BY RENEE GHERT-ZAND | FEBRUARY 5, 2013
It’s a bird! It’s a plane!
It’s a gay, Jewish ‘Superhero’
New children’s book mixes an inclusive message with holiday inspiration
Nate doesn’t know what type of costume to choose for
Purim. His friends are all dressing up as superheroes, but
Nate loves aliens and wants to go as one to the Megillah
reading and holiday carnival. Like most young children, he
decides to discuss his dilemma with his parents. But unlike
most kids, Nate doesn’t bring the problem to his mother
and father. Instead, he talks it over with his Daddy and
Abba.
Nate is the protagonist of “The Purim Superhero,” the first
LGBT-inclusive Jewish children’s book written in English.
The little boy, his sister and their two dads represent many American Jewish families who —
until now — have not seen themselves reflected in the picture books their children read in
Hebrew school or bring home from the Jewish community library.
Kar-Ben Publishing, a Minneapolis-based distributor of Jewish content for kids between
preschool and middle school, decided it was time to bring Nate and his gay fathers into
Jewish homes and educational settings.
“We had been interested for a long time in this subject. We’d done focus groups with parents
and educators, and most were interested in seeing a book like this,” said Joni Sussman, KarBen‘s publisher.
“What we wanted was a story with a gay family setting, but not specifically about being a gay
family. We were looking for something non-didactic about the gay issue,” Sussman explained.
“What we loved about ‘The Purim Superhero’ is that it is about a boy looking for his own
identity and standing up for who he is. It’s really a story about Purim and Queen Esther.”
As a married lesbian with a 12-year-old daughter, the book’s author, Elisabeth Kushner, found
being a same-sex family to be a non-issue.
PRESS
“I wanted to write out of my own experience and that of other gay and lesbian families
we know,” the 46-year-old told The Times of Israel by phone from her home in Vancouver,
Canada. “It’s really not an issue for kids or for most people in larger cities. And for kids in
LGBT families, their parents’ being gay is not necessarily the main issue in their lives, and I
hadn’t seen any books reflecting this reality.”
Kushner, who previously worked for nine years as a children’s librarian at the Jewish Day
School of Metropolitan Seattle, was equally concerned about producing an engaging and
relevant Purim book.
“I used to read a lot of holiday books to the kids at the day school. There weren’t a lot of
Purim books, as compared to other holidays. And most of the ones that we did have were
basically retellings of the Scroll of Esther,” Kushner said. “I wanted something contemporary
and good for reading aloud to younger kids.”
The aspiring children’s author thought for a long time about writing the kind of book she
wanted to read. When Keshet, a US organization that works for full equality and inclusion of
LGBT Jews, announced a writing contest in the spring of 2011, Kushner decided to do what
she had been contemplating.
From the beginning, Keshet collaborated with Kar-Ben on the contest.
“We also didn’t want a didactic book about gay issues, about gay bullying and the like,” said
Catherine Bell, Keshet’s director of education and training. “We asked people to share stories
that would be interesting to all Jewish families, where the main character just happens to
have gay relatives.”
Kushner’s manuscript beat out approximately 50 entries.
“The book really captured what we were looking for. It’s a compelling and relatable story for
kids about both wanting to belong and to be yourself, and it deals with Purim in a real, not
superficial, way,” Bell said. “We like that the gay dads were presented not as the source of
Nate’s problems, but rather as a source of comfort and support.”
Notably, Nate’s Abba and Daddy use Queen Esther, rather than themselves, as an example
when talking with Nate about being different.
“Queen Esther saved the Jews because she didn’t hide who she was. She told Ahashuerus she
was Jewish, and that her people were in danger,” Abba tells Nate. “Sometimes showing who
you really are makes you stronger, even if you’re different from other people.”
Written for kids, the story works on an adult level, too.
“The parent or teacher reading this knows the struggles the fathers have faced, and that they
bring this perspective to their parenting,” Kushner reflected.
Released Friday, three weeks before its namesake holiday, “The Purim Superhero” will
be promoted at Keshet-hosted launch parties across the US throughout the late winter
and spring. A number of organizations have offered to co-sponsor events and help with
marketing, and major Jewish educational groups and media outlets are partnering to get the
word out.
“The parent or teacher
reading this knows the
struggles the fathers have
faced, and that they bring
this perspective to their
parenting.”
Kveller, a popular Jewish parenting website, is one of
them.
“From its inception, Kveller has aimed to be a resource
and community for Jewish parents of all kinds, including
LGBT families, so when we learned of this new, inclusive
Jewish children’s book, we wanted to use our online
presence to help publicize and spread the word as best we
could,” said Molly Tolsky, the site’s associate editor.
“We’re working closely with Keshet on this because not only is it important for kids in gay
families to feel part of the community and have literature that reflects back on them, but
we are also supportive of our many LGBT Jewish educators,” said Rabbi Cherie Koller-Fox,
president of NewCAJE, a cross-denominational Jewish educators’ organization.
“We read it, we liked it and we endorsed it,” she said of the book.
Stateside, “The Purim Superhero” is available in hardcover and paperback directly from
Kar-Ben, as well as from Judaica stores and major online book retailers. Along with the rest
of Kar-Ben’s spring lineup, the book is heading to Israel with Sussman for the Jerusalem
International Book Fair in mid-February.
“Our [religiously pluralistic] books aren’t well-understood in Israel, where we market them
through the Conservative [Masorti] and Reform [Yahudut Mitkademet] movements,” Sussman
remarked. “They sell best at the museums and at the airport, where American tourists see them.”
Kushner said her mother, who lives half the year in Israel, would love to see “The Purim
Superhero” translated into Hebrew. Although the Orthodox will likely not go for it (even
though Nate and his fathers wear black kippot at synagogue and meals), it could fill a void in
Israeli children’s literature.
While there are a number of Hebrew-language picture books (both original and translations)
about same-sex families, they’re all aimed at a secular, liberal audience. None depict the
Jewish aspects and rhythms of the daily lives of children and families — religious or not —
living in Israel.
Who knows? Maybe “The Purim Superhero” will come to the rescue.