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Sonia Levitin, author of over 40 books for children and teens, has turned her award-winning 1987 novel The Return into a a musical stage play. RETURN chronicles an Ethiopian Jewish girl's walk to freedom in Israel via Operation Moses.
After hearing The Book of Life's "Black History Month, Jewish Style" episode, with its feature on the Abayudaya of Uganda, Sonia emailed to tell us about RETURN, and this podcast interview is the result!
Scroll down to watch a video of the musical number "Falasha" from the play, RETURN.
AUDIO:
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On November 2, I attended the Awards Program for The Once Upon A World Book Award. The event took place at The Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. This award was established by Sonia Levitin and her family to "support and perpetuate the values and mandate of the Simon Wiesenthal Center & Museum of Tolerance by honoring children's books ... which deal with issues of tolerance, diversity, human understanding and social justice, thus inspiring a young reader to promote positive change in the world."
In previous years, only one book for younger readers was chosen. This year, the Young Adult category was added. The books that were honored this year are SURFER OF THE CENTURY by Ellie Crowe for younger readers, and JEANETTE RANKIN: POLITICAL PIONEER by Gretchen Woelfle, for YA. Gretchen is a local writer, and I was delighted when she invited me to this wonderful event and took the time to share her thoughts about the award and some other exciting activities related to her book.
What inspired you to write about Jeanette Rankin, the first woman elected to congress?
Back in the 1990s I worked as a scriptwriter for interactive multimedia educational programs. One of our projects was called 100 American Heroes and during my research I discovered Jennette Rankin. I’d never heard of her, and was intrigued by this woman who was ahead of her time in many ways. Years later, after I became a book author, I discovered there were no full-length children’s biographies of her – and off I went.
How much research was involved?
Any biographer will tell you that research can be endless, and for me that’s a plus. When you choose someone who lived nearly as century – 1880-1973 – and was involved in most of the political movements of that century, you can research endlessly. [Deep dark secret: Often I find research a lot more fun and a lot easier than writing.] I did all the usual things: read books and researched online for primary documents. It’s hard to imagine how books got written before the internet! My picture research led me to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs collection (online!) and to state historical societies and university libraries. The Papers of Jeannette Rankin are stored at the Schlesinger Library at Harvard and they sent sixteen rolls of microfilm to my local library. Rankin had a clipping service while she was in Congress and I found all sorts of tasty tidbits to include in the illustrations.
What was the most fascinating thing you learned during the research process?
Rankin didn’t like to write, but she loved to talk. Fortunately the Suffragfist Oral History Project at Berkeley recorded several interviews with her in 1972. Transcripts of those interviews are now online and I was able to download and read 275 pages of Jeannette’s own words and speech patterns. Thus I was able to include many direct quotes from Rankin in my book.
Tell me a little bit about the video conference you had on election day.
As you know, Jeannette Rankin: Political Pioneer, won the first Young Adult Once Upon A World Award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center/Museum of Tolerance. Two days after a lovely award ceremony, I took part in a video conference at the museum with three groups of students – a middle school from south central LA, a private Jewish girls’ school, and a group of middle schoolers in Missoula, Montana (Rankin’s hometown.) A week before this event I had traveled to Missoula to take part in the Montana Festival of the Book, and had given a talk to the students who took part in the video conference. For an hour the three groups and I talked about Jeannette Rankin and how I wrote the book. Toward the end, one student from each group stood up on a “soapbox” and told us about his or her hero. A girl in Montana chose Rankin for her courage and perseverance. A boy from LA described his mother, who never gave up working for what she wanted – just like Jeannette.
What are you working on now?
I seem to have caught the biography bug and am working on several of them – from picture books to YA – from American history. I find that as I do background research for one subject, I come across a second and then a third. Writing biographies combines the best of fiction and nonfiction. You’ve got all the elements of fiction to work with -- protagonist, conflicts, setting, narrative arc – and you get to do all that research!
Gretchen, thanks for taking the time to chat abour your work and for showing readers and writers that non-fiction really is exciting!
If you would like to learn more about Gretchen and her books, please check out her web site at http://www.gretchenwoelfle.com/
0 Comments on Once Upon A World Book Award Winner - Gretchen Woelfle as of 1/1/1900
Surprisingly descriptive, thought-provoking text and a cast of goofy, grinning hooligans provide a peek into a career in nautical crime as a reflective rogue ponders pillaging — its logistical details, dangers and doldrums — and grapples with issues of greed, freedom, friendship and distrust.
0 Comments on Plundering Unplugged: Pirate Bob as of 1/1/1900
Tarie said, on 2/27/2008 6:26:00 AM
It’s always so nice hearing your voices discussing children’s literature. :o) This book seems really interesting. I never would have imagined a book on pirates being thought-provoking!
Saturday Review of Books: March 1, 2008 at Semico said, on 3/8/2008 9:36:00 AM
[…] 36. Lynne (7th Heaven)37. Mo ( The Giver; Foggy Mountian Breakdown; Air Dance Iguana)38. MFS (Y: The Last Man)39. The Book Smugglers (Lord of the Fading Lands)40. The Book Smugglers (If Angels Burn)41. The Book Smugglers (Honor’s Splendour)42. The Book Smugglers (My Lady Notorious)43. Joy (Half Broken Things)44. Noel (The Mennyms)45. Noel (Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons)46. scb (Eight Cousins)47. Trish (The Left Hand of Darkness)48. Nicola (The Random House Book of Mother Goose)49. Nicola (A Great Deliverance)50. Nicola (Peter Pan)51. Nicola (Darkwing)52. Nicola (Lucinda’s Secret)53. Nicola (Charles Perrault’s Tales of Times Past)54. Nicola (Shoot the Moon)55. Ted (We Have Always Lived in the Castle)56. Chris@bookarama (Tess of the D’Ubervilles)57. SuziQoregon (Peter the Great)58. SuziQoregon (Pride and Prejudice)59. SuziQoregon (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)60. SuziQoregon (Amnesia)61. Girl Detective (Y the Last Man: Cycles)62. Girl Detective (Whiteout: Melt)63. Shelf Elf (Cuba 15)64. Lisa, The Correspondent (Q’s Legacy by Helene Hanff)65. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner)66. Just One More Book! KidLit Podcast (Pirate Bob)67. Hope(Messenger)68. Melanie (The Gipsy’s baby)69. Bookgal (Still Life)70. Laura (Ishmael) […]
This riveting roller coaster of taunts, talent and tenterhooks relays a true story of suffering and success and invites us to examine the troubling shadow of racism and the resiliency of those who rise above it.
Check out the full list of non-fiction picture books nominated for the 2007 Cybils Awards here.
0 Comments on Skill, Suspense and Standing Tall: Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer as of 1/1/1900
Nonfiction Monday Round-up « Picture Book o said, on 2/25/2008 8:56:00 AM
[…] 1. Picture Book of the Day (Hello, Bumblebee Bat) 2. Audiobooker (Hole in My Life) 3. Writing Children’s NF for the Ed. Market: Online Class 4. Just One More Book! KidLit Podcast (Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer) 5. Shelf Elf (Graphic Library Series) 6. Lori Calabrese Writes (It’s a Hummingbird’s Life) […]
Tricia said, on 2/27/2008 12:01:00 PM
I’m so glad you reviewed this here. I really loved this when I read it for the Cybils. It was a real rollercoaster of a read. I’m hoping to pair this with Teammates by Peter Golenbock when I teach issues of tolerance this fall.
Thumps, chomps, head butts and the might of the spunky youngest make this refreshingly ridiculous version of the original Grimm’s tale a shockingly fun read.
0 Comments on It’s Not Easy Being Mean: Mrs. Goat and Her Seven Little Kids as of 1/1/1900
Andrea Beaty said, on 2/20/2008 9:38:00 AM
This book sounds like a scream! Can’t wait to get a copy of my own. I was struck by something you said about the violence in this book not being something you’d usually see in a North American title. I wonder if that’s a function of the “Disneyfication” of stories here. The need to make them all end happily ever after. For instance, Disney’s Little Mermaid ends far differently than the original tale in which Ariel turns into sea foam.
Though that can only be a part of the answer.
Hmmmm.
Andrea Beaty
Just One More Book!! said, on 2/20/2008 9:46:00 AM
well… in addition to the wolf trying to get in and eat all the children and the abuse that the little goats heap on the dim-witted wolf, the book ends with the very prim and mild mannered beer drinking mom (I love that, I need to do a SwimmingInLiterarySoup.com episode singing the praises of beer-drinking moms in picture books!) slapping each of her kids.
Not your average 2000-and-something children’s book, but in the context of the millions of other books that we read our children, and in the context of the way we treat our children and the way we are raising them to treat others, it’s a completely hilarious and ridiculously fun read. Reminds me of the anvil-crushing, dynamite exploding coyote and roadrunner days of my pre-CareBare youth!!
Andrea
Andrea Beaty said, on 2/20/2008 10:00:00 AM
JOMB wrote, “Reminds me of the anvil-crushing, dynamite exploding coyote and roadrunner days of my pre-CareBare youth!!”
And that, I think, is a very good thing.
Meep! Meep!
Hazy, gold and red, retro artwork and snappy, all-too-familiar bickering make this simple yet surprisingly stirring tale of rivalry and resilience a memorable reminder of a decided route to happiness.
Wide-eyed grins and peppy, skewed perspectives bring to life an upbeat school yard story that provides a reassuring example of independent thought, acceptance and unwavering self-worth.
You can find more great children’s books about independent thinkers here.
0 Comments on Cheerful Independence: Odd Velvet as of 1/1/1900
Alison said, on 12/2/2007 12:05:00 PM
After hearing this podcast I immediately ordered this children’s book. I love the message and values that it conveys, in addition to your take on the text and its illustrations. The idea of loving oneself regardless is an important message at any age. Validating yourself rather than waiting for others to validate your actions is a life long lesson with great importance. Celebrating independent thinkers is a rare topic for children’s books. This one does it with such grace and truly disrupts any notion of normality.
Courtney Vintch said, on 12/4/2007 3:50:00 PM
I listened to this podcast in a very timely manner. I was recently asked to analyze the story of Cinderella in one of my graduate classes. The thing that struck me the most was the idea that Cinderella relied on other people to bring her happiness. I think that this sends a very negative message to kids, especially young girls. It is refreshing to find a book about a girl who is an independent thinker and who can enjoy being herself for who she is. I love that Odd Velvet does not need other people to accept her in order to find happiness in her life. I have never read this book, but I certainly plan on seeking it out. Thank you for introducing this book to me!
RaeAnne Thompson said, on 12/4/2007 7:05:00 PM
I think this book looks critically at the social dimension in schools that can be hurtful to a student if they realize they are not treated the same as the other students. A lot of students can relate to Velvet, weather it is being just a little different or very different from other students. This book is helpful in classrooms where students are not too accepting of other students who live life in their own way. I think students who beat to their own drum will be affirmed by this book, and those students who are the social ring leaders maybe a little more appreciative of people and their differences.
Classroom shenanigans, expressive illustrations and the delicate weaving of carefully chosen details make this important story a haunting yet hopeful nudge toward breaking the silence of sexual abuse.
Shannon Rigg has supplied the following resources to help start making noise about sexual abuse:
SHOW NOTES:
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It’s always so nice hearing your voices discussing children’s literature. :o) This book seems really interesting. I never would have imagined a book on pirates being thought-provoking!
[…] 36. Lynne (7th Heaven)37. Mo ( The Giver; Foggy Mountian Breakdown; Air Dance Iguana)38. MFS (Y: The Last Man)39. The Book Smugglers (Lord of the Fading Lands)40. The Book Smugglers (If Angels Burn)41. The Book Smugglers (Honor’s Splendour)42. The Book Smugglers (My Lady Notorious)43. Joy (Half Broken Things)44. Noel (The Mennyms)45. Noel (Hang a Thousand Trees with Ribbons)46. scb (Eight Cousins)47. Trish (The Left Hand of Darkness)48. Nicola (The Random House Book of Mother Goose)49. Nicola (A Great Deliverance)50. Nicola (Peter Pan)51. Nicola (Darkwing)52. Nicola (Lucinda’s Secret)53. Nicola (Charles Perrault’s Tales of Times Past)54. Nicola (Shoot the Moon)55. Ted (We Have Always Lived in the Castle)56. Chris@bookarama (Tess of the D’Ubervilles)57. SuziQoregon (Peter the Great)58. SuziQoregon (Pride and Prejudice)59. SuziQoregon (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)60. SuziQoregon (Amnesia)61. Girl Detective (Y the Last Man: Cycles)62. Girl Detective (Whiteout: Melt)63. Shelf Elf (Cuba 15)64. Lisa, The Correspondent (Q’s Legacy by Helene Hanff)65. Amy @ Hope Is the Word (A Garden to Keep by Jamie Langston Turner)66. Just One More Book! KidLit Podcast (Pirate Bob)67. Hope(Messenger)68. Melanie (The Gipsy’s baby)69. Bookgal (Still Life)70. Laura (Ishmael) […]