American-born Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi’s Like Dreamers has been named 2013 Jewish Book of the Year by the Jewish Book Council.
Subtitled “The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and
Divided a Nation,” the book is about the fracturing of a band of brothers. It follows the lives of seven men who liberated the Kotel in the Six Day War, through the trauma of the Yom Kippur War and the disintegration of the old Israel amid the settling of the West Bank and Gaza in the following years.
Other 2013 National Jewish Book Award winners include:
FDR and the Jews by Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman, professors of history at American University (American Jewish Studies Celebrate 350 Award);
The Koren Pesach Machzor by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Modern Jewish Thought
and Experience);
My Promised Land by Ari Shavit (Gerrard and Ella Berman Memorial Award in History).
Awards were announced Jan. 15 in 17 categories including:
Fiction: Between Friends, by Amos Oz; Sondra Silverston, translator.
Children’s and Young Adult Literature:
The War Within These Walls, by Aline Sax; Caryl Strzelecki, illustrator; Laura Watkinson, translator.
Illustrated Children’s Book:
Hanukkah Bear, by Eric A. Kimmel; Mike Wohnoutka, illustrator.
Outstanding Debut Fiction:
The Lion Seeker, by Kenneth Bonert.
Poetry: Who Touches Everything, by Peter Waldor.
For a full list of winners and finalists, go to www.jewishbookcouncil.org.
— David Holzel
