Pnina Moed Kass has been living in Israel since 1969. After teaching high school English for a number of years she decided to take a break and go back to writing.
Her writing background in the U.S. has been as a lyricist (ASCAP member), a staffer at the magazine, Opera News, a publicist for a record company and a variety of other jobs that called for writing skills.
The switch in Israel from teaching to writing worked out.
After a few years she had authored children’s books , scripted a TV series, and done a lot of freelance writing both in Hebrew and in English. She had also garnered awards and recognition for her short stories and her contemporary novel set in the Middle East. Among them: the international Reading Award for Best YA Short Story, inclusion in the Cricket Magazine 25 year Anthology (“Celebrate”,) and other citations by librarians and teachers.
Her novel, REAL TIME, won the prestigious National Jewish Book Award, The Sydney Taylor Award and other accolades.
The eight books of the picture book series “Berale” about a shy but adventurous snail can be found on the shelves of kindergartens and local libraries throughout Israel. Also popular is the website www.berale.com
Though she lives in Israel, in the city of Herzliya, Moed Kass has traveled to speak about children's literature, about contemporary life in Israel, and about her work both in Europe and the U.S. In Israel, she makes frequent appearances, reading the “Berale” stories at libraries and community centers. Her children used to be part of her audience, now it’s her grandchildren.
Biographical material and reviews
Assoc. of Jewish Libraries websiteAnswer.com
by Pnina Moed Kass
Pnina reviews Journalist Lydia Aisenberg’s book,
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Pride and Prejudice in Wadi Ara, November 2010, which describes the tide of events that overwhelmed Jewish and Arab Israelis and Palestinians from 1998 to June 2014. She says the author’s choice of a specific geographical area to illustrate a century of problems makes for a gripping narrative and highly recommends the book.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
The Pater, by Elliot Jager is an unusual memoir of
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a child abandoned by his father, his difficult life, and later his life as a husband but not a father. Pnina Moed Kass finds that the balance of intellectual and personal inquiry makes The Pater an intriguing read.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Pnina Moed Kass was in mourning for the almost forgotten
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words of the English language, eventually becoming a sort of “house mother” for a “virtual domicile – a Home for Abandoned Words”.
Hope, however, appeared on the horizon – SCRABBLE. Pnina’s words can be construed as a paean to Scrabble. “So Abracadabra, glory to the longest and the best.”
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by Pnina Moed Kass
A fascinating review of an interesting book introducing
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us to the Jewish weavers of carpets, their lives and their artistry in the midst of the Catholic intolerance of the 15th century.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
In this book review, a thriller by Dan Sofer is described
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as combining mysticism and mayhem in Jerusalem with plenty of wit and a neat ending.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Pnina writes about current Israeli writers whose work
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has been translated into English. She says they are a reflection of the immediate availability of world culture via everything available in cyberspace. She lists the authors and the books that she highly recommends and says the wonderful English translations of these books will give you a chance to enjoy what’s current in Israeli literature.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
The pen is mightier than the sword – thus the writer
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cleverly makes her case for offering her assistance in contested works in a court of law.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
This book is highly recommended by Pnina Moed Kass,
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It is light to carry and compact, and the printing and layout easily read. With charts and maps it also offers historical facts and information about modern events.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Pnina tells a modern-day fable reminding us of Aesop's
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tale of the Fox and the Grapes. The moral of her story: Winter reveals the truth as summer cannot
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Pnina Moed Kass muses about the bookmark which she
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says is a memory keeper: it marks the pages we read, it heralds the pages we have yet to read. The recycled envelopes, postcards, timetables we use as bookmarks are reminders of places and events that obviously we don’t want to forget. Whatever we hold between our fingers and insert between the pages honors the act of slipping into another world, the pleasurable act we call reading.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Don't argue about trivialities or tempt fate - it has
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a habit of teaching you a lesson - that is the essence of this little tale.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
This book, the first in a series, is recommended not
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only for its unusual presentation – in the style of a ship's daily log – but especially for its fascinating tale of a family which flees Belgium ahead of the German influx during WWII. Their saga makes for riveting reading.
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by Pnina Moed Kass
Volunteers collect food remaining at the end of the
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day at cafes and fast food locations throughout the Seven Stars Mall which is then taken to a refrigerated warehouse. The next day it is distributed to disadvantaged school children, to homeless shelters, to senior centers and to soup kitchens.
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Pnina Moed Kass