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by Barbara Krasner

In a million years I’d never have thought my first children’s book would be a picture book. While I was working mostly on YA historical novels during my MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, a friend teased and said picture books would be my future.

I write picture book biographies. Well, no, that’s not quite right. I write picture book historical fiction, because I invent dialogue based on real-life stories. And I did the unthinkable in my picture book, Goldie Takes a Stand! Golda Meir’s First Crusade—I wrote it in first person. The version I submitted to publisher Kar-Ben, the Jewish imprint of Lerner Publishing, was 1400 words (don’t worry, it got slashed).

There was no other way to write about Golda than in first person, because her voice was so strong. I had many other picture book drafts, but I knew I had something special with Golda. It all began when I was attending two weeks of retreat at the Highlights Foundation. Between the two weeks I had to attend an event at the Touro Synagogue in Rhode Island. I perused the shelves at the Highlights farmhouse and saw Golda’s autobiography, My Life (which I learned recently she didn’t write). Over the weekend, I read it and found a snippet about how as a child, Golda staged a fundraising event in Milwaukee, where she and her family had settled as immigrants from Russia, to buy schoolbooks for classmates. She mentioned a newspaper article had appeared about the event. Back home, I contacted the Jewish Historical Society of Milwaukee and the archivist knew exactly which article I was talking about. He sent it to me.

I wrote the draft on a Saturday night. Initially, I wrote it in third person, but that didn’t seem quite right. When I changed to first, the voice and story fell into place. I interpreted a true event but had to fill in the gaps to present the problem Golda and her friends faced. I invented dialogue. But the event itself was true and documented.

I drafted the story in October 2011. I took it to workshops. I submitted the manuscript to Kar-Ben the following April and received an offer in June 2012. The book was published in August 2014.

I had been researching the story of the MS St. Louis since 2010, when I interviewed eight survivors of the ill-fated voyage. In 1939, this ship of nearly 1,000 German-Jewish refugees left Germany for safe haven from Nazism in Cuba. But when it arrived there, the passengers weren’t allowed to disembark. Denied refuge, the ship roamed the Atlantic until a philanthropic organization negotiated landing in Antwerp and distribution of the passengers to England, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

One of the women I interviewed, Liesl Joseph Loeb, was the daughter of the head of the passenger committee. I wrote a middle-grade narrative, but the story was difficult to tell, because so much happened that children on board wouldn’t have known about. Then it dawned on me to focus on Liesl in a picture book. That became Liesl’s Ocean Rescue, coming out very soon from Gihon River Press, a specialized Holocaust publisher. Again, I took dramatic license with Liesl’s story, but it is based on her interview and true events.

 What I learned is absolutely true:

1. Go with your gut. If something doesn’t feel quite right, change it.
2. Make a weakness a strength. Some publishers rejected my manuscript, because it was in first person. I decided to make that my story’s strength.
3. Keep trying. I graduated from VCFA in 2006. Eight years later my first children’s book appeared. I still have those YA historical novels under the bed. Maybe they’ll make it out some day, but for right now, my focus is on picture book biographies.
4. Get your manuscript vetted. Even though my picture books are fictionalized, they are based on true events. I needed to find subject matter experts who could vet the manuscripts.
5. Write a biography only if the subject wrote an autobiography. Since these two picture books, I’ve drafted a few biographies, now with my agent. But these stories are true—and are in first person.

Barbara Krasner holds an M.B.A. in Marketing from Rutgers University and an M.F.A. in Writing for Children & Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). She is currently an adjunct professor in the English department at William Paterson University, teaching introductory and advanced creative writing, fiction writing, and children’s literature. GOLDIE TAKES A STAND: GOLDA MEIR’S FIRST CRUSADE, released in 2014 with Kar-Ben Publishers, is her debut picture book. LIESEL’S OCEAN RESCUE is due from Gihon River Press this December.

You can connect with her at BarbaraKrasner.com and follow her on Twitter @BarbaraKrasner.

Barbara is giving away a copy of GOLDIE TAKES A STAND!

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:

1. You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
2. You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
3. You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

Tilda Balsley is the author of LET MY PEOPLE GO!(Kar-Ben)This delightful picture book tells the story of Passover in a reader’s theatre format that is engaging, humorous, and appealing for kids and adult of all ages. The interactive nature of LET MY PEOPLE GO! makes it a perfect selection for schools and families.

Tilda lives with her husband in South Carolina. Along with writing she enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, trips to the beach, and tending to the flowers in her yard.

Tell me a little bit about your latest book. Why you were drawn to write about a Jewish topic?
The idea for this book and others began when I discovered the fun of readers’ theater for kids. For my students at school, I turned some our favorite books into scripts. VOIL;, they wanted to read them over and over. The ancient stories of faith are naturals for this form and the story of Moses and the ten plagues is the first I wrote. It had a trial run with the children of my own congregation.

What type of research was involved?
I stayed very close to the scriptural text for this book so extra research was not needed. Good writers are always doing research about the craft, however. We study skills like humor, plot, good rhyme (and bad), and characterization. We also research to see if there are competing books already published and which publisher might be interested in a particular book.

How did you become a children’s writer?
My mother loved books and taught me to love them as well. My father sat down with me at homework time and taught me to love writing. In college I studied poetry, practicing the art of rhythm and (sometimes) rhyme. Soon, the wonderful books I read to my own children introduced me to the genre of my heart. A later career, teaching elementary school reading, cinched it. I had to give it a try.

What are you working on now?
I’m still working on biblical readers’ theater, but I also have a number of picture books that are not religious—some completed, some in process. All books have the values of the author built in, but some messages come in through the back door. I love to write books that beg to be illustrated because books that combine good pictures with good words beg to be read.

What are a few fun facts about you?
I grew up as an army brat. That makes me patriotic, adaptable, and restless. My husband is tolerant of my urge to move. We have lived in five houses on this downtown block of his hometown.

I love color. My living room is purple, my dining room is red and my kitchen is yellow.

Pulling weeds is my favorite form of exercise. My body may not always show the progress, but my yard does.

What is your favorite holiday?
Anytime my whole family is together is like a holiday. I especially love gatherings at the beach. These times are as memorable as any designated holiday.

To learn more about LET MY PEOPLE GO! Please check out Tilda’s web site at www.tildatalks.com

Jacqueline Jules has made some terrific contributions to Jewish literature for children, and it is an honor to share her interview on my blog. Jacqueline Jules is the author of nine children's books including The Hardest Word (Kar-Ben), The Ziz and the Hanukkah Miracle(Kar-Ben), No English (Mitten Press), Abraham's Search for God (Kar-Ben), and the recently released Sarah Laughs (Kar-Ben). The Hardest Word and Abraham's Search for God were named Notable Books for Younger readers by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee. She is also a public elementary school librarian, who teaches weekly classes to students from preschool through sixth grade. The mother of two grown sons, she lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband, Alan, the webmaster for www.jacquelinejules.com.

Tell me a little bit about your latest book. Why you were drawn to write about a Jewish theme or character?

To talk about my latest book, Sarah Laughs (Kar-Ben, 2008), I need to talk a little bit about its companion book, Abraham's Search for God (Kar-Ben, 2007). Both books are part of a Bible series I am doing for Kar-Ben Publishing. The original idea for Abraham's Search for God came to me in 2001, when I was working as a synagogue librarian at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, DC. One of the religious school teachers asked me for a book for young children on our patriarch Abraham. I couldn't find anything suitable in the children's collection. Since the library had an endowment for children's books, I tried finding something I could purchase. Everything available had too many words and not enough pictures for young children. I realized that there was a need for a more child-friendly introduction to Abraham. That inspired me. My work as a librarian frequently leads me to the topics I choose to write about. Librarians love connecting readers with books. When I have no existing book to fill a request, I find myself itching to write one. Maybe I have an overwhelming need to please, but my creative juices start pumping when I see a need for something that doesn't currently exist.

It took several years to get a book contract for Abraham's Search for God. However, when Kar-Ben purchased it, they requested a book about Sarah as well. I agreed because my research into available children's books on Abraham had taught me that there was a need for children's book on the matriarchs as well as the patriarchs.

Sarah Laughs tells the familiar bible story of Abraham's journey to Canaan, through his wife, Sarah's, eyes. It imagines the thoughts that must have twirled in Sarah's mind when Abraham told her they were leaving their comfortable home in Ur to go to an unknown place. Sarah had fears and concerns, but she was a true partner in everything her husband did. The story follows the couple through years of traveling in Canaan, ending with Isaac's birth, when Sarah uttered her famous laugh.

What type of research was involved?

I did extensive research for Sarah Laughs. My main sources, which are listed on the last page of the book are Biblical Images by Adin Steinsaltz; Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary edited by David Lieber; Daughters of Fire by Fran Manushkin; Legends of the Bible by Louis Ginzberg; Miriam’s Well by Alice Bach; Pentateuch & Haftorahs, second edition, edited by J.H. Hertz; Reading the Old Testament by Lawrence Boadt
Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler; Wrestling with Angels by Naomi Rosenblatt. The Torah does not describe Sarah or her feelings in great detail, so I had often had to rely on midrash.

As a librarian, research comes naturally to me. Librarians love digging up facts. And once I start researching a subject, it becomes an exciting adventure.

How did you become a children’s writer?

I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't want to be a writer. Long before I wanted to be a librarian, before I wanted to be a wife and a mother, I wanted to be a writer. I have always loved to read. Books took me to different worlds. They introduced me to interesting people. They were magical. The idea of creating something myself that gave me such pleasure was very appealing to me, even as child of nine. In third grade, when my teacher asked us all to put our career goals down on a strip of construction paper for a bulletin board, I wrote down "writer."

In 1979, I got a BA in Writing at The University of Pittsburgh, becoming one of the first undergraduates of a newly established writing program. However, it was many years before I realized that most of the protagonists in my stories were young people and I should start marketing my work to children's publishers. Some of the same stories that were rejected by adult publishers were accepted by children's magazines. That's when I began to focus on writing for children. A little while later, when I went back to school to become a librarian, I found myself mesmerized by the children's literature courses. While I have worked as a Judaica librarian, serving both children and adults, my first love is for children's literature, and I am happiest working in an elementary school library as I do now. I am a voracious reader, but I only read one or two adult books (outside of my research) a year.

What are you working on now?

The Princess and the Ziz (Kar-Ben Publishing), the fourth book in the Ziz series, which began in 2001 with The Hardest Word, will be released in Fall 2008. This story is an extension of a tale about King Solomon's daughter, in which I first encountered the gigantic mythical bird called the Ziz. In The Princess and the Ziz, the eager lovable Ziz takes the princess on a joyful trip around the world. But when she falls in love with a young man, the Ziz becomes jealous and problems follow.

In the spring of 2009, Charlesbridge Publishing will release Unite or Die, a book about the Constitutional Convention of 1787. While I did a great deal of research for this book, it is not entirely nonfiction, since the characters in the book are the quarreling thirteen original states.

What are a few fun facts about you?

In addition to reading and writing, I like to sing. Before story time in my school library, my youngest students and I always sing for about ten minutes. Some of the songs are from children's tapes I listen to in the car, and others are ones I have simply made up. I also love puppets. I have a huge collection of them, including a Ziz puppet I asked an artist to make for me. My puppets love to kiss little cheeks as we sing songs in the library or at my author appearances.

My favorite color at the moment is purple. Two summers ago, I redecorated my bedroom with purple paint, purple carpet, purple bedspread, and purple sheets. Many of my clothes are purple including my winter coat and favorite earrings. I recently purchased a purple purse.

What is your favorite holiday?

My fondest holiday memories are of Rosh Hashanah when I was a child. I grew up in a small congregation of less than one hundred families in a small southern town. After Rosh Hashanah evening services, there was an Oneg for the entire congregation. We would stay for hours after services, eating delicious cookies and talking. I also remember feeling special in the new dress and shoes my parents bought me for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. One day, I hope to write a story that captures the joy of celebrating the holidays in a small congregation.

Jacqueline, it has been a delight getting to know you! For more information about Jaqueline or her books, visit her web site at www.jacquelinejules.com

Created this for my daily Nu.nl cartoon. Usually my cartoon images are more stylized and whimsical, but I couldn't resist spending more time than usual on this particular image.

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