In our small garden

P.J. Library & Sifriyat Pyjama

I’m sure this sounds absurd, but I’m a little out of touch with children’s books in English. I love books – almost all kinds – and as a family we clock a lot of time in libraries and bookstores. And yet, English children’s books don’t call out to me, because I don’t read to Ash in English and, of course, I wasn’t read to in English as a child. Every time someone comes or goes across the ocean I shriek, “Bring us books!” I mean it, that shriek. I am starved for Hebrew books. It’s just not the same, simultaneously translating a story, as curling up with you favorite small person and a classic you remember requesting for the thousandth time yourself, not all that long ago, as it suddenly seems.

So I have been very excited that the P.J. Library is willing to send us books in the mail that I’d otherwise be unlikely to find at the local B&N. (Even in our part of the metro area, which has a considerable Jewish population, there is rarely a display of Jewish books that correspond to the big table of books for the Christian holiday of the moment.) I’m happy to know a little bit more about what is out there for Jewish children in English, and we end up talking through many of the books in Hebrew. My husband reads them aloud in English, too. The three pictured above are among Ash’s favorites.

A little while after we started receiving P.J. mailings, I saw in one of the newsletters a mention of a similar program in Israel. Excited, I emailed and asked if I might have a list of the Hebrew books to read with Ash. I received a very nice and detailed response, for which I remain grateful. Not only was I sent the book list, but also an explanation as to how the selection criteria is different in each community.

Recently I found that Sifriyat Pyjama has a wonderful website, although parts of it are still under construction. You can see a selection from the book list there, with information on each book and ideas for reading it together.