Q&A with Varda Livney

  

 

 

 

Varda Livney is the author and illustrator of the new children's board book Today I Am a Hamantasch: A Poem for Purim. Her other books include Challah!. She lives in Israel.

 

Q: What inspired you to create Today I Am a Hamantasch, which focuses on the Jewish holiday of Purim?

 

A: It started from a little picture I drew…and a page in my sketchbook.

 

Q: What are some of your favorite Purim traditions?

 

A: I am not a big costume wearer, but I love swinging a grogger at the megillah reading.

Q: What’s your favorite hamantaschen flavor?

 

A: It’s a tie between smushed prunes and strawberry jam.

Q: What do you hope kids take away from the book?

 

A: It’s for babies, so I just want them to get some warm and fuzzy Jewish vibes, to be exposed to some Purim costumes, characters, to hamentaschen, to the party atmosphere of the holiday.

 

I don’t think that going into the whole Purim story would hold the interest of such new people. 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: I have another PJ book coming out in April, about Abraham & Sarah and their goats. Pretty excited about that one as well!

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: This book was really fun to make. It has cutout holes in it. It was a fun challenge to make the holes match up with the pictures. (You will only understand that when you hold the book in your hands.)

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Varda Livney.