After a successful two-year pilot period, PJ Our Way – the newest chapter of PJ Library – launched nationwide in September 2016. This means that this new program is available throughout South Florida.
PJ Library is an award-wining national program created by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation in 2005 that provides free Jewish children’s books each month to more than 165,000 children between the ages of six months and eight years in North America.
The new PJ Our Way offers free chapter books and graphic novels with Jewish themes to children throughout the United States who are between the ages 9-11 years of age. It allows the participants to select one of four books every month provided at no cost to families because of contributions from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and PJ Alliance funders.
Marney Tokar, PJ Library director for the Jewish Federation of Broward County, noted that the county officially became PJ Our Way partners when it launched across the U.S. in September 2016. She mentioned that Broward families have been excited since the launch.
“Prior to this, our gift of PJ Library ended at eight years old, so as their children were aging out, there was nothing more. Now, they get to continue this amazing free gift program and it’s very kid driven because in PJ Our Way, the children get to choose their own books online so they can pick a topic that is of interest to them.”
Tokar said that since the program has been available in Broward, many parents have shared with her that their children are excited that they can do it and choose their own books.
“Many of them have younger siblings that are still receiving PJ Library books, so now each child in the 9-11-year old age range can get their own book, whereas in PJ Library, the family is getting one book.”
PJ Our Way participant Marina Conklin, 10, of Pembroke Pines is happy that she can continue accessing books through the new programming.
“I’m happy because they are really good descriptive books and I like the illustration,” Marina said.
Marina’s brother Matthew will be 9 in January 2018 and is excited to use the new programming as he finds the PJ Library books interesting.
“They teach me about how to celebrate the Jewish holidays and they’re exciting and fun,” Matthew said.
Their mother, Laury Conklin of Pembroke Pines, said her family was fortunate to find out about the whole program from the beginning.
“Every book for every holiday has been very grasping as far as the stories and illustrations and my children love them. We’ve been very happy with the program.”
While the new programming became available throughout the entire U.S. less than a year ago, Miami was selected as one of only 10 communities nationwide to participate in the initial phase of the PJ Our Way pilot back in 2014.
Joy Prevor, PJ Library coordinator at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, noted that 681 Miami children between the ages of 9-11 have benefited from this expansion. She also noted that to market the program, PJ Library Miami recruited a PJ Our Way Kids committee and created programming specifically aimed at this audience, including events with book-related activities, followed by experiences such as ice skating and relay races.
“Additionally, we enlist applicants for a national contest which selects young participants to be part of the PJ Our Way Design Team,” Prevor noted. “These children have early access to books to read and create content-based dialogue, including videos and reviews, through the online portal. They work together to interview authors, participate in workshops and lead the conversation amongst their peers.”
The South Palm Beach community was also chosen as a pilot for the program in 2015.
Elana Ostroff, director of the PJ Library program affiliated with the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, discussed the programming’s success in the community over the past two years.
“It’s given us a broader range of programing to work with that age group, so we’re able to do programs to a different group that we haven’t been able to program with before,” Ostroff said.
In North Palm Beach County, the PJ Library and PJ Our Way programs are implemented by the Lorraine & Jack N. Friedman Commission for Jewish Education of the Palm Beaches, a partner agency of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County.
Visit pjourway.org for more information and to sign up. Also visit pjlibrary.org for more on the program, including contact information for local partners.
The program is administered nationwide by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation based in Agawam, Massachusetts.
