’s best defender, a school bully whose favorite sport, other than soccer, is tormenting Ben. No one at home seems to understand. And now he has to share his room—and his family’s attention—with his grandfather, who has recently come to live with them. Facing humiliation at school and misunderstood by those who love him most, Ben finds an unexpected friend in his grandfather, learning ancient wisdom and steadfast strength, enough for the big game…and beyond.

More information about Like a Maccabee can be found at
http://yotzeretpublishing.com/03/catalog/books/like-a-maccabee/

{ 0 comments }

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 28, 2012

Yotzeret Publishing’s children’s book, Friends Forever by St. Paul resident Amy Ariel, has been awarded the 2012 Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award for outstanding contributions to children’s literature. ($8.95; March 2011; 978-1-59287-112-4) The book was awarded in the religion category.

The Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award highlights excellence in family-friendly books covering the broad expanse of a child’s existence, helping them grow socially, emotionally, ethically, intellectually, and physically. Each year Gelett Burgess Children’s Book awards are given to 40 books in 4 distinct classifications: Lifestyle, Arts and Letters, Society and Culture, and Education. The list of winners is promoted throughout the year with additional activity and lesson plan resources made available.

Parents, educators, librarians and retailers trust the high mark of distinction the Gelett Burgess  Foundation honors provide a product. Informed decisions about purchasing products designed for children and families can be made knowing they have passed the foundation’s stringent evaluation process. More information can be found at www.GelettBurgessCenter.org.

About Friends Forever:

Two Jewish girls become friends across time when modern-day Hannah suddenly appears in her own Saint Paul yard . . . in 1912. Thirteen-year-old Abigail tells the story of that amazing day and the encounter that changed both their lives forever. Against the backdrop of the Progressive Era, as youth joined with adults and hotly debated women’s right to vote, worker’s rights, and racial equality, Abigail and Hannah must solve their own problem: how will Hannah get back to her own time?

More information about Friends Forever can be found at http://yotzeretpublishing.com/03/catalog/books/friends-forever/.

###

{ 0 comments }

You can now pre-order copies of The Wayward Moon by Janice Weizman.

This 328-page historical novel will be on sale August 28, 2012, and if you pre-order, we’ll send you your copies so that you receive them on or about the on-sale date. Wonderful reviews are already coming in, and Janice Weizman just presented The Wayward Moon to the Jewish Book Author Network in New York.

You can also download and read the first two chapters to whet your appetite for the book’s release.

{ 1 comment }