Arts & Entertainment

Back-To-School Books!

Michigan natives write with a hometown flavor for school-age children.

Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News

High School and majored in English
and psychology at the University of
Michigan.
hree authors who grew up in
"I hope that adults also read the book
Oakland County have written
and piece together how the main char-
books for young people that
acters and plot elements relate to the
recall elements of their own youthful
biblical story. I like the puzzle aspect for
experiences and the impact of the Jewish readers."
community — Jenny Meyerhoff with
Meyerhoff, who has been keeping
journals and writing since sixth grade,
got her religious education at Adat
Shalom Synagogue, where she had her
bat mitzvah. The daughter of Barry and
Judy Kay Tigay of Bloomfield Hills, the
author lives north of Chicago and devel-
oped her writing skills as part of a group
of writers critiquing one another's work.
Queen of Secrets is Meyerhoff's second
book for young people. The first, Third
Grade Babies, was based on the experi-
ences of a friend of one of her three
children. The youngster hadn't lost any
baby teeth at the time
the youth's peers were
losing theirs.
"The teen novel is
my first book with
Jewish subjects:' says
Meyerhoff, who has
taught pre-kindergar-
ten and kindergarten.
"I started working on
children's books six
Queen of Secrets (Farrar Straus Giroux;
years ago, and I want
$16.99), Susan Katz with Tyler's Hill
to write for different
(Strategic Book Publishing; $23.25) and
levels. I've read a lot
Erika Roman Saint-Pierre with Hoppa's
with my own chil-
Big Move (Culturatti Ink; $12.95).
dren?'
Each book, aimed at a specific age
The grounds of
group, conveys deep and common feel-
Tyler Elementary
ings as young characters confront prob-
School (now an
lems and conflicts related to the spiritual administrative build-
perspectives of families.
ing) in Oak Park
The Book of Esther long has been of
became familiar to
interest to Jenny Meyerhoff, who updates Susan Katz when she was growing up
the story for her teen novel, Queen of
and are becoming familiar to the readers
Secrets.
of her novel Tyler's Hill, where the main
Essie Green, the main character, is
character, a Jewish girl named Sandy
thrilled to be chosen a cheerleader but
Lowenthal, goes to chill out.
faces tough decisions and conflict as she
The book, essentially aimed at upper
pursues the school hunk, Austin King,
elementary and middle school students,
while reconnecting with an observant
explores friendship, religious differences
cousin, Micah, an outsider at the school.
(Sandy's mother has become a Jehovah's
"I thought about what it would be
Witness), loss (one child's mother dies
like if Esther were a teenager today,"
of cancer) and the acceptance of situa-
says Meyerhoff, 37, who grew up in West
tions that cannot be changed.
Bloomfield, graduated from Andover
"I've dedicated the book to moth-

94

September 2 2010

ers and daughters because there
are mother-daughter issues in
the book," says Katz, 55, who lives
near Philadelphia and returns
to Michigan to visit her mother,
Norma Katz.
"I wanted to show the impor-
tance of friendships, how they
shape us and get us through the
toughest times. I was inspired by
personal friendships."
Katz, who graduated from
Berkley High School, earned a
bachelor's degree in psychology
with a minor in creative expression
at Oakland University and a mas-
ter's degree in social work at the
University of Chicago.
Her interest in writing was nurtured
with activities at the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit, and early
projects involved developing scripts.
Katz's Holocaust play,
Courage Untold, has
been performed at
the Avenue Theatre
in Chicago.
Katz, who has
combined a social
work career with
responsibilities as
wife and mother,
wants to complete
a series of young
people's books about
life in the 1960s.
"I've already
started to write the
sequel to Tyler's
she says. "Social
work has helped
shape me in areas
of self-discovery,
healing and coming
together?'
Judaism was not part of the family
background of Erika Roman Saint-
Pierre, but Jewish friends made in West
Bloomfield helped enrich her life.
The sense of those friendships and
the positive experiences they brought
inspired the picture book Hoppa's
Big Move, illustrated by Heidi Birky
Goldman.
Hoppa, the nickname given to the
main character, is unhappy with kin-
dergarten until she settles into the

diversity of West Bloomfield's Doherty
Elementary.
The 5-year-old, raised with a multicul-
tural outlook, had been miserable in two
other schools, one predominantly black
and one predominantly white, as her
parents moved the family from one city
to another.
"The book is based on my life and
actually started as an adult novel," says
Saint-Pierre, 40, who lives in Indiana
and administers Culturatti Kids, a
nonprofit she launched to provide liter-
ary resources to young people. "I got
impatient and watered down the adult
themes."
The author, who moved to West
Bloomfield when she was 11 and stayed
into adulthood, never attended Doherty
but lived near the school and wanted it
to be part of her story. She graduated
from West Bloomfield High School.
Considering herself a writer at heart,
Saint-Pierre worked in sales and mar-
keting and moved back to Indiana
because most of her extended family is
there.
A divorced mother of two, she attends
marketing classes through the University
of Phoenix and Indiana University-
Purdue University Indianapolis.
"My experiences in West Bloomfield
made me so much stronger and helped
me understand people," she says. "I still
have close friends from the Jewish com-
munity in Michigan.
"I think both kids and adults can get
something out of Hoppa's Big Move. I get
so much joy out of presenting books to
kids." Li

