Festive Friends Part II: Asian Jewish Kidlit with Mixed-Up Mooncakes

The Book of Life: A Podcast About Jewish Kidlit (Mostly)

SHOW NOTES: https://jewishbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/festive-friends-part-ii-asian-jewish.html

TRANSCRIPT: https://otter.ai/u/xKGzqMhNsej4ALLe6F7e2wBfNJg

October 2024 is packed with Jewish holidays, so we've got a 2-part series for you to celebrate: Holiday Friends. In each episode, we hear from a pair of friends about their books that will help us celebrate the Jewish holidays. In Festive Friends Part I we heard from Gayle Forman, author of Not Nothing, and Marjorie Ingall, author of Getting to Sorry.

Here in Festive Friends Part II, we meet Erica Lyons and Christina Matula. Lately, Kids of mixed heritage have finally been getting their mirror books, and a great example is Erica and Christina's new picture book Mixed-Up Mooncakes, about a Chinese Jewish family celebrating the Mid Autumn Festival and Sukkot. I love the cozy atmosphere of this book, with its double harvest festival fun; and I love the comfortable way in which the Chinese and Jewish cultures are mixed together both literally and figuratively in the story.

LEARN MORE:

• Festive Friends Part I with Gayle Forman and Marjorie Ingall
• Erica Lyons' website
• Christina Matula's website
• Buy Mixed-Up Mooncakes
• Reading recommendations: Erica suggests Chicken Soup, Chicken Soup by Pamela Mayer and the Holly-Mei series by Christina Matula. Christina suggests The Truth About Dragons by Julie Leung.
• Heidi's "Jewish Joy with Ruth Behar" guest post on Multicultural Kid Blogs
• Learn about the Mid-Autumn Festival (September 17, 2024)
• Learn about Sukkot (October 16-23, 2024)

ENTER THE DRAWING

Post a review of The Book of Life or Nice Jewish Books, or BOTH, on social media or on any podcast player such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Take screenshots of your reviews and email the images to [e-mail]. You'll be entered into a drawing for a special tote bag with the logo of The Book of Life on one side and Nice Jewish Books on the other. Every review you send is an entry in the drawing, and multiple entries are allowed. The deadline to email us is October 24th, 2024, the beginning of the ultimate Jewish celebration of reading, Simchat Torah. Your posts will help our podcasts find more listeners, and help more readers find great Jewish books!

"JEWISH JOY" SERIES ON MULTICULTURAL KID BLOGS

I am pleased to announce that Multicultural Kid Blogs has invited me to do a "Jewish Joy" series of interviews with diverse Jewish authors. The first one features Ruth Behar, who was on the podcast in May 2024 to talk about her novel Across So Many Seas.