In her over 20 years as a Judaic librarian, Laurie Herman has worked with resources of all types, from books for all ages to videos.
But one thing she didn’t have was a single resource with which to help guide Jewish adults, parents and families in selecting top Jewish books and films.
“People are always looking for suggestions,” said Herman, library/media center coordinator at the Coalition for Jewish Learning, the education program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
As a result, last summer Herman began working on “The Best of the Best: Outstanding Jewish Books and Videos/DVD’s,” for preschool to adult levels.
Herman was inspired to “create a print resource” for children and adults that “narrows down the best materials” in books and film, “together in one booklet,” she said.
The publications and films listed are “garnered from many sources including books, reviews from professional journals, suggestions from community professionals, and feedback from educators and library patrons,” Herman wrote in the guide’s preface.
Herman divided the guide by type of resource and age group, first presenting the best titles in a list that is alphabetical by author, and then summarizing the “best of the best,” by offering a short description of the item and the year it was published.
Herman separated fiction from non-fiction titles where necessary.
A listing of out-of-print materials is also provided, which are “worth borrowing from the library,” as it says in the guide.
Classroom and home
Categorizing by age makes the guide a useful tool for teachers, said Barbara Lutsky, a first grade teacher at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School. Lutsky received a copy of the guide for use in the classroom.
“This is a great resource to have everything collated in one place,” she said.
Lutsky, who plans to use the guide in her classes, said “ I think they did a great job in putting it all together. To have [all of this information] in one place is fantastic. [CJL] went to great lengths and put a lot of effort into it.”
There was a “nice delineation” as far as the ages were categorized, said Cindy Levy, who serves on CJL’s executive board and has a second grade daughter at the Milwaukee Jewish Day School.
Levy noted that sometimes it is difficult to find age appropriate texts for children, “especially in middle school. It’s usually harder to keep those kids connected.”
She added that she thought the “Best of the Best” would be an “excellent resource in a mixed marriage” or for those “who haven’t been exposed” to many Jewish texts.
The “Best of the Best” is also a useful home resource, according to Bonnie Shafrin, chair of CJL’s executive board.
“As part of a family, we don’t always know how to guide our children,” she said.
The guide serves as a “resource to build our own Jewish libraries at home. It gives us a base on how to begin such a library.”
At the back of the guide, Herman included a section on the “Best Jewish Books for the Home Library,” where she gathered the top recommendations of Milwaukee rabbis, principals, librarians and family/adult educators.
Rabbi Pinchas Avruch, executive director of the Milwaukee Kollel-Center for Jewish Studies, said he selected several adult non-fiction titles, including “Outside Inside” by Gila Manolson and “Permission to Believe” by Rabbi Lawrence Keleman, because though he figured much of the “Best of the Best” would be “culturally Jewish,” he said he “was looking to add something spiritually Jewish.”
He added that the titles he selected discussed “traditional Jewish thought, which represents the philosophy I embrace. These are areas of Orthodox Jewish thought that are not well understood or presented to the broader Jewish public.”
Herman said she hopes that the “Best of the Best” will have many uses, including a holiday gift purchasing guide, and a resource at book fairs.
She is also working on a program using the “Best of the Best,” intended for children who are preschool age through third grade called “Ready Now.”
Through the program, Herman will travel to area schools with top books, and plans to present a “combination of book talking and showing clips of videos and DVD’s” in the classroom.
The program will be available by request and will be offered beginning in fall.
CJL plans to make the “Best of the Best” available on their Web site,
www.cjlmilwaukee.org, by mid March. Copies of the guide are available for $7.50 from the CJL office, $10 with shipping. To order, call CJL, 414-962-8860, or send a check to the CJL office.
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