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One hundred years ago, the head librarian of the Boston Public Library’s West End Branch — a young Russian immigrant named Fanny Goldstein — founded Jewish Book Week. In time, Jewish Book Week became Jewish Book Month, organized by Jewish Book Council. The 2026 issue of Paper Brigade pays tribute to the woman behind JBC. Among its contents is this excerpt of Fanny’s Big Idea, a new children’s book written by Richard Michelson and illustrated by Alyssa Russell, which depicts the events leading up to Goldstein’s first exhibit of Jewish books.
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Excerpted from Fanny’s Big Idea, published on November 4, 2025, by Rocky Pond Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Text copyright © 2025 by Richard Michelson. Illustrations copyright © 2025 by Alyssa Russell.
Richard Michelson’s books have been named among the Ten Best of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; He’s received a National Jewish Book Award (and twice finalist) and two Sydney Taylor Gold Medals (and two silver) from the AJL. Born in Brooklyn, Michelson lives in MA and owns R. Michelson Galleries.
Alyssa Russell (she/her) is an illustrator living in Austin, TX, and a graduate of Ringling College of Art and Design. She is passionate about the use of fantasy as a medium for emotional expression through heartfelt characters and meaningful narratives. Alyssa is aesthetically drawn to light, gesture, and expressive use of texture stemming from her love of vintage illustrators such as Hilary Knight, Garth Williams, and Maurice Sendak. When she is not illustrating she can be found bouldering, reading philosophy, or strumming some tunes on her guitar.
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