Sydney Tyler
Winners 2023
The Year’s Winners
The Association of Jewish Libraries proudly announces its coveted Sydney Taylor Book Awards for 2023 for the most distinguished contributions to Jewish children’s literature that authentically portray the Jewish experience.
Winners receive cash prizes from the estate of Sydney Taylor, author of the All-of-a-Kind-Family series. Taylor’s success created American Jewish children’s literature. Retired librarian Ellen Cole recommends these special books.
The 2023 Picture Book Winner is The Tower of Life: How Yaffa Eliach Rebuilt Her Town in Stories and Photographs
Thirty-five years after Nazis destroyed her beloved shtetl of Eishyshok, Poland, Yaffa Eliach recovered thousands of precious photographs preserved by relatives and survivors. She used these to recreate her community at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. Susan Gal’s expressive illustrations bring to life this true story of love and remembrance.
The 2023 Middle Grade Winner is  Aviva vs. the DybbukÂ
Aviva and her widowed mother live next door to their synagogue in rooms above the mikvah. The mikvah is rumored to be haunted by a dybbuk which only Aviva can see. Readers get an inside look at a close-knit Orthodox community as the novel explores changing friendships, antisemitic vandalism and the many ways of dealing with grief.
The 2023 Young Adult winner is When the Angels Left the Old Country
Uriel the angel and Little Ash the demon have been Talmud study partners for centuries. When a shtetl girl goes missing, they journey to America to find her. Brimming with Yiddishkeit, this brilliant, queer, historical fantasy novel richly depicts the immigrant experience and tells an ageless tale of love, justice, and friendship.
THE NINE 2023 HONOR WINNERS IN THREE CATEGORIES ARE:
Picture Books:
Big Dreams, Small Fish
Sitting Shiva
The Very Best Sukkah: A Story from Uganda
Middle Grade Books:
Black Bird, Blue Road
Honey and Me
Ellen Outside the Lines
Young Adult Books:
Eight Nights of Flirting
My Fine Fellow: A Delicious Entanglement
Some Kind of Hate
THE NINE 2023 NOTABLE BOOKS IN THREE CATEGORIES ARE:
Picture Books:
Madame Alexander: The Creator of the Iconic American Doll
Raquela’s Seder
Shoham’s Bangle
TÃa Fortuna’s New Home: A Jewish Cuban Journey
Middle Grade Books:
Alias Anna: A True Story of Outwitting the Nazis
The Prince of Steel Pier
The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner
Young Adult Books:
Ethel’s Song: Ethel Rosenberg’s Life in Poems
The Ghosts of Rose Hill
Picture Books:
Madame Alexander: The Creator of the Iconic American Doll
Raquela’s Seder
Shoham’s Bangle
TÃa Fortuna’s New Home: A Jewish Cuban Journey