June 2016 Jewish Book Carnival

The Whole Megillah is pleased to once again host the monthly Jewish Book Carnival!

Here are this month’s links:

• From Shiloh Musings, Batya Medad reviews Witness to History by Sybil Kaplan. Medad calls it an amazing book of modern Israeli history written by a tireless freelance writer. It’s based on Kaplan’s life in Jerusalem in the 1970s, “a true story and only a storyteller like Sybil can tell it.”
• In May, Jill at Rhapsody in Books reviewed Across the Alley by Richard Michelson, a heartwarming children’s book about two boys, one black and one Jewish, who live across the alley from one another and form a secret friendship.
• The newest episode of The Book of Life podcast, hosted by librarian Heidi Rabinowitz, features an interview with Angela Cerrito, author of the middle-grade novel The Safest Lie.  Click here to hear the podcast online.
• In May, the Fig Tree Books blog took note of Short Story Month with a popular post. Add your thoughts about your favorite Jewish short stories.
• Over on the My Machberet blog, Erika Dreifus routinely shares “Pre-Shabbat Jewish Literary Links.” Here is a recent sample entry.
• Life Is Like a Library offers a report from the 2016 Jerusalem Women Writers’ Seminar.
• Deborah Kalb interviews a wide variety of authors on her website. Here’s a link to a recent interview she did with Rita Gabis about her book A Guest at the Shooter’s Banquet: My Grandfather’s SS Past, My Jewish Family, A Search for the Truth. The book examines her family—part Lithuanian Catholic and part Eastern European Jewish—focusing on her Lithuanian maternal grandfather’s role in World War II.
• Over at The Best Chapter, Diana Bletter interviews Frances Dinkelspiel, author of Towers of Gold and Tangled Vines.
• Booksandblintzes is a celebration of Jewish learning and living. This post describes why books play such an important role in how Rabbi Deborah Miller thinks about this mission.