MARCH 18 • 2021 | 27
ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS
I
n Lesléa Newman’s new children’s book,
Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with
a Tail, the essence of hospitality extends
beyond the holiday as expressed with poetic
contrasts.
Revered Passover traditions take place in a
home setting at a time when pandemic iso-
lation is not required and allow a new direct
relationship to be established as shown
through illustrations by Susan Gal.
The book features two Elijahs — one
known throughout Jewish history as project-
ing a time of peace and another in the form
of a cat transitioning from unrest into peace-
ful times after finding a home through the
door opened for the symbolic figure.
“I would love readers to see the joy of
coming together for Passover,
”
said Newman, recognized for
this project with a National
Jewish Book Award, Sydney
Taylor Book Award presented
by the Association of Jewish
Libraries and Northern Dawn
Religious/Spiritual Children’s
Book Award.
“There are all kinds of people [in the
story] and a willingness to be open-hearted
to bring a stranger — the kitten represents
a stranger — into a home with kind and
loving arms. Young readers learn about the
beautiful rituals that encompass the holiday.
”
Newman, who writes for varying age
groups from children to adults, has been
a guest speaker at Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield. Her earlier children’s books with
Jewish themes, counted with some 30 books,
include A Sweet Passover, Hanukkah Delight!
and Matzo Ball Moon.
Among her multiple writing awards
are Bank Street College Best Books of the
Year (2020), Wall Street Journal Top Ten
Children’s Book of the Year (2019) and New
York Children’s Library Best Ten Children’s
Books of the Year List (2019).
“Welcoming Elijah is short, which I think
lends itself well to Zoom seders,
” Newman
said. “I think it lends itself to be read out
loud and have the pictures shown. People in
different locations can all have a copy and
read it together.
“There’s not a lot of explanation of the
holiday, but there is the feeling of the hol-
iday — of togetherness, of celebration, of
lovingkindness. That’s what the holiday is
all about.”
Newman’s career has been all about writ-
ing.
“I knew I wanted to be a writer since I was
8 years old,
” she explained. “I was an avid
reader, and I wrote poetry from a very young
age. When I was a teenager, I noticed that
Seventeen magazine published poetry, so I
sent them poems, and they accepted some.
“I met with the editor, Hilary Cosell,
daughter of the famous sportscaster Howard
Cosell. That was the beginning, and I never
looked back. I took creative writing in high
school and went to the Jack Kerouac School
of Disembodied Poetics in Colorado; it
was part of Naropa Institute, now Naropa
University.
”
Among recent adult books are two ded-
icated to her late parents, one for her mom
(I Carry My Mother) and one for her dad (I
Wish My Father). In poetry, they chronicle
the last five years of their lives as she cared
for them.
WRITING FOR KIDS
“The way I got into children’s books was
quite accidental,
” she recalled. “
A lesbian
mom told me she didn’t have any books
that showed a family like hers to read to her
daughter.
“When she said that to me, it resonated,
and I wrote Heather Has Two Mommies. I
thought about that because I grew up in the
1950s and never read a book about a Jewish
family.
“
After that, I realized that poetry and
children’s books are very similar. They both
use very little text and have literary devices
(rhyme, repetition, rhythm). I just fell in love
with the form of picture books, so I kept at
it.
”
Newman, raised in Brooklyn and living in
Massachusetts, spells her first name Lesléa
to combine her English and Hebrew names
and reflect her religious commitments,
which include membership in Congregation
B’nai Israel in Northampton, Mass. She loves
crossword puzzles and is thrilled to have
appeared in one published by the New York
Times.
“This new book brings together several
passions of mine — my love of Judaism,
my love of Passover and my love of cats,
”
said Newman, planning this year’s seder
only with her spouse. “The artist was kind
enough to use my cat as the model for her
illustrations.
”
Stray cat teaches kids
kindness at Passover.
Welcoming
Elijah
Lesléa
Newman
SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER