Presented at the 2007 CAJE Conference in St. Louis, MO: Reading Jewish books to children is one of the most important activities for building Jewish knowledge and the skills needed to live a successful Jewish life. We’ll discuss high quality children’s books with positive and authentic Jewish content that can be used to help develop Jewish literacy and Jewish identity in school, synagogue, or library settings. The session will also explore ways to build successful programs, events, and activities around books and reading.

1. Engaging Jewish Learning through Literature CAJE Conference - August 2007 Part II Rachel Kamin Director, Temple Israel Libraries & Media Center Chair, The Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries

2. PAIRING LIKE BOOKS TOGETHER

4. PAIRING LIKE BOOKS TOGETHER The Hardest Word by Jacqueline Jules; illustrated by Katherine Kahn Snail Started It! by Katja Reider; illustrated by Angela von Roehl Because Brian Hugged His Mother by David L. Rice and Kathryn Dyble Thompson

5. DIFFERENT VERSIONS SAME STORY

7. Cutting “Joseph’s Overcoat” from Joseph Had a Little Overcoat

8. DIFFERENT VERSIONS SAME STORY

11. DIFFERENT VERSIONS SAME STORY Bagels from Benny by Aubrey Davis; illustrated by Dusan Petricic In God’s Hands by Lawrence Kushner & Gary Schmidt; illustrated by Matthew J. Baek

13. RESOURCE: Jewish Story Finder: A Guide to 363 Tales Listing Subjects and Sources by Sharon Barcan Elswit

14. TEACHING JEWISH VALUES WITH BOOKS The AJL New Jewish Values Finder www.ajljewishvalues.org A free, on-line guide to Jewish values in Jewish children’s books for teachers, librarians, parents, clergy, and everyone who cares about what Jewish children read. Includes over 700 recommended books for pre-school – high school.

23. CONTACT INFORMATION: Rachel Kamin Temple Israel Libraries & Media Center 5725 Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48323 phone: 248/661-5700 fax: 248/661-1302 e-mail: rkamin@temple-israel.org