Laurel Snyder at DBF
Laurel Snyder may be the hardest working author at the Decatur Book Festival. The one-woman powerhouse will be part of events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She is the author of several books that are worth noting.
Her children’s picture book Inside the Slidy Diner is a favorite with the young reader in my home and introduced the family to our adopted catch phrase “Clatter and din! Hullabaloo!” We’re actually able to work that into conversation more often than you would think.
Her novel for middle readers Any Which Wall was just named one of the 25 Books that all young Georgians should read.
On the occasion of the release of another novel for middle readers, Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains, Laurel Snyder took the time to submit herself to a BGB interview, which you can check out here.
Her most recent picture book (just out last week), Baxter, The Pig Who Wanted to be Kosher, is awesome and was instant classic over at my house. While waiting for the bus, Baxter meets a man who is headed home for Shabbat. Baxter is so enamored by the man’s descriptions of the upcoming celebration that he wants to join in, too. Hilarity ensues as Baxter sets out to become kosher. He doesn’t know what “kosher” means exactly, but he’s a determined pig. He eventually learns from a young rabbi (a female rabbi, no less) what Shabbat is all about and finally gets an invitation to join in. The illustrations are wonderfully comic and offer knowing chuckles for adult readers. Snyder dedicates the book to “anyone who has ever felt excluded, which is to say…everyone.” It’s a wonderful story of inclusiveness and a great introduction into Jewish religious ideas for young readers. Buy it for the glossary alone.
And if that weren’t enough, Snyder has another novel for middle readers coming out later this month, Penny Dreadful.
Authors, Books, Happenings | Tim | 
September 1, 2010 1:28 pm
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