The Sydney Taylor Book Award
The
Sydney Taylor Book Award was established by Ralph Taylor in honor of his
wife, Sydney, a children's author. The purpose of the annual award, which was
first given in 1968, is "to encourage the publication of outstanding books of
positive Jewish content for children." There are two categories: Books for
Younger Readers and Books for Older Readers. Information about the current and
previous Sydney Taylor Award winners, Honor Books, and Notable Books of Jewish
Content is all available online.
Publishers
While there are many books about Jewish life and culture published by major
publishing companies, there are also smaller publishing companies that
specialize in such children's literature.
One of these, Kar-Ben Publishing has had many of its books recognized by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. In fact, a Body-of-Work Award, "for outstanding contributions to the field of Jewish children’s literature," was awarded to Judythe Groner and Madeline Wikler, founders of Kar-Ben Copies Publishing as part of the 2002 Sydney Taylor Book Awards. According to the announcement of the award by the Association of Jewish Libraries, "Kar-Ben pioneered in the publication of quality literature of Jewish content for young children."