Q&A with Richard Michelson

 

 

 

 

Richard Michelson is the author of the new children's picture book More Than Enough. His many other books include One of a Kind. He lives in Massachusetts.

 

Q: Why did you decide to write a picture book inspired by Maimonides’s Golden Ladder of Giving?

 

A: Hi Deborah, lovely to be in conversation with you again. Every day, as I walk from my gallery to my favorite lunch place, I  pass people on the street asking for money. It is hard to know what to do.

 

Some say we contribute to the problem by giving to individuals, and that our charity should go directly to shelters; others give generously;  most pretend not to notice those in need.

 

I am especially curious to watch parents interact with their children —do they rush their child past and hold on tighter, or do they give their kid a dollar to put in the basket.

 

As our society gets more stratified, the homeless population increases while the wealthy enrich themselves (often advertising their altruism while giving pennies away) and the subject of how we create a fair society gets thornier.

 

I was reading Maimonides (yes, I know how that sounds) and realized he tackled the same issues in the 1100s. I wanted to create a safe space where parents could approach the topic with their children and begin the conversation, though mostly I was talking to myself and trying to understand my own reluctance to give away my “hard-earned money,” while my wife finds joy in giving.  

 

I discuss this in depth in an essay I wrote for the Jewish Book Council https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/maimonides-and-the-giving-season .

 

Q: How did you create the modern-day community in which the story takes place? 

 

A: I combined the poorer neighborhood where I grew up (East New York, Brooklyn) with the street people in my educated, upper-middle class City of Northampton, Massachusetts. The characters are an amalgamation of those buskers and beggars I have come to know personally over the many years I have lived in Western Massachusetts.  

 

Q: The Kirkus Review of the book said, “Michelson makes a potentially complex topic accessible,” and called the book a “child-friendly exploration of charity.” What do you think of that description?

 

A: What’s not to like?!  I have had similar descriptions used for some of my earlier books, especially Busing Brewster, which tackled the topic of forced school busing and racial divides (a NY Times 8 Notable Children’s Books of 2010. Yea!), and The Language of Angels: A Story About the Reinvention of Hebrew (2017 National Jewish Book Award).  

 

Publishers Weekly said, “Michelson knows how to turn a complex story into … a compelling emotional journey.”  The fact is, I am trying to explain complex issues to myself, and if kids can listen in and benefit, so much the better. None of my books provide easy answers, but all ask questions. 

 

Q: What do you think Joe Cepeda’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: Life. Joy. Brilliance. The story is based on Jewish scholarship, but Joe’s multi-cultural cast of characters makes it universal, which was important to me. Joe’s colors add humanity and hope to every page. It is impossible not to care about the characters as Joe portrays them. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have a new book out in March, Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder. That will be followed in October by What Louis Brandeis Knows: A Crusader for Social Justice becomes a Supreme Court Justice. November will bring Fanny’s Big Idea: How Jewish Book Week was Born. I hope we find time to talk about all of them!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Sure. In these difficult politicized times, when the problems of creating a fairer society seem more distant than ever, we must still project hope to our children and not give up the fight.  

 

Jewish history implores us to take the long view. Moses wandered 40 years through the unknown desert and never entered the Promised Land. Maimonides composed his commentary on the Mishnah in exile. We plant our seeds for the future generations.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Richard Michelson.