Q&A with Children’s Author Debbie Levy

Debbie Levy is the author of “We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song,” “Imperfect Spiral,” “The Year of Goodbyes” and other books for young people.  “We Shall Overcome” was recently named a 2014 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards Honor Book, and “The Year of Goodbyes” was a Kirkus Best Book of 2010, a Parents’ Choice Award recipient and a Sydney Taylor Award Notable Book, among other honors. Debbie’s next picture book, to be published this spring, is “Dozer’s Run: A True Story of a Dog and His Race,” about a Goldendoodle that ran away from home to join a half-marathon and ended up raising tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research.

What’s the best interaction you’ve had with a fan?
Wait, I’m supposed to have fans?

I’ve had many “best” interactions with readers.  There was the soft-spoken teen boy who came over to me after I did a presentation about my non-fiction books not long ago, wanting to chat about his love of history in an utterly natural and passionate way. There was the gaggle of pre-teen girls at a festival who didn’t hesitate, when prompted as part of my presentation on “We Shall Overcome,” to come up with their own lyrics to the song, relevant to their own lives. There was the social hall full of rural churchgoers who showed such genuine interest in my talk about “The Year of Goodbyes,” my book about my mother’s last year living as a young Jewish girl in Nazi Germany, and who set out a groaning table of homemade desserts to top it off.

Pretty much every outing with a book brings a “best” moment.

What one book do you wish you’d written?
“Olive Kitteridge” by Elizabeth Strout.

Why should people come hear you talk about your book?
Forget about me! They should come to the event to hear my illustrator, Vanessa Brantley-Newton—who is also an accomplished singer—sing/rap our book, talk about her artistic process, and do some drawing right on the spot. She is beyond fabulous.

Okay, I shouldn’t say forget about me. I have a few things to say, too, about why I would write a whole book about one little song, and how that song, “We Shall Overcome,” stands as such a great example of what people—including children!—can do when they fight with their brains, and their voices, not with fists and weapons.

But wait, there’s more! Vanessa and I recently learned that “We Shall Overcome: The Story of a Song” has been selected as a 2014 Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Honor Book.  So now it’s an award-winning book, you all!

Why write?
Because I can’t sing.