Created in December 2005 as a Jewish engagement and literacy program for Jewish and interfaith families with young children, PJ Library sends free Jewish children’s books and music on a monthly basis directly to families’ homes. PJ Library is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, a North American Jewish non-profit organization.
Children may start receiving books at just six months old and continue receiving them through age eight. The program’s goal is to enhance Jewish identity and create a library of Jewish children’s books at home.
The age-appropriate books highlight Jewish holidays, values, diversity, arts, and culture. Working with authors, publishers, and editors, PJ Library strives to ensure that the finest Jewish children books find their way each month into the mailboxes of all PJ Library families. Many of the PJ Library books have won prestigious awards, including the Caldecott Medal and the Sydney Taylor Book Award. Several have been named as finalists for the National Jewish Book Award from the Jewish Book Council.
After a child turns eight, it’s still possible to continue the PJ experience with PJ Our Way, the next chapter of PJ Library for kids ages nine through 11. Kids are eligible to enroll when they turn eight and one-half through the day before their 12th birthday. In this program, each month kids go to the PJ Our Way website to choose which book they would like to receive from a selection of age-appropriate books with Jewish themes.
Lisa Rosenbach reads PJ Library books to children in the Miller Library at the Reba and Sam Sandler Family Campus.
Study after study demonstrates that reading to children is important, impacting their development. Even the mere presence of books in a home increases the level of education they are able to reach. But, finding the right books and making the time to read as a family might be hard. That’s where PJ Library enters.
To register a child or grandchild, visit www.pjlibrary.org or contact Lisa Rosenbach at 757-452-3182 or lrosenbach@ujft.org.
— Lisa Rosenbach