The aim of Sifriyat Pijama, our
sister program in Israel, is to enhance Israelis' knowledge and affinity
to Jewish values by reading together and discussing books from a Jewish
perspective as a family. Sifriyat Pijama offers Israeli
children and their families an opportunity to create a tradition of reading
bedtime stories together and enjoying meaningful conversations on Jewish topics
in the privacy of your home. Sifriyat
Pijama
also serves as a literacy program, serving many immigrant and disadvantaged
communities.
This year 44,000 children in 1,500 schools will be receiving the books. In Israel, since mailboxes are too small to accommodate packages, books are disseminated through the classrooms. Teachers receive all of the books for every student, teach the story through enriching activities, and then children bring their books home at the end of the week in a special Sifriyat Pijama book bag.
Harold and wife Diane (behind him) in Israeli classroom for program launch
Do you have plans to extend the program ultimately to Jewish families beyond the US and Israel?
We are already an international program, not only because of our reach to Israel; we are serving several communities in Canada. Harold is never one to rest on his laurels. Yes, he hopes that The PJ Library will eventually reach Jewish families in England, Australia, Russia, and beyond.
What are we talking about, exactly: how many books go out to families in those 160 communities in the United States every month?
We are
currently sending approximately 65,000 books to children in approximately 130
active PJ communities - there are several more PJ communities who are in
various stages of launching - i.e., they are in the fundraising stages, or
their legal paperwork is being processed, etc.
I imagine that this project has been a boon for authors, illustrators and
publishers of Jewish content. The project's success is a very
positive development, especially in a troubled economy. Would you care to
comment on that aspect of The PJ Library?
Yes, The PJ Library has had a fabulous impact on the Jewish children's
publishing industry. As a matter of fact, there have been a couple of
articles written just about that! Check out a great article in The Jewish Week by Penny Schwartz - June
23, 2010
There was a similar article in the Boston
Business Journ al in August, 2010. [ Book-distribution
effort aimed at Jewish families ]
The short story is, The PJ Library has been able to bring about 20 wonderful titles back into print and has also generated the publishing of about 16 new Jewish children's stories. This is a win-win for all!
Yes, indeed. [Harold Grinspoon has now joined us.]
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