Erika Dreifus

The My Machberet blog is proud to serve as this month’s host for the Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly event where those who cover Jewish books online “can meet, read, and comment on each others’ posts.” Organized by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL), the Carnival travels around and is hosted on a different participant’s site on the 15th of each month.

As I prepared this Carnival, I realized that this is the 17th time that I’m hosting. The 16th time coincided with the October 2023 edition—which posted one week and one day after October 7. This week, in particular, it seems important to mention that.

Herewith, the May 2024 Carnival:

• This year, my literary project in honor of #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth (Jewish Heritage Month in Canada) involves spotlighting books that feature intersections between our (North) American Jewish communities and Israel. Although the project is unfolding on Twitter, you’ll find a mid-month update posted here on My Machberet as well.
• Also in honor of #JewishAmericanHeritageMonth (May), there’s a fabulous Jewish kidlit giveaway in the works—and you have until the end of May to enter. Find all the details over on Ann Koffsky’s site.
• Not everyone managed to Pesach prep and spring clean—but there’s always next year! With this in mind, Gila Green speaks to professional organizer and debut author Gayle M. Gruenberg.
• The Book of Life Podcast hears from Ruth Behar, author of Lucky Broken Girl, Letters from Cuba, Tia Fortuna’s New Home, and now, Across So Many Seas. Behar writes about the Cuban Jewish experience, and her latest book follows a Sephardic family from Inquisition Spain through Turkey, Cuba, and America before coming full circle. 
• The Association of Jewish Libraries has announced the winners of its Bibliography and Reference Awards. Read all about it on the AJL blog, People of the Books. 
• Over on the Sydney Taylor Shmooze mock award blog, which reviews Jewish children’s literature eligible for the Sydney Taylor Book Award, there’s a review of Max in the House of Spies: A Tale of WWII by Adam Gidwitz.
• In this What If? Why Not? How? video interview, Sally Wiener Grotta explores with Canadian-Israeli author Gila Green the creative challenges and rewards of writing about “broken” individuals in a broken world. In addition, Gila shares some of the processes she goes through to develop her novels and the intriguing characters who live in them. 
• On her blog Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb blog: an interview with Lisa Greenwald about Greenwald’s new middle grade novel Ellie’s Deli.
• And at Jewish Books for Kids and More, Barbara Bietz interviews Sarah Sassoon about her new picture book This Is Not a Cholent.