It was one of those bone-chilling mornings when a group of us arrived at Belmont Books to welcome children’s author Jane Sutton, who was on hand to launch her latest book, “Zayde Babysits Before Passover.” As the children settled in, it was Sutton who drew their full attention. For the adults on hand, it was the scent of freshly brewed coffee emanating from Black Bear Café that caught their eye…er, nose. Then Sutton began to read and the hissing of the cappuccino machines went silent. It took mere minutes before it was clear Sutton had entranced her audience—to the point when asked to respond in unison, everyone yelled out “Oy!” in all the right places.
Passover and Hanukkah are central themes in Sutton’s children’s books, but it’s the subtle “plugs for empathy” that add yet another dimension to her storytelling.
“In ‘Paulie’s Passover Predicament,’ Paulie the moose wants his first-time hosting of a seder to be perfect, but it’s definitely not!” says Sutton. “In the end, celebrating with his accepting friends is more than enough. With my newest book, ‘Zayde Babysits Before Passover,’ Zayde makes lots of silly mistakes but does a wonderful job leading the seder, and the love between him and his granddaughter, Ruthie, is palpable.”
“When children read my two books with a Hanukkah theme and my two with a Passover theme, I’d like them to be reminded of the traditions associated with both holidays and the joy in celebrating them,” Sutton adds.
Echoing that sentiment was Publishers Weekly, which praised “Zayde Babysits Before Passover” as a “book that shows a mix of spontaneity and tradition, making a cherished holiday even more meaningful.”
And in its review of “Paulie’s Passover Predicament,” the Jewish Book Council wrote: “A cheerful addition to the Passover library. This book centers on the idea of friendship and acceptance while also explaining most of the holiday’s symbols and rituals.”
With 13 books on her shelf (nine children’s picture books, three middle grade novels and one young adult novel), Sutton contends that the picture books may be the most difficult to write. “With their limited word count, each word matters, and it can be a struggle to settle on the right one,” she explains. “When I write novels, structure is more challenging, but their larger word count gives me the luxury of taking my time to develop characters and plot lines.”
And then there are the illustrations. Sutton says it’s the publisher who chooses the illustrator, but her manuscripts always come armed with plenty of art notes since she pictures everything as she writes.
“With picture books, the art tells the story as much as the text,” says Sutton. “In ‘Zayde Babysits Before Passover’ the illustrations are absolutely essential to show all the silly things Zayde does. The humorous mistakes depicted in ‘Paulie’s Passover Predicament,’ like his adding a radish shaped into a horse, his interpretation of horseradish, really carry the story.”
Yet as an adult reader you’ll probably find the text is as playful as the illustrations since Sutton threads humor throughout her books. “All my books have humor, even my most serious one, ‘Gracie Brings Back Bubbe’s Smile,’ in which Bubbe is mourning her husband and eventually rediscovers joy in teaching Gracie Yiddish expressions,” she says.
“And yes, as a child, I always valued humor. In high school, I was even elected class comedian. Then in college, I was elected Phi Beta Kappa. How about that combo?”
Jane Sutton appears for Passover story time at Newtonville Books in Newton on April 6 at 11 a.m. and Ten Tree Books in Natick on April 19 at 11 a.m.
