On the morning of the Passover seder, a lonely bubbe decides to make a matzo ball boy to keep herself company. Soon delicious smells waft from the bubbling pot, and when she lifts the lid to see if the matzo ball boy is done, out he jumps. "Oy!" she cries. "And where do you think you're going?" "I'm off to see the world, bubbe," replies the matzo ball boy. "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the matzo ball man!" Before long a yenta and her children, a rabbi, and a fox are all on a mad chase to catch the matzo ball boy, ending with his hilarious comeuppance. The familiar tale of the gingerbread man is updated with a twist as savory as a brimming bowl of the bubbe's chicken soup.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where I began writing stories and poems when I was six years old. When I was 10 I sent one of my books to a publishing house, and received my first rejection letter. Many rejections followed, as well as a few acceptances for my poetry, stories, and nonfiction for adults. I taught preschool and elementary school for years, but never thought about writing for children until my daughters were born. It was while I was reading picture book after picture book to them that I began to think about writing children's books. Many of the ideas for my books came from things my girls said and did. Old MacDonald had a Woodshop was my first published book, but it was not the first book I sold. That book was The Moon Might Be Milk, which will be published by Dutton Children's Books in Spring 2007, with wonderful illustrations by Will Hillenbrand. I still live in Northern California with my husband, twin daughters, and the world's friendliest dog and cat.
