Robin Heald is the author of the new children's picture book The Light from My Menorah: Celebrating Holidays around the World. Her other books include Whistling for Angela. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.
Q: What inspired you to write The Light from My Menorah?
A: My inspiration for Menorah came from what was happening in the news, and from my own experiences working with children.
I wrote Menorah in 2019, when the news included children being separated from their parents at the southern border. I’m not a poet, but the sparse text emerged like poetry. I wanted to write about unity and inclusiveness, a sort of secular Hanukkah book.
I think I wrote the text in about an hour, and Pajama Press acquired it immediately and there were very few edits. That has never happened to me before.
For about 25 years I taught creative dramatics to children of all ages and in public and private schools. I founded a preschool in our shul and part of our curriculum was developing scripts with the young students.
Children chose their own characters, and were then divided into groups to come up with a script. I’d give them a loose structure, asking four questions: how did these characters meet, what did they say, what was exciting that happened, and how will it end.
Not only was this fantastic for pre-literate skills, it was a wonderfully creative process. I don’t know that I ever worked with a group that couldn’t immediately come up with a story line - leave it to children to understand how fish eggs and an X-ray doctor can meet.
Children have this great need and desire to expand. They are curious about others. When I wrote Menorah, I pictured a child wondering about other children, about what’s out there.
Q: What do you think Andrea Blinick’s illustrations add to the book?
A: Andrea Blinick’s illustrations are luminous and the light that travels from the menorah, through valleys, mountains and across oceans, connecting kids around the world who are experiencing their own festivals of light, is visually compelling.
It’s always an exciting moment when you see the illustrations. I’ve learned that more often than not, what I envision for illustrations is not what appears.
I was picturing an urban setting, where a girl was looking out of her first-floor apartment, watching the menorah spill into a rain-splattered sidewalk. Andrea created a cozy, sparse, rural setting, kind of like a Swiss village. Brilliantly, she came up with this beautiful swirl of light that unifies the book in a way I never dreamt of.
All the small details, the cat that travels with the boy, the owl that reappears, offer children a built-in game of I Spy. The warmth of the boy’s house, and of all the homes showing celebrations of light makes the book cohesive. I hadn’t realized until I had the book in my hands that the cover is a poster.
Q: The writer Jane Yolen said of the book, “The Light From My Menorah is a new book by Robin Heald, which lyrically emphasizes not only the light of her menorah, but how our world is filled with light, traveling from day into night and back again…as well as into the worship or celebration of other religions and countries.” What do you think of that description?
A: What I find amazing is that Jane Yolen wrote this statement about Menorah not having seen the illustrations. I believe she was visualizing a stream of light in very much the same way Andrea Blinick actualized it in the book. Jane Yolen is a master of poetry, and for her to have said that there is lyricism in the writing is a compliment I treasure.
Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?
A: I hope kids love the journey of the Menorah’s light, and that where the light takes them, will spark a curiosity about celebrations of light around the world. I hope they will feel the journey of the swirling light, and will get lost in the story.
Around Hanukkah, I did a multi-age art project at my temple’s shul school, based on the stream of light in Menorah. It worked beautifully. The age range was 4-14. The goal was to connect the stream of light to the person next to you. I hope the book will inspire connection.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I just finished the fourth draft of a chapter book about a children’s theater troupe. Before I got my teaching license, I was a stage manager in regional theaters and New York.
Needless to say, the stage manager features prominently in my book. Stage managers work behind the scenes – they don’t get the glory that is given to directors, actors, and playwrights, but they are the central nervous system of the production.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I want to acknowledge the fantastic team at Pajama Press: Gail Winskill, executive editor, Emma Davis, editor, and Simin Denji, art designer. And thank you, Deborah, for giving me the chance to talk about The Light from My Menorah.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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