Being very new to publishing, I admittedly never heard of the Sydney Taylor Book Award or really any kidlit writing award other than the Newbery and the Caldecott from library displays that I had seen growing up (thank you school librarians) and a general awareness of shiny stickers on some books. These are both for kidlit generally whereas the Sydney Taylor Award specifically rewards Jewish children’s books .

The MOCK Sydney Taylor is chosen by popular vote based on a shortlist of books. Mock prizes and YMA predictions, as I’ve recently discovered, are much anticipated in all of the award categories for the ALA YMA awards and the adjacent awards like the Sydney Taylor.

Alone Together on Dan Street was the mock winner of the 2022 picture book prize! This is probably the first time I’ve won anything with the word popular in it. Here’s the full MOCK list:

PICTURE BOOKS

Mock Winner: Alone Together on Dan Street by Erica Cohen  Lyons

Mock Honor: The Tower of Life by Chana Stiefel

Mock Notable: The Very Best Sukkah by Shoshana Nambi

MIDDLE GRADE BOOKS

Mock Winner: Aviva vs. the Dybbuk by Mari Lowe

Mock Honor: Honey and Me by Meira Drazin

Mock Notable: Black Bird, Blue Road by Sofiya Pasternack

YOUNG ADULTS BOOKS

Mock Winner: The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen by Isaac Blum

Mock Honor: Some Kind of Hate by Sarah Darer Littman

Mock Notable: When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

The actual medal winners are announced on Monday, January 30, 2023 at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards event, also referred to as YMA, (live stream at 10pm in Hong Kong).

A mock win is still a win in my book. I’ve read 6/9 mock winners (so far) and they’re all beautiful books and this list is only a small sampling of all the incredible Jewish kidlit books published in 2022 which makes us all winners. I’m extremely grateful for all the support that I’ve been given.