Miriam Chaikin (1924 to 15 April 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. Her family was not wealthy.
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. She lived part of the time in Israel. In New York City, she lived at Westbeth Artists Community in the West Village.
As a writer of at least 35 books for children, her focus was on Jewish life. She also published poetry and a book about Jerusalem.
Her brother, Joseph Chaikin, was an actor and director, and one of her sisters, Shami Chaikin, an actor. Her niece, also Miriam Chaikin, is an anthropologist.
Chaikin died on April 15, 2015 at the age of 90.
Books and critical reception
Margaret Yatsevitch Phinney has described Chaikin's aim as "to acknowledge children's common, but nevertheless troublesome feelings of isolation and loneliness, and to let them know others have had the same feelings". 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.
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." 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".
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". Yossi is a Hasidic Jewish boy.
Ask Another Question: The Story and Meaning of Passover (1985) was described in the School Library Journal as notable because of its coverage of Passover internationally, and because of the "emphasis on women's roles in the development and presentation of the holiday". 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".
Of A Nightmare in History: The Holocaust, 1933-1945 (1987), a review in the School Library Journal said that it "spares readers little".
Exodus (1987), a re-telling of the Book of Exodus, won the National Jewish Book Award. 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".
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".