The photo of me above was taken just after I’d seen the actual picture book for “Red and Green and Blue and White” and held it for the very first time. And the screen shot of the Starred Publishers Weekly Review is just… amazing.

I started writing picture book manuscripts seriously when my daughter was one year old. I’d been writing a lot of screenplays, but I was frustrated by how difficult it was to get anything optioned, let alone made into a movie. Books at least felt like something that I could see through from beginning to end. I’ve always loved young adult novels (I never really graduated to adult fiction), and being a new parent I fell in love with picture books all over again. I started working on both, mistakenly thinking that because picture books were shorter they were thus “easier.”

I’m still embarrassed when I remember the well-intentioned but frankly awful picture book manuscript I submitted at my second SCBWI conference. I had the great good fortune of getting Esther Hershenhorn as my critiquer, and she could not have been nicer, while at the same time urging me to dig into telling more important stories – stories that were more important to me.

Eventually, I listened, and learned, and kept working at my craft – writing and re-writing young adult, middle grade, fiction, and nonfiction, and always, always, picture book manuscripts. Picture book manuscripts remind me of a puzzle – like a Rubic’s cube or a Faberge Egg or maybe the perfect haiku- something so intricate that seems simple but is really layered with texture and meaning and lyricism…

I’ve had a few picture book manuscripts get the seal of approval from my amazing agent, Marietta Zacker, and “Red and Green and Blue and White” is the first to find its publishing home. That home is with Arthur A. Levine, editor and publisher of his new indie publishing house, Levine Querido. Arthur makes beautiful books – and mine is sooooo gorgeous!

So at long last, I have my debut picture book coming out in a month(!) And my daughter is now off at her first year of college(!) It’s taken me 17 years to achieve this goal – and that’s humbling, and makes the moment so , so sweet.

What’s the book about?

So, Red and Green are the Christmas colors. And Blue and White are the Chanukah colors.

It’s inspired by a true story that happened in 1993 in Billings, Montana. A town where pretty much everyone’s house was decorated for Christmas, except for the home of a little boy, Isaac, whose window was decorated for Chanukah. When someone throws a rock through Isaac’s window, Isaac’s family has to make a choice. Should they hide being Jewish, or put up their Chanukah decorations again in the new window? Isaac lights their decorative menorah. Isaac’s friend Teresa sees Isaac standing up for himself, and decides to do something to help. She draws a picture of a menorah, and puts it up in her window, next to all her family’s Christmas decorations. The idea catches on, and in less than three weeks, over 10,000 homes and stores and schools and libraries and congregations put up menorahs in their windows as a sign of solidarity. And when the whole community came together, the haters backed down. And in this little town, love won. Because, as the final line of the book says, “Christmas Tree and Menorah Light/Red and Green and Blue and White/Stronger together/Shining bright!”

I’m so excited to have this picture book go out in the world, and empower young kids to know they can stand up for themselves, and they can stand up for people they care about – right now, while they’re kids. And we adults can help share the true meaning of the holidays, and the true meaning of community.

More on “Red and Green and Blue and White” soon. And thanks for reading about the story behind the story,

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee