February 2025 Issue #47
Happy February!
Welcome to issue #47 of The Simpsonian Muse. I am your scribe, Martha Seif Simpson, Author and Children's Librarian. As the header says, this monthly newsletter will feature:
- News – Mine as well as other interesting tidbits
- Views – A few photos from my world travels
- Stuff to Amuse – A mish-mash of activities, crafts, recipes, videos or whatever I am excited about sharing
If you missed the previous newsletters, you can click the button on the left sidebar on my website to catch up or click here. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I hope you will find something to inform and entertain you.
~ NEWS ~
The book and media awards were announced at ALA's LibLearnX conference on January 27, so now I can finally let you know the results of the Sydney Taylor Book Award committee's deliberations. The picture book winner is An Etrog from Across the Sea written by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky, and illustrated by Stacey Dressen McQueen. The middle grade winner is The Girl Who Sang: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope and Survival written by Estelle Nadel, Sammy Savos, and Bethany Strout, illustrated by Sammy Savos. The young adult winner is Night Owls by A. R. Vishny. You can read the Association of Jewish Libraries press release with all the Winner, Honor, and Notable titles.
Heidi Rabinowitz interviewed STBA chair Aviva Rosenberg on the Book of Life podcast, which you can listen to.
The STBA web page also has links a list of all the STBA books ever and a searchable database, All Past Winners.
The Sydney Taylor Blog Tour, featuring all the Winner and Honor authors and illustrators, will take place on February 10-14.
But wait, there's more!
The Jewish Book Council announced the winners of the National Jewish Book Awards, which include books for adults and kids. Their press release is here. Their 3 kidlit winners also appeared on the STBA list. Sharing Shalom by Danielle Sharkan and illustrated by Selina Alko was named a STBA Notable book in the picture book category, Finn and Ezra's Bar Mitzvah Time Loop is a STBA middle grade Honor book, and both committees named Night Owls by A. R. Vishny as the young adult winner. Fun fact - Arielle Vishny was on the 2023-2024 STBA Committees and this is her first book. I think she has a bright future as a writer!
BOOK SHARE
If you want to know all the awards at the Youth Media Awards press conference, click on the link. or read ALA's press release.
~ VIEWS ~
If you've read my other newsletters, you know that I usually include a lot of photos from my travels. Unfortunately, my website server only allows 600 photos, and I have exceeded that limit. So if I want to continue to show photos in this and future newsletters, I have to delete the photos from my older posts. That was a painful decision, but there wasn't much choice. Anyway, on to this month's travelogue.
The last stop of our 2023 Danube River vacation was Budapest, Hungary. The city is actually divided by the Danube, with Buda on west side and Pesh (as Hungarians pronounce it) on the east. Buda is mountainous and is considered the wealthy side of the city. Pesh is flat and has most of the commerce and tourist spots.
Our first stop was the huge multistory Central Market Hall that was so crowded, we could barely get through it. Hungary is famous for its paprika, and that was by far the most popular item sold at many of the stalls. It came in cloth bags of various sizes, and in regular, sweet, or smoky. We bought several bags to give as gifts.
After the cruise ended, we stayed in Budapest another couple of days. We checked into the Hilton on the Buda side. This was the view from our window. The building on the other side of the Danube with the red dome is the Parliament.
Our hotel was right next to the outer remains of Buda Castle, which now has restaurants and shops.
I spent some time exploring the turrets and walkways, taking several photos. But since I have to limit the photos in my website, I will include just one more.
We took a city bus from Buda to get the Pesh side. Fun fact: Budapest has many bridges that cross the Danube, and except for a few rare places, vehicles can only turn right on the frontage roads parallel to the river. No left turns allowed. So drivers who want to turn left have to cross a bridge, go around the rotary, and travel far enough so when they get to the next bridge and cross it, they will be able to backtrack and turn right to get onto the street they wanted in the first place. Wild, right?
After the bus, we got onto a subway which took us to Heroes' Square, which is the entrance to City Park, a large area full of statues, museums, and green space.
Most of the parks in Budapest were built or relocated to City Park. John is standing in front of the Agriculture Museum.
Here I am with Anonymous' Statue. Legend says that if you touch his pen, you will have success as a writer. I hope that's true!
The House of Music Hungary looked interesting, so we went inside to look around.
Oddly, we didn't actually see or hear any music. But there was a display of these artsy things made of recycled CDs, cassette and reel tapes, Legos, jar lids, and other thingamabobs. Not sure what that was all about but at least it was somewhat music related.
Of course, we had to tour the historic Dohany Synagogue, also called the Great Synagogue. Fun fact: The synagogue is named that because it's on Dohany Street. Dohany is the Hungarian word for tobacco! The synagogue is the largest one in Europe.
Here's a closer view of the front entrance. We were there in November 2023, and you can see the poster of the Israeli hostages who were kidnapped on October 7.
The inside of the temple is quite grand, which is unusual for a Jewish house of worship. Again, I took many more photos but will just show this one. You can see the multiple chandeliers, ornate tiles from floor to ceiling, and balconies. There are also stained glass windows, gold fixtures, an organ, and two side pulpits which are common in some large churches, but certainly not in a synagogue. Our guide side the pulpits were necessary when the church was built because that was before microphones and sound systems were invented. People from the back couldn't hear the speakers at the front, so there were other people relying the service from the pulpits.
The synagogue complex included a museum of Jewish artifacts that had been stolen during the Holocaust and an underground chamber with posters detailing the history of Jews in Hungary.
There is also an area that looks like a garden but is actually a cemetery with people from Budapest who were murdered during the Holocaust. Black headstones surround the green areas with their names. During the Holocaust, this area was a ghetto.
Beyond the cemetery is a small plaza named after Raoul Wallenberg. It features this willow tree, which is shaped to resemble an upside-down menorah. Each silver leaf is engraved with the name of a Holocaust victim and looks like a tear. It's a very touching symbol.
There is also a monument to Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved the lives of many Jewish children by arranging for them to leave by train before their towns were taken by the Nazis.
On the way back to our hotel, we ate at this charming restaurant, the Café Astoria, which had interesting menu with items such as 'cream of cabbage and ragout soup with goose gizzard dumplings' and "Solet (Sabbath stew) goose breast medallions with six-minute egg and fried onions.' We had the soup, and it was really good.
I could post more about Dohany Synagogue and the other places we visited in Budapest, but I've already spent 7 months writing about our Danube vacation, and it's time to move on. I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour!
~ STUFF TO AMUSE ~
There was so much to see in Budapest, but we didn't have the time. Maybe we'll get the chance to visit again someday. Meanwhile, here are some websites that tell more about the places I mentioned and other interesting information.
All Things Budapest has several web pages with excellent information. You can look up the Central Market Hall and read about the building and what is sold there.
Check out Budapest City Park (Városliget) to learn more about what's in the park and Heroes' Square.
Buda Castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Click on the link to learn about its history.
The Common Wanderer has information about the Dohany Synagogue.
This short video by Great Big Story tells a brief history of the synagogue.
The Dohany Street Synagogue Official Video by Jewish Tour Hungary is also short but shows all the areas of the synagogue complex.
Here's the website for Café Astoria in case you want to check out their menu.
That'll do it for this month.
Until next time, remember to enthuse your muse!
~ Martha