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

