I love fantastical journeys.  Today’s picture book explores what would happen if a bear came inside your house to “help” for Hanukkah.

Karen Rostoker-Gruber is a multi-award-winning author of many picture books with hundreds of thousands of copies sold. Farmer Kobi’s Hanukkah Match was named a National Jewish Book Award Finalist and awarded the 2016 Outstanding Children’s Literature Award from the Church and Synagogue Library Association. Her book Maddie the Mitzvah Clown was named a PJ Library book selection in July of 2017 and again in July of 2022. Karen lives in Branchburg, NJ.  You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Facebook or on Instagram.

DON’T INVITE A BEAR INSIDE FOR HANUKKAH is exactly what it sounds like.  The story uses second person point of view to address the reader in the form of a nameless boy who doesn’t listen to the narrator and invites a bear inside his home.  At first the bear is helpful reaching decorations stored on high shelves, but as you can imagine, it doesn’t end that way.  I don’t want to spoil the ending, but then the book veers away from the comedic and does the unexpected by delivering a heart-warming ending that teaches about the Hanukkah tradition of welcoming others into your home.  To be both slap-stick hilarious and have an emotional impact is a hard feat to pull off for any story, but here it is done incredibly well.

Welcome Karen!

Me: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey? How has that brought you to writing this picture book?

Karen: This book took a different road to publication than others, as I’ve worked with Dena Neusner at Apples & Honey Press before.  Every once and a while I send her a new book to review because I really respect her opinion.  And, she understands my sense of humor.  

I sent a board book (about a cat and a bear) to Dena in 2020. She told me to rewrite the board book as a picture book, give the bear and cat (at the time there was a cat) more personality, flesh out the story, give it a story arc, and she’d look at it again.  Yikes! It was a total and complete rewrite.  All that remained in the end was the bear. LOL.    

However, it took me until February 2022, to rework it for her.  (You can’t rush creativity.)  Once the title popped into my head at 3am, I just kept writing.  

Me: What a hilarious concept! What gave you the idea for this story?

Karen: This book BEGGED to be a metafictional tale and I didn’t know of any books like that for Jewish children.  (A metafictional tale is where the narrator speaks directly to the reader telling the reader what to do and what not to do.) Here’s the first metafictional spread: 

Me: While this is a comedy of chaos that builds and builds, you also manage to sneak in a holiday message that fits so appropriately (and isn’t preachy at all).  How in the world did you do that? Please tell me this took many revisions to get this good!

Karen: Dena Nuesner gave this manuscript to the new editor at Apples & Honey Press, Deborah Bodin Cohen.  We worked on several drafts before coming to the one that Debbie gave to the illustrator. Deborah Bodin Cohen, is a Rabbi, as well as an editor, so we worked on the inclusivity concept for a while, so it wasn’t teachy-preachy.

Kids don’t like when you tell them to do things, unless it’s in a funny way, so we had to be careful not to sound like we were teaching them an inclusivity lesson.  

This book is about including all kinds of people–and bears, in this case–into your holiday plans, even if they have differing abilities or different needs. 

(I know that I feel a lot better when I go to people’s houses and they tell me what dishes I can have and what dishes I can’t have; I’m gluten-free and dairy-free.)

Me: I love how the bear is clumsy and egocentric, but not ill-intentioned (like many children we know). Why did you choose a bear of all the animals that could be the focus? Was it because of his size?

Karen: Bears are scary and lovable all at the same time.  They are fuzzy, and look like they’ll be comfortable, but their large size can be overwhelming.

I always tell kids, if you are scared of things in a book, just turn the page. Most kids want to see scary things over and over and over again, until they are comfortable with it.  They feel empowered when they turn the page and the scary thing is gone. And, once they become okay with the scary thing, it’s no longer scary. 

In this book the bear looks beary friendly (and lonely).  And, it’s a mitzvah to invite guests inside for holidays, so the child takes a chance.  

Me: The illustrations by Carles Arbat are perfect! I love the interpretation of your text. Did you have any art notes? Or did the illustration really up the humor here? Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Karen: Carles did a wonderful job of interpreting my text.  I did have some art notes, but not a lot.  I spoke about the bear “trying to help” in a bear-type of way–like a child would.  Sometimes when a child helps (or a bear, in this case), it’s good; sometimes it’s more work than one bargained for.  But you have to let children (and bears, in this case) help decorate, cook, or clean, or they’ll never learn how to do it. 

I had tiny art notes: I wanted the menorah in the bear’s den to be made out of tree branches or twigs, etc.  I leave a lot of room for the illustrator, so I didn’t have many notes.  

My favorite scene is when the child and the bear walk back through the woods once the child figures out how to have the bear celebrate with the family. The smiles on both of their faces– priceless.  

Plus, I just love the winter scene that Carles dreamed up. There are other animals running and flying around during their walk home: birds, rabbits, a fox…. There’s soooo much to look at. 

Here’s Carles with our favorite page.

Me: I understand you’re a ventriloquist and you have a doll named Maria. Does she go with you to all of your school events? Would you have her read this story to students?

Karen: Maria, my life-size puppet, goes with me on school visits when we talk about what it’s like to be an author.  

However, when I go to preKs and bookstores, I bring puppets from the books. I have a bear puppet for this book.  And, my BFF, @BerniceGoll is weaving the bear a Hanukkah scarf, just like the one in the book. It’s on the loom right now.

I’ll also be doing story times at bookstores with my goat, duck, and horse puppet for my other book, “A Crowded Farmhouse Folktale.”

Me: Any advice for other aspiring picture book writers?

Karen: I have a lot of answers and tips on my website. (I have a step-by-step process for getting traditionally published—complete with forms. There’s even a three-part video of me teaching people how to get published.)

But here’s some quick tips:

Tip 1A:

Go to conferences to meet editors one-on-one.  It’s invaluable. 

Tip 1B:

Go to the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature One-on-One Conference (RUCCL.org). If you get in (it’s based on writing ability), you will be matched up with an editor, agent, art director, a successful illustrator, or a successful author.

I applied WAY back and it led to my first two children’s book deals. (I was an adult humor writer before getting into children’s books.)

Tip 2:

Get an agent, if you can. Just try it. It can’t hurt. There’s a lot of rejection in this business—just FYI.    

I’ve had 5 agents, but they all left me for different reasons: to go back to teaching; to write their own books; to cut back their list to only non-fiction; to stop being an agent; to become a textbook agent; etc.

Even though they all left me for one reason or another, it still hurt. It’s like a break-up. However, even I can’t submit manuscripts to places that I’ve been published with in the past without an agent these days—even to editors that I know and have worked with before.

That’s great advice Karen.  Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

But wait, dear readers, there’s more!  Karen has also agreed to giveaway one copy of her book (US contestants only).  You can enter the rafflecopter here.  Good luck!