Miriam Chaikin

{{Short description|Writer and poet (1924–2015)}} {{Infobox writer | embed = | honorific_prefix = | name = Miriam Chaikin | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | native_name = מרים חייקין | native_name_lang = he | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date text|1924}}<ref name="amNY">{{cite news |title=Miriam Chaikin, 90, children's book writer who loved Israel |url=https://www.amny.com/news/miriam-chaikin-90-childrens-book-writer-who-loved-israel |access-date=11 April 2023 |work=amNY |date=11 June 2015}}</ref> | birth_place = Jerusalem<ref name="amNY"/><ref name="Continuum">{{cite book |last1=Phinney |first1=Margaret Yatsevitch |editor1-last=Cullinan |editor1-first=Bernice E|editor2-last=Person |editor2-first=Diane Goetz|title=Continuum Encyclopedia of Children's Literature |date=2001 |publisher=Continuum |chapter=CHAIKIN, Miriam}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|04|15|1924}}<ref name="amNY"/> | death_place = | resting_place = | occupation = Editor, writer | language = | nationality =  | citizenship =  | education = | alma_mater = | period = | genre = Children's literature Poetry | subject = Jewish people Judaism Jewish mythology Jewish history | movement = | notable_works = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | relatives = Joseph Chaikin | awards = Sydney Taylor Book Award National Jewish Book Award | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | signature_type = | years_active = | module = | website =  | portaldisp = "on" }}

'''Miriam Chaikin''' ({{Langx|he|מרים חייקין}}; 1924 to April 15, 2015) was a writer of children's books and poetry and published at least 35 books during her lifetime. She often wrote about Jewish life. She was awarded the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the National Jewish Book Award.

==Biography==

Chaikin, known as "Molly" to her family, was born in Jerusalem in 1924. Her family emigrated to the United States in 1925, and she grew up in Brooklyn.<ref name="amNY"/><ref name="Continuum"/> Her family lived in "very humble" circumstances.<ref name="amNY"/>

Chaikin worked for the Israeli paramilitary organization Irgun in their American branch, then as a secretary to Members of Congress, and then as a book editor.<ref name="amNY"/><ref name="Continuum"/> She lived part of the time in Israel.<ref name="Continuum"/> In New York City, she lived at Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village.<ref name="amNY"/>

As a writer of at least 35 children's books, she focused on Jewish life.<ref name="amNY"/><ref name="Continuum"/> She also published poetry and a book about Jerusalem.<ref name="amNY"/>

Her brother, Joseph Chaikin, was an actor and director, and one of her sisters, Shami Chaikin, was an actor.<ref name="amNY"/> Her niece, also Miriam Chaikin, is an anthropologist.

Chaikin died on April 15, 2015, at the age of 90.<ref name="amNY"/>

==Books and critical reception==

Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney has described Chaikin's aim as "to acknowledge children's common, but troublesome feelings of isolation and loneliness, and to let them know others have had the same feelings".<ref name="Continuum"/> Phinney also notes that Chaikin's intent, "particularly in her later books, is to illuminate and record the history, traditions, and values of the Jewish people", and to remember the Holocaust.<ref name="Continuum"/>

''I Should Worry, I Should Care'' (1979) is described in the ''School Library Journal'': "One of a plethora of books about being young, Jewish, and living in Brooklyn pre-World War II, this has a pleasant warmth about it and, in spite of the fact that nothing much happens, what does makes good reading. ... Death, poverty, the dark shadows of anti-Semitism all threaten Molly's world, but they don't disrupt childhood's preoccupations. You don't have to be Jewish to like this one."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Marjorie |title=I Should Worry, I Should Care (Book Review) |journal=School Library Journal |date=1927 |volume=25 |issue=7 |page=136}}</ref> Chaikin continued the story of Molly into other books; ''The New York Times'' described ''Friends Forever'' (1988) as "the fifth in a pleasing series about Molly, a nice Jewish girl growing up in Borough Park, Brooklyn, before World War II. In this installment she and her friends in the 6B class must take the exam for the Rapid Advancement class in junior high school".<ref name="NYT_1989">{{cite news |title=CHILDREN'S BOOKS: BOOKSHELF |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/05/books/children-s-books-bookshelf-768089.html |access-date=11 April 2023 |work=New York Times |date=5 March 1989}}</ref>

Chaikin's other series, the Yossi books, was described by Liz Rosenberg in ''The New York Times'' as part of a movement towards innocence and "cheerful fiction".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Liz |title=CHILDREN'S BOOKS; IT'S ALL RIGHT TO BE INNOCENT AGAIN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/21/books/children-s-books-it-s-all-right-to-be-innocent-again.html |access-date=11 April 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=21 May 1989}}</ref> Yossi is a Hasidic Jewish boy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deltrick |first1=Bernard |title=Book Reviews |journal=Church & Synagogue Libraries |date=1982 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1LpAAAAMAAJ |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>

''Ask Another Question: The Story and Meaning of Passover'' (1985) was described in the ''School Library Journal'' as notable because it covered Passover internationally and because of the "emphasis on women's roles in the development and presentation of the holiday".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Webber |first1=Barbara |title=Chaikin, Miriam. Ask Another Question: the Story and Meaning of Passover |journal=School Library Journal |date=1985 |volume=31 |issue=10|page=62}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' wrote that "The Exodus story here is full of human details, and reveals the participants as understandable people rather than remote mythic figures".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cowan |first1=Rachel B |title=CHILDREN'S BOOKS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/31/books/children-s-books-129870.html |access-date=11 April 2023 |work=New York Times |date=31 March 1985}}</ref>

Of ''A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945'' (1987), a review in the ''School Library Journal'' said that it "spares readers little".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kellman |first1=Amy |title=A Nightmare in History (Book Review) |journal=School Library Journal |date=1988 |volume=34 |issue=5}}</ref>

''Exodus'' (1987), a re-telling of the Book of Exodus, won the National Jewish Book Award.<ref name="National Jewish Book Awards">{{cite web |title=National Jewish Book Awards |url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/national-jewish-book-awards/past-winners?category=30738 |publisher=Jewish Book Awards |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref> A review in the ''School Library Journal'' said that "Chaikin's dignified text and Mikolaycak's magnificent bold illustrations make this a treasure for all ages and religions".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nevett |first=Micki S |title=Exodus (Book Review) |journal=School Library Journal |date=1987 |volume=33 |issue=10 |page=79}}</ref>

The ''School Library Journal'' said that ''Menorahs, Mezuzas, and Other Jewish Symbols'' (1990) "succeeds admirably both in covering the whole range of Jewish symbols and in presenting their underlying ideas with clarity and succinctness, distilling the scholarship (attested to by seven pages of notes and two pages of reference books) into a form easily comprehended by the intended audience".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Posner |first1=Marcia |title=CHAIKIN, Miriam. Menorahs, Mezuzas, and Other Jewish Symbols |journal=School Library Journal |date=1991 |volume=37 |issue=1}}</ref>

Chaikin wrote three collections of Midrash stories, ''Clouds of Glory: Legends and Stories about Bible Times'' (1998), ''Angels Sweep the Desert Floor: Bible Legends about Moses in the Wilderness'' (2002) and ''Angel Secrets: Stories Based on Jewish Legend'' (2005).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bloom |first1=Susan P |title=Miriam Chaikin. Angel Secrets: Stories Based on Jewish Legend; illus. by Leonid Gore |journal=The Horn Book Magazine |date=2005 |volume=81 |issue=5 |page=592}}</ref> Mary M. Burns, writing in ''The Horn Book Magazine'', gave ''Clouds of Glory'' a star to indicate "a book that the majority of reviewers believe to be an outstanding example of its genre, of books of this particular publishing season, or of the author's body of work".<ref name="Burns">{{cite journal |last1=Burns|first1=Mary M |title=Clouds of Glory |journal=The Horn Book Magazine |date=1998 |volume=74 |issue=4}}</ref> Burns wrote that the book's "language that seems to reflect the tone of those long-ago rabbinical discussions", and that "the personalities here are familiar reflections, of ourselves, and the stories underline a common bond. Specific documentation adds the appropriate scholarly touch".<ref name="Burns"/> ''The New York Times'' thought that the book "perhaps inevitably - greatly oversimplifies Jewish theology in her effort to depict a Supreme Being who is simultaneously all-powerful, all-merciful and yet sufficiently exasperated by human evil to destroy mankind in the Flood".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Robinson |first1=George |title=CLOUDS OF GLORY |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/07/19/reviews/980719.rv123849.html |access-date=11 April 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=19 July 1998}}</ref> Ilene Cooper, writing in ''Booklist'', said of ''Angels Sweep the Desert Floor'' that Chaikin "does a good job of mixing religious history with tenents of Judaism and framing everything as folklore, right at a child's level".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Ilene |title=Angels Sweep the Desert Floor: Bible Legends about Moses in the Wilderness (Book) |journal=Booklist |date=2002 |volume=9 |issue=3 |page=340}}</ref> ''Publishers Weekly'' described ''Angel Secrets'' as an "entertaining collection" based on Midrash tales, and said that "An informative introduction, source notes and references may encourage further reading in this area".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Angel Secrets: Stories Based on Jewish Legend |journal=Publishers Weekly|date=2005 |volume=252 |issue=43|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780805071504|access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref> Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney wrote that ''Angel Secrets'', although "informative", "with its many stories about angels and their conflicts, seems to wander without a purpose".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Heller |first1=Hannah M |title=Angel Secrets: Stories Based on Jewish Legend/Dybbuk: A Version |journal=Multicultural Review |date=2006 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=94–95}}</ref>

Of the historical novel ''Alexandra's Scroll: The Story of the First Hanukkah'' (2002), set at the time of the Maccabees, ''Publishers Weekly'' said that "Chaikin's (''Clouds of Glory'') research, as always, is meticulous, but Alexandra often seems more a conduit for that research than a flesh-and-blood character".<ref>{{cite journal |title=ALEXANDRA'S SCROLL (Book) |journal=Publishers Weekly|date=2002 |volume=249 |issue=38|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780805063844|access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref> ''Kirkus Reviews'' described the heroine as "a plucky young girl with 21st-century attitudes".<ref>{{cite journal |title=ALEXANDRA'S SCROLL: THE STORY OF THE FIRST HANUKKAH |journal=Kirkus Reviews|date=November 2002 |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/miriam-chaikin/alexandras-scroll |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>

''Aviva's Piano'' (1986) is set in Kibbutz Kfar Giladi; the book deals with terrorism and the family home is bombed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheps |first1=Susan |title=Chaikin, Miriam. Aviva's Piano |journal=School Library Journal |date=1986 |volume=32 |issue=10 |page=80}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pilla |first1=Marianne Laino |title=Resources for Middle-grade Reluctant Readers: A Guide for Librarians |date=1987 |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |isbn=9780872875470 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeO_AAAAIAAJ |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Aviva's Piano |journal=Ariel |date=1995 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANBRAQAAMAAJ |access-date=11 April 2023 |publisher=Cultural and Scientific Relations Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}</ref> A stage production of the book led to the creation of the Young Actors for Young Audiences program at the Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gold |first1=Muriel |title=A Gift for Their Mother: The Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre: a History |date=2007 |publisher=MIRI |isbn=9780978449704 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PHMdAQAAIAAJ |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>

Joyce Antler has written about Chaikin's 1987 re-telling of The Book of Esther in terms of how Jewish women are portrayed; she notes that Chaikin's text does not judge Esther.<ref name="Joyce Antler Antler 1998 p. 210">{{cite book | author=Joyce Antler | last2=Antler | first2=P.J. | title=Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture | publisher=Brandeis University Press | series=Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture, and life | year=1998 | isbn=978-0-87451-842-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-LKrvC85LWMC&pg=PA292 | access-date=11 Apr 2023 | page=210}}</ref>

Chaikin was interested in haiku.<ref name="amNY"/><ref>{{cite web |last1=DeVito |first1=Becky |title=Writing as Inquiry: How might the practice of writing poetry function as an epistemic tool for poets? |url=https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/88f2c9959367bfa56c1fdfd560e25745.pdf |website=The Haiku Foundation |access-date=11 April 2023 |date=2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chaikin |first1=Miriam |title=outside my window |journal=Frogpond |date=2012 |volume=35 |issue=3 |url=https://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/backissues/35-3-Frogpond-2012.pdf |access-date=11 April 2023 |quote=outside my window / two pigeons lock beaks / i avert my glance}}</ref> Her 2002 ''Don't Step on the Sky: A Handful of Haiku'' collection for small children, illustrated by Hiroe Nakata, was reviewed in ''Publishers Weekly'': "moves easily between whimsy ("Duck glides across pond--/ water doesn't notice") and wistfulness ("Lovely lily/ alive for only a day./ Take good care of yourself"), and Nakata's (''Lucky Pennies'' and ''Hot Chocolate'') watercolors accommodate both. Through the pages, a girl in overalls and her cat go exploring, blissfully alone in meadows of wildflowers and cityscapes dotted with rows of street lamps".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Children's Books: A Handful of Haiku |journal=Publishers Weekly |date=2002 |volume=24 |issue=10|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780805064742|access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>

==Awards==

* Sydney Taylor Book Award, 1985, Association of Jewish Libraries, for her body of work<ref name="Continuum"/> * Notable Book, 1987, American Library Association, for ''A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945'' * National Jewish Book Award, 1988, for ''Exodus''<ref name="National Jewish Book Awards"/> * Notable Book, 1988, American Library Association, for ''Exodus''

==Legacy==

The Miriam Chaikin Endowment Fund for Writing was set up in her memory in 2016.<ref name="endow">{{cite web |title=Miriam Chaikin Endowment Fund |url=https://westbeth.org/miriam-chaikin-endowment-fund |publisher=Westbeth Artists Community |access-date=11 April 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=April 2023}}

==Selected works==

===The Molly series===

* ''I Should Worry, I Should Care'' (1979), illustrated by Richard Egielski, Harper, New York * ''Finders Weepers'' (1980), illustrated by Richard Egielski, Harper, New York * ''Getting Even'' (1982), illustrated by Richard Egielski, Harper, New York * ''Lower! Higher! You're a Liar!'' (1984), illustrated by Richard Egielski, Harper, New York * ''Friends Forever'' (1988), illustrated by Richard Egielski, Harper, New York

===The Yossi series===

* ''How Yossi Beat the Evil Urge'' (1983), illustrated by Petra Mathers, Harper, New York * ''Yossi Asks the Angels for Help'' (1985), illustrated by Petra Mathers, Harper, New York * ''Yossi Tries to Help God'' (1987), illustrated by Denise Saldutti, Harper, New York * ''Feathers in the Wind'' (1989), illustrated by Denise Saldutti, Harper, New York

===Other books===

* ''Ittki Pittki'' (1971), illustrated by Harold Berson, Parents' Magazine Press, New York * ''The Happpy Pairr and Other Love Stories'' (1972), illustrated by Gustave Nebel, Putnam, New York * ''Hardlucky'' (1973), illustrated by Fernando Krahn, Lippincott, Philadelphia * ''The Seventh Day: The Story of the Jewish Sabbath'' (1979), illustrated by David Frampton, Doubleday, New York * ''Shake a Palm Branch: The Story and Meaning of Sukkot'' (1984), illustrated by Marvin Friedman, Clarion, New York * ''Ask Another Question: The Story and Meaning of Passover'' (1985), illustrated by Marvin Friedman, Clarion, New York * ''Aviva's Piano'' (1986), illustrated by Yossi Abolafia, Clarion New York * ''Sound the Shofar: The Story and Meaning of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur'' (1986), illustrated by Erika Weihs, Clarion, New York * ''Esther'' (1987), illustrated by Vera Rosenberry, Jewish Publication Society * ''Exodus'' (1987), illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak, Holiday House, New York * ''Hinkl and Other Shlemiel Stories'' (1987), illustrated by Marcia Posner, Shapolsky Publishers * ''A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945'' (1987), Clarion, New York * ''Hanukkah'' (1990), illustrated by Ellen Weiss, Holiday House, New York * ''Menorahs, Mezuzas, and Other Jewish Symbols'' (1990), illustrated by Erika Weihs, Clarion, New York * ''Clouds of Glory: Legends and Stories about Bible Times'' (1997), illustrated by David Frampton, Clarion, New York * ''Don't Step on the Sky: A Handful of Haiku'' (2002), illustrated by Hiroe Nakata, Henry Holt, New York * ''Angels Sweep the Desert Floor: Bible Legends about Moses in the Wilderness'' (2002), illustrated by Alexander Koshkin, Clarion, New York * ''Alexandra's Scroll: The Story of the First Hanukkah'' (2002), illustrated by Stephen Fieser, Henry Holt, New York * ''Jewish Wisdom for Daily Life: Sayings of Rabbi Menahem Mendl of Kotzk'' (2014), with translations by Gabriel Lisowski, Arcade Publishing * ''Jerusalem: an Informal Biography of the City'' (2015), CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading==

* Essay by Chaikin in ''The Sixth Book of Junior Authors and Illustrators'' (1989), ed. Holtze, Sally Holmes. * Acceptance speech by Chaikin for the Sydney Taylor Book Award, ''Judaica Librarianship'', 2:29-30

==External links== * [https://westbeth.org/in-memoriam Biography] at Westbeth Artists Community * [https://westbeth.org/westbeth-chronicles/miriam-chaiken-anthropologist Shami, Joe, and Molly], recollections by their niece * [https://westbeth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Miriam-Chaikin-Resume-1.pdf Biography] * [https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/4/resources/2516 Miriam Chaikin papers] at Elmer L. Andersen Library * [https://specialcollections.usm.edu/repositories/4/resources/48 Miriam Chaikin Papers], Special Collections at the University of Southern Mississippi (de Grummond Children's Literature Collection)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaikin, Miriam}} Category:American children's writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:Writers from New York City Category:Writers from Jerusalem Category:20th-century American women poets Category:21st-century American women writers Category:American book editors Category:Jewish American children's writers Category:Jewish American women writers Category:20th-century American Jews Category:American women children's writers Category:1924 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Jewish American poets