Ladies: Have you seen "The Heart that Sings" yet?

Last spring, I enjoyed the fabulous, soul-stirring, ladies-only film by Robin Garbose "The Heart that Sings." The film is 100% kosher. Not only are performances by ladies only for ladies only, but contain authentically Jewish content. If you didn't catch the movie the first time around, you can catch it during chol hamoed Sukkot in the following locations: Boro Park, Monsey, Crown Heights, Toronto, L.A., and Lakewood. Follow this link for times and ticket prices:

http://www.kolneshama.org/sukkos-screenings-of-the-heart-that-sings/

There's also a preview available to watch on the website.

HaModia is now offering a FREE digital edition!

Many of us want to keep up with news, but only if we can do so without inviting inappropriate reading material into our homes. To those who want daily "kosher" news, directly to their computer or mobile device, there's a new option:

HaModia has just announced a free digital, daily edition of their newspaper. To sign up, send an email to digital@hamodia.com.

Good clean reads

A friend asked me about good clean books (obviously, other than those from reliable Jewish publishers) to share with her preteen and teenage kids during the summer. Here are just a few great books for the (Jewish) kid, all pre-approved by moi. However, you should ALWAYS skim books before letting your kid read them. Even if they are "kosher," they might not be at the right reading level, for example.

(And you do have to take the following into account:

I allow my kids to read books by non-Jews and about non-Jewish subjects--which some frum moms might disapprove of--and I do allow my kids to read about somewhat controversial topics, as long as they are developmentally appropriate. I'm also a big fan of all those treife animals some people shun--I just don't eat them.

However, I ditch books with strong language, completely "un-tznua" romantic situations, excessive violence, flagrant racism or xenophobia, or that promote avodah zara, movies or television.

...And, yes, that includes Disney!)

These books are for kids 8 and up:

The Hobbit (Tolkein)

The Courage of Sarah Noble (Dalgliesh)

The Stories Julian Tells (Cameron)

Binky series of graphic books (Ashley Spires)

Hereville: How Mirka Gets her Sword (Deutsch)

The Rabbi's Girls (Hurwitz)

Baseball Fever (Hurwitz)

The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela (Shulevitz)

Fat Men from Space (Pinkwater)

Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) (Lisa Yee)

all Henry Huggins books (Cleary)

Ramona, Ramona the Pest, Beezus and Ramona, Ramona the Brave, Ramona and her Mother, Ramona and her Father (Cleary)

Sarah, Plain and Tall (MacLachlan)

Little House in the Big Woods and Farmer Boy (Wilder)

There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (Sachar)

Sadako and the Paper Cranes (Coerr)

The Princess Tales, Volume I (Levine)
A Single Shard (Park)
The Thief Lord (Funke)

And these are for age 12 and up:

Dealing with Dragons (Wrede)

Searching for Dragons (Wrede)

Tripods trilogy (John Christopher)

Homecoming (Voight)

The Eye, the Ear and the Arm (Farmer)

The Giver (Lowry)

The Cay (Taylor)

Treasure Island (Stevenson)

all the Little House books not listed above

Island of the Blue Dolphins (O'Dell)

Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)

Un-Lun-Dun (Mieville)
Bud, Not Buddy (Curtis)

For age 15 and up:

Sorcery and Cecilia (Wrede and Stevemer)

Rabbi Harvey vs. the Wisdom Kid (Scheinkin)

The Blue Sword (McKinley)

The Graveyard Book (Gaiman)
Dealing with Dragons (Wrede)

Catherine, Called Birdy (Cushman)

The Folk Keeper (Billingsley)

The Martian Chronicles (Bradbury)
I Robot (Asimov)

1001 Arabian Nights

When I Was a Slave: Memoirs from the Slave Narrative Collection (Norman R. Yetman, ed.)

A Wizard of Earthsea (Le Guin)
Things Not Seen (Clements)

P.S. There are many other wonderful books out there...please share your "kosher" reading recommendations for the 8+ crowd in a comment below! Also, don't assume other books by the same authors as the above are okay. In many cases, they are most definitely NOT.

Nifty bit in this week's HaModia

There's an article this week about Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld in HaModia, and it mentions almost as an aside that he and his 12 year old daughter have started a website with books for Jewish kids.

http://bestjewishkidsbooks.com/index.php

I visited the site, and the coolest thing is that it is SEARCHABLE! You can look up selections by subject and by age of reader, as well as title and author. However, it does not contain all the books out there. I'm assuming it is a work in progress and I'm very impressed with what they've done so far. It would be a great resource, for example, for those looking to buy a gift for a particular child or looking to stock up for a school or classroom library.

The link is in the list to the right of this blog, as well, and will remain there indefinitely.

In other "HaModia" news...my all-time favorite serial (aside from the one co-written by yours truly...) wrapped up in that magazine last week. Hopefully, This is America! will soon appear in novel format in Jewish bookstores. I really hope so, as it will deservingly find more readers this way.

More groovy graphic books for new readers

I'm still on my graphic literature kick. Here are several more graphic books for young readers that will get them really reading...all are appropriate for the "kosher" audience:

The wonderful "Elephant and Piggie" series by Mo Willems.

Today I Will Fly is the first book my almost 6 year old read entirely on his own. Elephant and Piggie books are accessible even to many 5 and 6 year olds and are a fabulous way to ingrain the pleasure of independent reading. The stories are so silly, with easy vocabulary and spare but charming illustrations. The kids have so much fun, they forget they are reading.

Luke on the Loose

For readers at 2nd grade level and up, the oblivious misadventures of a boy lost in the big city as he chases pigeons in the park. For fun, comic fans can spot Tintin, Captain Haddock, Olive Oyl, and the Incredible Hulk in the book.

Binky the Space Cat

The wacky adventures of a very indoor cat who thinks Outer Space starts in his front yard. For ages 7 and up. Adults will especially enjoy this one, particularly if they are cat lovers.

Rick and Rack books from Balloon Toons

The timeless encounter between unlikely friends: the optimist and the pessimist. Lots of wackiness and a character lesson about the merits of optimism to boot.

Been checking out more graphic literature

If you haven't seen it yet, check out my list of Jewish graphic literature on Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/lm/R2IIZNVM2VGGX9/ref=cm_pdp_lm_title_1

As mentioned before, I checked out a bunch of secular graphic literature for the kiddie set from the library recently. Several friends mentioned they are struggling to get their kids excited about reading, and I committed to checking some out to check if they are "kosher" for the consumption of frum kids.

So far, I have found some options. Two titles from Toon Books (Candlewick Press's new Easy to Read comic line), Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework, and Mo and Jo Fighting Together Forever are clean, nicely illustrated, and silly enough for first through fourth graders. My kids really, really liked them. I should add that my new reader, who usually refuses to do the reading himself, was really motivated to do so with this book. Amazing. He's virtually begging for me to find more Toon Books at the library.

I enjoyed Patrick Atangan's The Yellow Jar more myself. However, it's more sophisticated and definitely tailored for older kids, at least 5th grade.

Still trying to finish the stack from the library. Next up, Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown.