1. What are your memories from the Sukkots of your childhood? Did you have a Sukkah in your family? Was sukkah-hopping something you used to do?
Sukkot has always been one of my favourite holidays. I love the cosy feeling of being tucked inside a sukkah surrounded by all the beautiful and fragrant gourds and greens. I enjoyed going sukkah-hopping with my children when they were young, along with our synagogue community. Another fun holiday memory is that when I was ten years old, we got a puppy on Sukkot that I named Sooky!
2. What is the most unusual/best/worst sukkah you have seen?
In 2010, a group called Reboot launched Sukkah City, a design competition featuring installation-art. Out of the hundreds of entries, twelve sukkahs were constructed in Union Square Park in New York City for a three-day celebration. The overarching focus was on fragility, humility and a connection to nature. The arts are a huge part of my life, particularly visual arts, and so I was thrilled by the high-concept designs and varieties of natural materials.
3. Hoppy Sukkot features some lovely references to nature – as an environmental educator, why do you think nature and time outside are so important for children?
As Barbara WOW (Wonders of the World), I created experiential environmental education programmes, including leading groups on outdoor WOW walks. From time to time, I would encounter a child who was afraid to sit on the ground because they didn’t want to get dirty, or they were overly fearful of insects. It’s critical that we address nature-deficit disorder – more and more children aren’t spending enough time outdoors. There are so many mental health, physical and spiritual benefits to connecting to the natural world. It also helps us understand our role as shomrei adamah, keepers or caretakers of the Earth.
4. Communal activities such as sukkah-hopping are a key part of Judaism – has community played a key part in your life, and what are the benefits?
I have been fortunate to be part of many different Jewish and secular communities. These include synagogues, summer camps, and social action and environmental justice groups trying to make the world a better place and help vulnerable people in our society. I am also actively engaged in various writing organisations and groups that help improve my craft and create community.
5. What did you think when you first saw the Talia Drigues illustrations for the book?
I had hoped for illustrations that complemented the lively rhythm of my text as the reader moves from one sukkah to the next. I think that’s exactly what Talia’s illustrations do. I also love her whimsical and inclusive style.
6. How do you feel about recent reports that children are reading less? What can we do to encourage those who aren’t natural bookworms?
My mother instilled a love of books and reading in me, and it was something I aspired to do as a mother myself. When I was a child, I was a bookworm. I read through the school year and voraciously for our library’s summer reading club, relishing how a book transports you to another world, like nothing else can. Today there is so much more competing for children’s attention. Not all children are going to connect to reading or to the same book. Fortunately, these days, there are so many different genres and kinds of books with accessible approaches that aim to meet readers where they are.
7. Which books (Jewish or secular) did you love as a child, and which books did you choose to read with your children?
Not only do I still have my children’s childhood books, I have some of mine and my mother’s! Books I enjoyed as a young child include: A Hole is to Dig and The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss, Harold and the Purple Crown by Crockett Johnson, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (when I was four I played the Queen of Hearts in our nursery school play!), Winnie the Pooh and Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, and all the Dr Seuss books. From an early age, I was fanatic about writing poems and rhyming, and I continue to love writing in verse. As I got older and could choose my own books at the library, some of my favourites included: The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Are You There God It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, with my all-time best-loved books being Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Other favourites I read to my children were: The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, Eloise by Kay Thompson and Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. The first Jewish children’s book I remember loving was Happy Purim Night by Norma Simon. The book that left a profound impact on me was The Silver Sword (a.k.a. Escape from Warsaw) by Ian Serraillier – the true story of a Polish family who escaped Warsaw during the Second World War. It was the first Holocaust book I read.
8. What is your writing process? Do you have a system, or does writing come naturally to you?
I have wanted to be a writer since I was very young. My mother and grandmother wanted to be writers too, so it was in the genes! When I was nine years old, my mother bought me a notebook, a pen and a dictionary to encourage my passion for writing. It does come naturally, and my mind is overflowing with ideas! I am always writing, but it has been my practice to work on what I’m feeling inspired to work on. I see, though, that if I have a deadline, I can knuckle down and focus on a manuscript, and not just wait until the mood strikes. So, I am trying to be more disciplined, which means establishing writing times even on days when I have a full schedule!
9. Do you have any idea what your next writing project will be?
Hoppy Sukkot has inspired me to write two more board books in that style – one about Purim, one about Simchat Torah. I have also written other holiday and environmental-themed board books. In addition, I am currently writing several picture books (fiction and non-fiction), a middle-grade novel and a chapter book series. I may even attempt a graphic novel!
10. Which well-known writer would you love to have dinner with, and why?
Well, this is a tough one because there are so many adult writers such as J.D. Salinger and F. Scott Fitzgerald and numerous playwrights like Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, who would be fascinating dinner companions. But to keep my focus on writing for children, I’m going with the author E.L. Konigsburg. What has always been an inspiration to me is that her characters are striving to find the answers to big questions and to figure out who they are.
11. The Old Testament is the original treasure trove of Jewish stories – which story from the Bible most captures your attention, and why?
When I was six years old, I won an award for being the best Hebrew reader in Sunday School. The prize was a book of bible stories, which I still have! While I have always been fascinated by the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac, I would say I am most connected to the story of Abraham and Sarah inviting weary travellers out of the hot sun and into their tent, exhibiting hachnasat orchim (hospitality to guests). Welcoming the stranger appears no fewer than thirty-six times in the Torah! There’s a midrash that their tent was the first booth or sukkah. My maternal great-grandmother lived this Jewish value. Every year for Sukkot, she prepared gefilte fish for the elders of the synagogue who followed the biblical commandment to dwell in the sukkah for seven days. Sukkot of course is also about hospitality. There is the tradition of inviting seven exalted guests, one for each night, known as ushpizin, into your sukkah, which reminds us of the mitzvah to invite friends and family or anyone in need of the bounty of our sukkah.
12. For a Jewish story, is it important to have a Jewish author? Where do you stand on the ‘Own Voices’ debate? Could your story have been written just as well by a non-Jewish author?
Certainly, a non-Jewish writer could do the research and write a good book with Jewish subject matter, but I do think a Jewish writer brings a little something extra to the story, often based on personal experience.