Ruth Tenzer Feldman's Blog, page 21

Thanks, Jewish Book Council

We interrupt the regularly scheduled blogging to thank the Jewish Book Council for its review–stellar I might add–of Blue Thread. The Jewish Book Council fosters the reading, writing, publishing, and distribution of Jewish-related books in English. It traces its origins to librarian Fanny Goldstein, who created an exhibit of Judaic books in the Boston Public Library in 1925 and established “Jewish Book Week.” Here’s a link to the review.

Have You Ever Pulled Taffy?

I’ll say it right up front: I have never in my umpty-ump years pulled taffy. But now that I’ve researched taffy-making, I’m ready to give it a try. If fictional Miriam Josefsohn can pull taffy under the guidance of fictional Mrs. Jenkins, than why can’t I?

Taffy (or toffee) has been around since at least the 1800s. The Oxford English Dictionary of 1817 mentions taffy as treacle made into hard cakes. Treacle, which is basically the syrupy substance that is a by-product of refining sugar, has be...

Last Chance for the Copyedit Contest

Blue Thread will be going into a second printing in the near future. Thank you, readers! Diligent editors at Ooligan Press are gearing up to give the book a thorough review, which means that the copyedit contest won’t last much longer. I still have a few postcards left.

Go for it!

Sarsaparilla

Sweet, earnest Miriam Josefsohn shows a bit of the Wild West in her when she tells her suffrage friends from Chicago,

I do have a hankering for a sarsaparilla soda…. Let’s share a bottle.

"American sarsaparilla" from a German medicinal guide, 1887

Sarsaparilla soda in the early 1900s was often made in the U.S. from the root of the prickly vine Smilax regelii. The root of that plant and other related species had medicinal uses and, at that time, was thought to be a cure for the sexually transmitt...

Blue Thread and Shakespeare?

Blue Thread and William Shakespeare? Yes, it’s true. Lynn Bonner made the connection during a recent trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. On the bill this season: Henry V.

For history fans out there, Henry V, who ruled England from 1413 to 1422, was known for his military victories in France during the Hundred Years War, particularly the Battle of Agincourt. There’s a whole lot more to the story, but the Blue Thread part comes in when Henry contemplates his claims to the French...

BT + Activities = Teaching Guide

With thanks to education students at Portland State University, I can now offer you a teaching guide to Blue Thread. The guide is wide-ranging and thorough, with activities that include curriculum-framing questions, writing prompts, lesson plans, bio-poem worksheets, and brainstorming charts. I expect I’ll use some of these activities myself in school visits. Yo, dude, see for yourself.

Suffragists Come Back to Life

The dead rose up at Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery last Saturday. And they had a lot to say. Century of Action and other groups working with the staff of Portland’s oldest cemetery brought four local suffragists to life to celebrate the centennial of woman suffrage in Oregon. Standing before us in full 1912 regalia and telling us about themselves were: Harriet (Hattie) Redmond (embodied by Kimberly Howard); Harry Lane (courtesy of Rex Burkholder); Martha Cardwell Dalton (thanks to Melissa Sando...

Still Waiting for Peter Pan?

In Blue Thread, Miriam tells us:

I opened the window and leaned out, wishing Serakh might come flying in like Peter Pan.

Peter Pan was a fairly new character in 1912 Portland. Scottish writer J. B. Barrie featured him in the 1906 book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens and later in Peter and Wendy (1911). Peter Pan had first appeared in a 1902 novel, The Little White Bird, which Barrie wrote for adults, and was featured in a highly successful stage play in 1904.

Barrie likely drew the name from Pe...

This Week, It’s the Daughters’ Turn!

Hi, it’s Michael again with a guest post.

Every Jewish house of worship has a cabinet or Ark which contains one or more Torah scrolls. Each scroll is made of parchment, on which the entire Hebrew text of the Torah—the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (a.k.a. Old Testament)—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—is meticulously hand-lettered with a quill pen by an expert scribe. It typically takes a year and a half to write all 304,805 letters; no mistakes are allowed. The scr...

Blue Thread at the Beach

No blog posts recently. Where in the Sam Hill has Blue Thread been?

The oh-how-lovely answer is Oceanside, Oregon. This is the scene from my window this morning.

But don’t be jealous. Mostly Blue Thread and I have been inside a packed-to-overflowing community room for the five-day Oregon Coast Children’s Book Writers Workshop. Here is yours truly talking about the many merits of writing nonfiction for children and young adults. On Thursday Blue Thread gets a turn to shine when I give a lecture...