Q&A with Anna Levine

 

 

Anna Levine is the author of the new children's picture book Roadside Seder. Her other books include All Eyes on Alexandra. She lives in Israel.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Roadside Seder?

 

A: Perfect timing for this question since in two weeks I’ll be on the road erev seder driving to my cousin’s up north. For years, I’ve sat in traffic watching as everyone in the north drives south for their seder and everyone in the south drives north.

 

Our cars are packed with family members and food for the seder and I’ve always wondered what other foods people were bringing and what if….what if we all shared our Passover dishes? What if the traffic just stopped and we had no choice but to do Passover seder on the side of the road?

 

Q: What do you think Naama Lahav’s illustrations add to the story?

 

A: I love Naama’s work! I think her beautiful illustrations add joy and energy and curiosity and capture the diversity of all of us who live here.

Q: What do you think the book says about Passover traditions?

 

A: There are so many wonderful Passover traditions. I’d suggest going on over to @diversejewishbooks where the moderator asks readers to chime in with their unique family traditions.

 

Jews come from all over the world, and we bring our old family traditions wherever we go. Our traditions tell our shared stories and our very personal ones.

 

Q: What are some of your own favorite Passover traditions?

 

A: I love the charoset preparation pre-erev seder. We put the nuts in bags and give the kids little hammers so everyone can join in on the preparations. The  walnuts are smashed to bits and come out just the right amount of chunky.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: So glad you asked! Did you know that before Israel became a state, we already had a public library? I’m working on a new picture book on Joseph Chazanovitz who sent over 9,000 books to Jerusalem from Europe in the early 1900s.

 

Chazanovitz’s collection became the foundation for the First National Library. And now we have a new National Library with over 5 million books!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: With Naama’s permission, an insider’s story. On page 5 of Roadside Seder, you can see a man driving a busload of soldiers. That’s Naama’s uncle Haim Ben Aryeh. Her uncle Haim volunteered on October 7 to drive down south to help evacuate families and children from Kibbutz Beeri. You can Google him for more information.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Anna Levine.