What do Mel Brooks and Emma Lazarus have in common? Read on to find out!

Ann Koffsky has visited my blog once before. She is the author and illustrator of more than thirty Jewish books for children. She lives in West Hempstead, New York. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BlueSky.

BLAZING HUMOR is a picture book biography of Mel Brooks, the comedian and film maker. It not only tells his life story, but also shows how he used humor to protect himself from hate.

WHAT EMMA WROTE is a picture book biography of Emma Lazarus, the woman who wrote the words on the statue of liberty. It tells her life story, while also showing how she combated stereotypes and hatred with her words.

Welcome Ann!

Me: These are two incredible nonfiction picture book biographies. What made you want to write about each of these individuals?

Ann: Thank you! Mel Brooks just always has been a favorite entertainer in my family. My husband loves BLAZING SADDLES, I love TO BE OR NOT TO BE…and more! So when Mel Brooks wrote  his autobiography ALL ABOUT ME, I of course read it. Once I did I was like, now THIS is a life story! Just so inspiring. Then when I found out he would be celebrating his 100^th birthday this year? It seemed too perfect a moment to miss.

See my note about Emma’s journey below!

Me: Both of these books were published this spring, but as we all know, the road to publication can be long and winding. How long did it take from your first draft of these stories to their ultimate publication? Were there detours or road blocks along the way?

Ann: Emma had a very long and circuitous route. That actually started out as an entirely different book, which I thought would be appropriate for the Semiquincentennial coming up this July! It was about how the first Jewish families came to America in 1654. That story ended with a coda about Emma Lazarus, as she was related to one of those first families. I submitted that story…. and it was rejected by many! But one editor noticed the Emma detail and suggested I write a book about her, so I started to research her. And the more I found out about her? The more I fell in love.

I shared the story with that editor, we worked on it together, and went to contract. But then her publisher had financial difficulties and canceled a whole bunch of their books, including mine. (Yikes!)

Fortunately, I got the rights back and brought it to Apples and Honey, where I worked on it AGAIN with my editor Dena Neusner. Her eye is exceptional, and she really helped to shape the story into something even stronger, which I think is very moving.

So that whole process took A. LONG. TIME.

Mel’s books had a far more direct route: I wrote it, shared it with editors, and got an offer. (Actually I got TWO offers—wow! People really like Mel Brooks.). It really is quite strange that both books are coming out in the same month. But none of this is under our control, so I just count myself quite fortunate that both are now actually books! 

Me: Can you tell us a bit about your research process? How long did it take you to research all the different facts that went into each story? Any favorite research methods?

Ann: Basically, I read EVERYTHING I could get my hands on about each of them. Every biography, every interview. Every youtube video of Mel, every article of Emma’s. I fed it all into my brain. The trick is then knowing which things that you discovered to include and which not too. It’s about finding the through line, and the lesson of their story that you think kids can connect to.

Me: There is a theme of dealing with hatred in both books. In WHAT EMMA WROTE, I love how she saw herself in others who were being persecuted, defended them, and wrote against hate-speech. In BLAZING HUMOR, Mel did much the same with his writing, movies, and songs with hateful villains that were mocked. Why was this an important theme for you to focus on? Why share this with young readers?

Ann: Sigh. Have you noticed our world, recently? Sadly, I think this is a message that kids MUST hear. How to deal with hateful things is something they NEED to know. We are not going to be able to shield them from it, like we might have been able to in previous eras. It’s everywhere and kids need the tools to know how to recognize it and respond to it.

Me: What surprised you in writing either story that you hadn’t encountered in your writing before?

Ann: For Emma, I loved how her family history (which is what her story started as, as I mentioned above) and her Jewish identity helped her connect with those in need. Her past guided her present. I’ve never quite touched on that idea in that way before in my writing.

For Mel, my biggest challenge was figuring out how to make him kid-friendly. Mel’s humor is decidedly grown up! Not that its dirty (although sometimes it does go there) but that it requires an adult mindset to ‘get’ the jokes. Finding the message, that in his life he used humor to deal with serious things, IS super-appropriate for kids. However, once I found that theme, it also really helped me to write this biography.

Me: The illustrations by N. Tarcan and Jason Kirschner are fantastic. Each illustrator’s style fits each book perfectly. Were there any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Ann: I just LOVE them both so much! Nazil Tarcan’s work is fantastic. She really gave the art so much flair with all the authentic details from the 1900s, from the teacups to the pen Emma writes with. My favorite piece of hers is when she illustrated Emma replying to the antisemitic article you mentioned above. The set of her jaw, the expression on her face is just perfect. 

Jason Kirschner’s work for BLAZING HUMOR is also amazing. He himself is a HUGE Mel Brooks fan, and I feel like he brought so much Mel specific details to the book because of that. For example, he showed the writer’s room with all the specific writers that Mel worked with, he included specific movie characters—you can tell it was a labor of love—and fandom!—for him.

Me: You have now written and published several different nonfiction picture books. What is one thing you have learned along the way, that you would share with other new writers of nonfiction picture books?

Ann: Whatever you’re writing, I just think it’s SO critical to make friends with other writers, and share your work with them for critique. I myself am in two amazing writing groups, and without their ideas, as well as their friendship and cheerleading, there is no way either of these would be published. So if you’re a writer—get out there and make friends! Some think writing is something you do alone, but IMHO it’s not. We all need community so, so much.

That is so true Ann. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog again today.

Dear readers, both of these biographies were published just this month. They are incredible true stories told through a lense that is so needed right now. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss them.