MARCH 16 • 2023 | 29
own fiction books, the
authors recommend Ellen
Leventhal’s A Flood of
Kindness, The Prince of Steel
Pier by Stacy Nockowitz
and Turtle Boy by M. Evan
Wolkenstein.
Nonfiction suggestions
include two books by Audrey
Ades, The Rabbi and the
Reverend, which shows how
Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a
refugee from Nazi Germany,
stood beside the Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. when
he gave his famous “I Have
a Dream” speech, and Judah
Touro Didn’t Want to be
Famous, which looks at the
early years of the United
States and how the Jewish
concepts of humility and
sharing one’s wealth helped
the fledgling nation.
The women, who both
live in West Bloomfield, have
written books that illustrate
the casual diversity concept.
Pazner’s The Topsy-Turvy
Bus (Kar-Ben Publishing)
is about a vehicle created
by Hazon, the Jewish
sustainability organization
(now renamed Adamah),
that runs on solar power and
uses vegetable oil.
Rose has written a number
of books with Jewish
characters in addition to A
Zombie Vacation, including
The Singer and the Scientist,
about the friendship
between Albert Einstein
and Black singer Marian
Anderson, and Shmulik
Paints the Town, a picture
book that was the first by a
Jewish Detroiter to be picked
up by the PJ Library, which
distributes Jewish children’s
books to parents without
charge.
Pazner graduated from
Oakland University and
has a master’s of fine arts
in writing for children
and young adults from the
Vermont College of Fine
Arts. She waited to start her
writing career until all four
of her children, now aged
21 to 28, had left home for
college.
Lisa Rose is a pen name;
she prefers to keep her
private and her professional
lives separate. A graduate of
the University of Michigan
with a master’s in teaching
reading and language arts
from Oakland University, she
is married and has a 15-year-
old daughter. After teaching
elementary school in
Highland Park, she wrote a
series of chapter books with
African American characters
set in Detroit. Several years
later, she stopped teaching to
concentrate on writing.
Pazner and Rose’s
presentation, “Averting
Religious Hate Crimes
Through Jewish Casual
Diversity,” is scheduled for
Sunday, March 19. The
conference takes place at
DeVos Place and the Amway
Grand Plaza Hotel.
The women will have
displays of books that
demonstrate Jewish casual
diversity, giving teachers an
opportunity to explore them
to see how they can include
them in their curricula.
To help teachers browse
efficiently and effectively,
each book will have a
summary and relevant
information about how it
meets objectives set by the
State of Michigan.
Obtaining relevant books
can be difficult, Pazner said,
so they’ll also tell teachers
how to get these books for
their classrooms, and they’ll
give some books away.
“As children’s book
authors, we have unique
access and knowledge of
what is available, how to get
these books in the hands of
teachers and students, and
how to incorporate these
topics into lesson plans,” she
said.