The Story of The Golden Dreydl Now an illustrated book for young readers, The Golden Dreydl began life very differently. The story was first created by Ellen Kushner in collaboration with the Boston-based six-piece klezmer band Shirim as the script to a stage show. In performance, Ellen narrates her story, while the band weaves their music behind and between her narration. Since its Boston premiere in 2000, the Golden Dreydl stage show has toured the country, and continues to be available for holiday festivities. Since Ellen is also the host of the national public radio program PRI's Sound & Spirit with Ellen Kushner it was logical to record the show for radio broadcast. The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer "Nutcracker" for Chanukah went on to become an award-winning holiday special that airs on public stations around the country. The radio show was put on CD: The Golden Dreydl (Rykodisc). Then along came an editor from Charlesbridge Publishing, Judy O'Malley, who heard the show and asked Ellen if she’s like to turn it into a book for young readers. The new book was published in 2007. For more about the book, including an interview with Ellen, pages from the book and even music clips from Shirim, go to the Charlesbridge Golden Dreydl page. FAQ's What inspired you to create this tale? What is klezmer music? How did you feel about Shirim’s "Klezmer Nutcracker?" How did you change the Nutcracker story? How is the book of The Golden Dreydl different from the stage and radio shows, and the album? Was it hard turning the show into a book? Did you choose the illustrator, Ilene Winn-Lederer? Is this book just for Jewish kids? How is the book based on Jewish ethics & worldview? The magical characters seem to be right out of a fantasy world. Are they really Jewish? Do all the great female characters in the book come out of Jewish tradition, too? What did you do for Chanukah when you were a kid? How much were you like Sara? How do I arrange for a reading or performance in my community? What inspired you to create this tale? When I was a kid, I loved Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker Suite." I used to put on the record and dance around the livingroom in my frilliest petticoat, trying to be the Sugar Plum Fairy and the brave little girl Clara, and all the other characters from the ballet . . . I'd read the story, and dreamed of something magical like that happening to me! There was just one problem: we were Jewish. A giant Christmas tree wasn't ever going to grow in my livingroom. Don't get me wrong - I loved being Jewish, but there didn’t seem to be any fantastical adventure stories that were about me and my people, past and present. I loved anything that smacked of magical adventure. I devoured C.S. Lewis' Narnia books, and Madeleine L'Engle, and The Lord of the Rings. If they'd published Harry Potter then, I would have loved that, too. To fully enter those worlds, though, I had to leave behind a little of what I was: a Jewish kid who knew Hebrew and identified strongly with my people's history. The books I loved most weren't really about the people I came from, the people I knew. I didn't care - not then. But I’ve thought about it a lot since. So when I heard that a Boston klezmer band called Shirim (which means songs) had put together a klezmer version of tunes from the Nutcracker, I couldn't wait to hear it! What is klezmer music? It's music from the lost world of Eastern European Jews; dance music (like Tchaikovsky - kind of!) for parties, celebrations, and sometimes more serious times, too. The musicians who played it, the klezmers, combined traditional Jewish tonalities with the sounds of the lands they lived in: Hungary, Romania, Poland, and others. . . Sometimes Roma (Gypsy) musicians joined them, too. When thousands of Jews immigrated to America, the klezmer musicians picked up a little jazz and swing, and added it to the mix. Their children thought klezmer music was too old-fashioned; but their children found grandma and grandpa's old albums, and decided this music was too good to lose! The "klezmer revival" began in the 1970s, and continues to this day. How did you feel about Shirim’s "Klezmer Nutcracker?" The first time I heard their "Klezmer Nutcracker" tunes, I admit I had to laugh! I mean -- "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" played by tuba and banjo? Hilarious! But the more I listened, the more I heard how wonderfully this 19th century Russian composer's ballet music complemented the dance music of 19th century Jewish villagers. Inspired by the music, I decided it was time for a new twist on the old story. I wanted to write a whole new tale, full of magic and adventure and all the things I loved - but with a Jewish slant: drawing on Jewish folklore, mythology - and just as important, Jewish ethics & worldview. How did you change the Nutcracker story? The guys from Shirim and I sat down with the concept of a Nutcracker that was Jewish and modern. Instead of Clara, we named our heroine Sara. Instead of a mysterious magic uncle at a Christmas party giving her a Nutcracker prince, it's her magic aunt at a Chanukah party who gives her a dreydl that's really a princess - but a kid her own age, one she can have adventures with. In fact, that’s where we had our first big creative moment: I was trying to follow the "Nutcracker" ballet, where Clara goes to the magic world and people do a lot of colorful dances for her. I figured my Sara could go and listen to a series of stories from other characters about Jewish history or something. But one of the band members jumped up and said, 'No, she's gotta kick butt! She's got to save the world!' So that's what happens. And so I finally get to tell a story about magic and adventure, mystery and myth. . . in a world where a girl's powerful ageless relative is her Tante (Auntie) Miriam, and her quest is to save the Tree of Life - with the help of a character who, I admit, owes something to the Gollux from James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks, but even more to my relatives, who know some truly baaaaaad jokes and riddles! How is the book of The Golden Dreydl different from the stage and radio shows, and the album? The album and the radio show have the same script. We already recorded them, so they're frozen forever. But the stage show, which we perform every year, is kind of a work-in-progress; Shirim and I are always changing little things to make it better - and of course we have to change the riddles so the audience can't guess them every time! When audiences come to the stage show, they have to sit in one place for until it's over. The radio show had to be exactly one hour long. But a book . . . well, a book you can pick up and put down whenever you want. So I made the book a lot longer, for one thing. And it's illustrated. Was it hard turning the show into a book? No, because I've written a lot of books and stories already. I knew that meant that I could make my story longer and more complicated. I could get inside Sara's head more, and explore her thoughts and feelings in a way I couldn't when I was telling the story with the band. I also got to write a whole lot more about her family, and to explore the way the Dreydl magic and the Tree of Life really work, and to describe the demons in luxurious, disgusting detail. Did you choose the illustrator, Ilene Winn-Lederer? Nope! She was a big surprise to me. Like a birthday present that comes in the mail, I got an early copy of sample pages of the book with her illustrations on them. I ran to her website, and all I can say is . . . wow! She was the perfect choice. Is this book just for Jewish kids? No, no, a thousand times no! Just because something is about one culture doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed by everyone. Look at me: I may not celebrate Christmas, but my family took me to "The Nutcracker" ballet to see the giant tree rise up, and I've sung Handel's "Messiah" more times than I can remember . . . ! So let's all share and share alike. Really, I hope everyone will recognize themselves in the story. We all have crabby days, and fights with our family, and good times with them, too, and times when we feel challenged to deal with things beyond what we think our strength is. And is there anyone who hasn't noticed the joy of holidays can also come with a little bit of stress? When I was a kid, I loved reading about people who lived lives very different from mine, like Little Women and The Secret Garden . . . kids whose lives couldn’t have been more different from mine - not because of religion, but because they weren't modern Americans. I really hope people who didn't grow up with the traditions of Sara's family (and that includes plenty of Jewish people) feel about this book the way I felt about those books: that it's great to enter another world and love it and its people as much as your own, and even to feel part of them while you're reading. How is the book based on Jewish ethics & worldview? For me, it’s a focus on the importance of education, of literacy, of letters and language. The importance of working to make the world a better place, not just for yourself but for future generations. The sense that we're all one long story being told. And that making fun of yourself is a good thing; that joking and thinking are very good ways to deal with a crisis or being bored. In some ways, it’s a mistake to try and generalize "What is a Jewish worldview?" Judaism is such an old religion, and the Jewish people have lived in so many different countries: Many Americans are descended from Eastern European, Yiddish-speaking Jews who have a very distinct culture; but there are Jews from Syria with strong traditions of their own, and the Jews of 18th century Cairo were probably different again . . . So in the end, all I can say is that this is how I've experienced being Jewish, through my family and my education, with a little research into the past thrown in. The magical characters seem to be right out of a fantasy world. Are they really Jewish? Absolutely, although in varying ways. Most of the magic characters of The Golden Dreydl come from Jewish folklore and mythology. The Demons, for instance. One of the things that makes Judaism so different is that it doesn't really contain the concept of pure evil incarnate – but thanks to Tolkien and his imitators, evil villains have become standard issue for fantasy adventures. What could I do? The closest I could come for Jewish Magic Bad Guys were demons. But Jewish demons are not evil like Christian devils; some of them are even goofy, or animal-like, or tricksters. There are some wonderful very old stories about the Demon King trying to trick King Solomon out of his throne. In the stage show I don't give him a name, but for the book I did some research, and learned that Solomon's enemy's name was Ashmedai (in Greek, that's Asmodeus), so I used that. And take the Fool. Almost every culture on earth has a mythic figure who is both innocent and wise, who understands nothing and everything, which gives them special powers. Often they’re comic characters, too. In Eastern Europe, Jews loved stories about the foolish city of Chelm. My fool is actually based on the Yiddish Badchen, the wedding jester who was hired at every wedding to make everyone laugh. Like King Lear's fool, badchen were allowed to break all the rules, insult anyone, tell riddles and jokes . . . And I have to admit that most of my Fool's jokes come from my own family’s wonderful tradition of telling jokes after a big family meal. In a movie, he would be played by Danny Kaye. Do all the great female characters in the book come out of Jewish tradition, too? The Queen of Sheba (with all her camels) appears in the Bible, and also in many legends, where she is a wise woman who riddles with King Solomon and later marries him. And Tante Miriam is from the Bible, too; she's Miriam Ha'Navi'a, Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Moses, who plays important roles in the Exodus story, and has special powers there. At Passover now, many people honor her along with the Prophet Elijah (who is supposed to visit every Seder table – kind of like Santa, except that instead of bringing presents he sips a little from a special cup of wine we leave out for him). I was delighted to have Tante Miriam drop by for Chanukah! But Sara (whose name comes from the Jewish matriarch) and the Dreydl Princess are more inspired by my own childhood, and by the fantasy books I read then. The Dreydl girl's definitely got a little Pippi Longstocking in her. What did you do for Chanukah when you were a kid? I utterly loved lighting the candles each of the 8 nights of the holiday, and singing the blessings. But I had to take turns lighting them with my two little brothers. You can imagine how much we hated that. I never felt I got to light enough candles ‘til I was grown up and had my own so I could light them all every night. I loved chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil, and fried latkes with applesauce. We didn't get a lot of presents, and mostly they were boring things like socks. But we definitely had dreydls at our family Chanukah parties. Here's my terrible secret, though: I never played the dreydl game! I don't think anyone in my family really knew how. Or maybe they didn’t want us to gamble with nuts. How much were you like Sara? I was really, really jealous of my friends who had Christmas trees and eggnog and lots and lots of presents. That part of her comes from me. But Sara having an older brother makes her very different from me. I was an oldest child with two younger brothers. Oldest children have a lot of weight on their shoulders. We feel responsible for everything. I kind of enjoyed seeing the world through a younger sister’s eyes. It’s fun pretending to be other people. How do I arrange for a reading or performance in my community? Write to kushner.ellen@gmail.com. Do you have a question we haven’t answered? Write to us and maybe we’ll be able to put it in our FAQs!