Post­ed by Nao­mi Fire­stone-Teeter

Did you know that we’re less than a month away from reveal­ing the 2011 Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award win­ners and final­ists? The win­ners have been rolling in over the past two weeks and we’re excit­ed to share the news with you at the begin­ning of 2012! Be sure to check back in Jan­u­ary for the announce­ment. And remember…books make the per­fect Chanukah gift. Browse our site for ideas and check out these new ones from the shelf:

The Asso­ci­a­tion of Jew­ish Libraries Guide to Yid­dish Short Sto­ries, Ben­nett Muraskin (Octo­ber 2011, Ben Yehu­da Press)
You may already know about Sholem Ale­ichem, but have you heard of Moyshe Kul­bak? No? Read up then! This col­lec­tion pro­vides an anno­tat­ed sum­ma­ry of more than 130 sto­ries and includes bio­graph­i­cal sketch­es of each of the 43 authors whose works are list­ed in this vol­ume.

Dias­poric Mod­ernisms: Hebrew and Yid­dish Lit­er­a­ture in the Twen­ti­eth Cen­tu­ry, Alli­son Schachter (Novem­ber 2011, Oxord Uni­ver­si­ty Press)
Schachter’s dis­cus­sion includes S. Y. Abramovitsh, Yosef Chaim Bren­ner, Dovid Bergel­son, Leah Gold­berg, Gabreil Preil, and Kadia Molodowsky.

Mitz­vah Sto­ries: Seeds for Inspi­ra­tion and Learn­ing, Goldie Mil­gram and Ellen Frankel, eds. (Novem­ber 2011, Reclaim­ing Judaism Press)
As a com­pan­ion to Mitz­vah Sto­ries, Reclaim­ing Judaism Press has pro­duced Mitz­vah Cards. The deck includes 52 cards and one is sup­posed to draw one week­ly for reflec­tion, study, and prac­tice.

Fresh & Easy Kosher Cook­ing: Ordi­nary Ingre­di­ents ‑Extra­or­di­nary Meals, Leah Schapi­ra (Novem­ber 2011, Meso­rah Pub­li­ca­tions)
View sam­ple pages from this beau­ti­ful new cook­book here.

Pledges of Jew­ish Alle­giance: Con­ver­sion, Law, and Pol­i­cy­mak­ing in Nine­teenth- and Twen­ti­eth-Cen­tu­ry Ortho­dox Respon­sa, David Ellen­son and David Gordis (Jan­u­ary 2012, Stan­ford Uni­ver­si­ty Press)
What do you get when two Nation­al Jew­ish Book Award Win­ners get togeth­er to write a book…

Hope: A Tragedy: A Nov­el , Shalom Aus­lan­der (Jan­u­ary 2012, River­head)
We can nev­er get enough Shalom…read a review of his mem­oir, Fore­skin’s Lament, here.