Every year the Association of Jewish Libraries awards the "Sydney Taylor Award" to notable books of Jewish content. One award goes to a book for younger readers and one is given to a book for older readers. Honor books and other notable books are also chosen from those submitted and evaluated by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. The following books are this year's winners and notable picks.

2000 Sydney Taylor Award Winner for Younger Readers

Gershon's Monster: A Story for the Jewish New Year by Eric. A. Kimmel. Illustrated by Jon J. Muth. Scholastic Press. $16.95. 32pp. Grades 1-4.

The teachings of the Baal Shem Tov are woven into this satisfying folktale about tashlich and teshuvah. Rather than regret or atone for his everyday mistakes, baker Gershon simply sweeps them into his basement. Once a year on Rosh Hashanah, he stuffs these demon-shaped transgressions in a giant bag and dumps them into the Black Sea. Of course, Gershon must discover sooner or later that his selfish acts cannot be disposed of so easily. In spite of a pointed warning from a rabbi, Gershon refuses to realize that his behavior will come back to haunt him someday. It's only when he is faced with the monstrous bulk of his misdeeds that Gershon finally, truly repents. Muth's moody watercolors are the perfect companions to a story that personifies abstract concepts in a way that is both meaningful and scary-delightful to children.

2000 Sydney Taylor Award Winner for Older Readers

The Key is Lost Ida Vos. Translated by Terese Edelstein. Morrow/HarperCollins. $15.95. 272pp. Fiction for Grades 5-8.

This Holocaust survivor story is based on Vos' own experience as a child in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland. The immediate, present-tense narrative tells the story from the child's bewildered viewpoint as she and her sister are separated from their parents and forced from one secret hideout to another. They depend on the kindness of strangers, who risk their own lives, even starve themselves, to save the children. The ending is happy but still realistic: the children are reunited with their parents after the war, yet the celebration is muted by the loss of all those relatives and friends who have not come back. Showing how the girls are affected, how they adapt, and how they protect themselves psychologically from constant threat, the story is enlivened by a spirit of hope and even humor because it is told so consistently from the young sisters' point of view.

Honor Books for Younger Readers

The Market Wedding by Cary Fagan. Illustrated by Regolo Ricci. Tundra Books of Northern New York. $16.95. 32pp. Picture story for Grades 1-4.

A joyous celebration of love and community, set in an immigrant neighborhood in Toronto during the 1920's. The story tells of how a couple who work in the market meet, fall in love and have a grand wedding. But they are simple market shop owners of simple means. How do their friends react? The dynamic illustrations breathe with life. The story, based on one written by Abraham Cahen in 1898, pokes fun at pretension while affirming the importance of friendship.

The Wisdom Bird: A Tale of Solomon and Sheba by Sheldon Oberman. Illustrated by Neil Waldman. Boyds Mills Press. $15.95. 32pp. Folktale for Kindergarten-Grade 3.

In this elegantly illustrated folktale blending Jewish and African traditions, King Solomon is challenged by the visiting Queen of Sheba to build a palace of bird beaks. The little hoopoe bird humbly shows them what a cruel folly this would be and teaches that everyone can learn something from somebody, even from a little bird.

Notable Books for Younger Readers

The Legend of Freedom Hill by Linda Jacobs Altman. Illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ting-Hwa Hu. Lee and Low. $15.95. 30pp. Historical fiction for Grades 2-4.

California in the Gold Rush era is the setting for this heartwarming story of an inter-racial friendship. An African-American girl teams up with a Jewish girl in a search for gold to save the black girl's mother from a slave catcher. Through perseverance, the two friends find enough gold to buy the freedom of all the captured slaves. Colorful, realistic illustrations reflect the setting, characters, and drama.

On Purim by Cathy Goldman Fishman. Illustrated by Melanie W. Hall. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. $16.00. 28pp. Holiday story for Kindergarten-Grade 2.

This book uses a young girl's preparations as the vehicle for a recounting of the Purim story. In the end, Fishman explains how God's presence can be detected in the mettle of Mordechai and Esther, in their willingness to do the right thing at a potentially dire cost. Their example also universalizes the tale, providing transcendent acts of personal courage. Hall's pastel-pretty illustrations beguilingly serve to transmit the story and give it a suitably cozy atmosphere.

Dance, Sing, Remember by Leslie Kimmelman. Illustrated by Ora Eitan. HarperCollins. $18.95. 36pp. Holiday collection for Preschool-Grade 1.

From Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in early fall, to Shavuot, celebrating the first harvest of the spring and the accepting of the Torah, Dance, Sing, Remember offers an engaging, colorful introduction to the moods and meanings of a variety of Jewish holidays. Kimmelman's warm, accessible writing provides enough background information for anyone – Jewish or not--who wants to understand why a sukkah (hut) is built in the backyard during Sukkot, or when the shofar (long, twisty ram's horn) is blown, or how to play the dreidel (spinning top) game. Ora Eitan's unusual and appealing illustrations appear framed in white, and superimposed on full spreads of background color and patterns. Incorporating recipes, activities, music, and stories, this lovely picture book provides a window to the idea that "every holiday is a way of remembering, a way of connecting children to their parents and grandparents and to their parents and grandparents – all the way back to the very first Jews."

Come, Let Us Be Joyful: The Story of Hava Nagila by Fran Manushkin. Illustrated by Rosalind Charney Kaye. UAHC Press. $12.95. 30pp. Nonfiction for Grades 2-5.

Children who have sung and danced to "Hava Nagila" will learn how it may have come to be transformed from a sad Yiddish melody to the musical embodiment of pioneering Zionism. An ebulliently written and illustrated story set in Israel before statehood.

Moishe's Miracle: A Hanukkah Miracle by Laura Kraus Melmed. Illustrated by David Slonim. HarperCollins. $15.95. 31pp. Hanukkah story for Kindergarten-Grade 2.

On the eve of Hanukkah, a poor man receives a magic frying pan that produces endless latkes. Generous Moishe immediately shares his good fortune with all of his equally poor neighbors, but his wife, Baila, sees their magic pan as a way to become rich. Greed makes her forget that the pan was a gift to Moishe and "only Moishe must use it." In the ensuing chaos, Baila comes to appreciate Moishe's goodness, and an even greater miracle of love and understanding changes their lives. David Slonim's vibrant paintings of the Old World town of Wishniak and its inhabitants add immeasurably to the charm of author Melmed's suspenseful cautionary tale.

Thread of Kindness: A Tzedaka Story by Leah Shollar. Illustrated by Shoshana Mekibel. HaChai, $18.00. 30pp. Picture Book for Kindergarten-Grade 2.

Avraham and Esther are poor but pious, struggling to put food on the table for their young sons. When a mysterious old man gives Avraham a choice between the blessing of six years of wealth now, or six years of wealth in old age, the man takes the question to his wife. Esther, as wise as her namesake, chooses to take the wealth immediately, and begins a thread of kindness and charity, which reaches throughout their community. At the end of the six years, the old man returns to reclaim the treasure, but of course the riches remain with Avraham's family, and "the thread of kindness stretches on to this very day." Mekibel's watercolors lend a dreamy cast to the illustrations, as if they are memories of long ago.