Photo: wiki commons.

Haaretz – Among the most loved books on my daughter’s shelf are those by Simms Taback and Russell Hoban — two great and wildly popular Jewish children’s book authors who, sadly, died only days apart this December.

While it’s hard to find any commonalities in their work — Hoban didn’t write about explicitly Jewish themes; Taback depicted immigrant life in America — they did have similar backgrounds. Both were from poor Jewish families, born only a few years apart in the Northeast, served in the Army and later worked as art directors, illustrators and teachers.

Read full story.