Credit Facebook.
After reading (and loving) Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s HEY KIDDO, there was a lot of chatter about Worcester, Massachusetts, the city I was born in. Worcester is also the city my cousin, Laura Klein, grew up in. It is the city of my aunt, Charlotte Klein and my grandfather, Rabbi Joseph Klein.
Yes, that is a lot of name dropping.
But it’s how I connected with Alan Silberberg, who also grew up in Worcester!
His new book, MEET THE LATKES, is Chanukkah (or is that Hanukkah) ready! It is also spit your Manichevitz funny. So I decided, I needed to introduce him to you and give away some books!
Meet Alan:
My first question is always the same: WHY? Why Latkes? Why children’s books? Or is that too obvious! (Those latkes look great!)
Alan: I never thought about creating picture books, which is probably weird considering I write and draw. Anyway, one thing I do like creating is silly “Book-Toons”; little animations that I put online. About 5 years ago I created a Hanukkah cartoon to send to family and friends, which was a short, goofy family of Latkes wishing “Happy Holidays”.
After getting this card for the 3rd year my agent, Jill Grinberg asked if I could see this as a book!
Sarah: I LOVE stories like this. Serendipity is one of my favorite words. So you said….
Alan: Sure…. then came the hard part. I wrote a story about a family of Latkes and added Grandpa and Lucy, the young daughter. The story was broad and funny (like now) but had one problem. 99% of the editors who read were turned off that the Latkes were making latkes for a party, which meant my Latkes were cannibals!!!
Sarah: That is a problem.
Alan: But as we all know – it only takes one “yes” to make the “no”s disappear. Leila Sales, then at Penguin/Viking saw the goofy fun of the family and understood what I wanted, which was to create a silly holiday story about CHHHHHH-anukah! She asked if I would be okay working with her on the story without a commitment from the publisher – and I jumped at the chance to collaborate. Several revisions later (and no more eating latkes) the story was finalized… and still hysterically funny… I had my first picture book sold.
Sarah: LOVE this story behind the story!
Also: I LOVE latkes! Do you have a favorite recipe?
Alan: “Seat Of The Pants – No Egg”. Because my wife is allergic to eggs my recipe avoids those pesky things entirely. To be honest, I just go with the flow and grate a whole lot of potatoes BY HAND! No food processor will mess with my Latkes. Next I take handfuls of the grated potato and SQUEEZE out the moisture which is kind of gross and satisfying at the same time.
Sarah (interrupting): I love that part, too.
Alan (continuing): Once the potato splat is squeezed – I grate onions until I cry (2-3) then add half a handful of flour, some salt…. mix it up and I make LATKES. Even without egg, the mixture fries up nice as long as the oil is really, really HOT! We like ours crispy so I let them cook and cook.
I eat them first with applesauce. Then sour cream. Then I mix the two up into a yummy mess on my plate and just go wild!
Sarah: I do that, too! I love the SWIRL! I also like caviar on latkes. I call it “the Elizabeth Taylor.”
So now let’s get to business, people.
To get a chance to win a SIGNED COPY of MEET THE LATKES (latkes not included) but even better, pAN ORIGINAL DOODLE (Oy–what a prize!!!),
you have to comment here.
Or RT the Twitter post.
Or Like the post on Facebook.
I will pick a winner NEXT TUESDAY.
Evanston Friends: While I’m away, Alan will be at BOOKED, the new indie in Evanston! Go say Hi for me!
