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- [00:01]
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Shopping is hard.
- [00:03]
Melissa Stoller
I can never find anything in my size. I don't even know my size. I buy my clothes the same place I buy my groceries.
- [00:10]
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- [00:19]
Melissa Stoller
That was easy.
- [00:21]
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- [00:31]
Marshall Po
Hello everybody, this is Marshall Po. I'm the founder and editor of the New Books Network. And if you're listening to this, you know that the NBN is the largest academic podcast network in the world. We reach a worldwide audience of 2 million people. You may have a podcast or you may be thinking about starting a podcast. As you probably know, there are challenges basically of two kinds. One is technical. There are things you have to know in order to get your podcast produced and distributed. And the second is, and this is the biggest problem, you need to get an audience. Building an audience in podcasting is the hardest thing to do today. With this in mind, we at the NBM have started a service called NBM Productions. What we do is help you create a podcast, produce your podcast, distribute your podcast, and we host your podcast. Most importantly, what we do is we distribute your podcast to the NBN audience. We've done this many times with many academic podcasts and we would like to help you. If you would be interested in talking to us about how we can help you with your podcast, please contact us. Just go. Go to the front page of the New Books Network and you will see a link to NBN Productions. Click that, fill out the form and we can talk. Welcome to the New Books Network.
- [01:38]
Mel Rosenberg
So we are live. Yay. Yay. Yay. And a very warm welcome to my dear friend, Melissa Stoller. How are you?
- [01:46]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. Hi, Mel. I'm so happy to be here. So happy to see you again. I know we had a little catch up on Zoom a week or two ago and it was so nice to see your smiling face and to say hello, but really happy to be here live today.
- [02:00]
Mel Rosenberg
If you're not careful, you'll get to see my smiling face up close in New York next month.
- [02:05]
Melissa Stoller
I know, I can't wait.
- [02:06]
Mel Rosenberg
We can talk about that later. Anyway, so I'm going to forget who I am. I am Mel Rosenberg, the host of the Children's Literature Channel of the New Books Network. And we are here. I'm here with Melissa because I want to talk to you today mainly about your gorgeous book, Hazel and Mabel. Which published with Gnome Road, one of my favorite children's book presses ever, Sandra Suther. And show us this gorgeous book. I know you basically, mostly up until now, you've been writing for the Jewish community, wonderful books. And I'm tempted to call it Hegel and Maisel or Hazel and Mazel.
- [02:49]
Melissa Stoller
I mean, why not Mazel? We could all use good luck, for sure.
- [02:52]
Mel Rosenberg
So this is really an incredible success, I think. And, you know, I've tried the sell Sandra stuff and, you know.
- [03:01]
Melissa Stoller
No, no, no.
- [03:01]
Mel Rosenberg
And I want to hear about your. Yes. A few words about the book. Show us a little bit about it, and then take us through the whole process.
- [03:09]
Melissa Stoller
Great. Thank you so much, Mel. I am so excited about this book. It released on September 30, 2025, so just very recently, Gnome Road Publishing. Yes. Sandra Sutter is an absolute dream to work with, and I can tell you a little bit more. Absolutely. And Anita Bagdy. Yeah. Big fan.
- [03:28]
Mel Rosenberg
You're going to. You're going to.
- [03:29]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. Big, big fan. And Anita Bagsy, the illustrator, is just incredible. She has other books as well, a few with Gnome Road that are really worth checking out. This is the front cover. As you can see, the back cover, she carried through with the little hot air balloon and the messenger owl, because writing and storytelling takes a lot of form in the book. And of course, she put the hearts on the COVID you know, because it's Hazel and Mabel two hearts apart. So there's a lot of heart imagery. And the minute Sandra showed me some early thumbnail sketches, I said, oh, my gosh. Like, Anita just hit it out of the park. She really understood the story and she just brought it to life with such beautiful illustrations and imagery. I love especially the opening, the beginning, end page with the clouds with Hazel and Mabel's faces. And there's also a dinosaur and a heart. I know it's a little bit hard to see. And clouds figure in the story because at one point the characters look up at the sky and look at the clouds and look at the cloud formations and start to tell stories about them. And then at the end, the end pages have some stars and some beauty, you know, some beautiful star shapes with more hearts and the characters. So from day to night, throughout the story, she really, like, did, you know, lots of beautiful illustrations. So I can tell you a little bit about the way I got my inspiration.
- [04:53]
Mel Rosenberg
Hold on, hold on. First of all, Melissa, please read to us a little bit of the lovely, lovely prose and show up the spread of the interior.
- [05:01]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. I can start with this front page Sandra always puts a cute little gnome because Gnome Road Publishing. So if you notice, in her books, each little gnome at the beginning is centered around like a little aspect of the story. So here the gnome is writing letters and there's a little post box which is so cute. So if you look at her other books, you can play that game and follow them. And then we have Hazel and Mabel. Okay, here we. Here we go. Hazel and Mabel knew they would always be best friends. Even if Mabel grabbed the last gumdrop, even if Hazel snored during sleepovers, even when Mabel moved away. And you see her going in that hot air balloon, which I love this double page spread. Okay, so obviously it's a story about friendship, about moving, about reconnecting their hearts, remembered afternoon adventures. And letters flew back and forth, keeping them connected. I love that spread as well. And here's more letter writing. They wrote about their favorite memories, their silliest moments, of how they couldn't wait to see each other again. And I love how Anita did like these handwritten letters. So sweet.
- [06:14]
Mel Rosenberg
Or maybe paw written letters.
- [06:17]
Melissa Stoller
Oh my gosh. Actually love that paw written for sure.
- [06:20]
Mel Rosenberg
Yeah.
- [06:21]
Melissa Stoller
But time passed.
- [06:24]
Mel Rosenberg
By the way, Hazel is a southpaw.
- [06:26]
Melissa Stoller
Yes, absolutely.
- [06:28]
Mel Rosenberg
Are you a southpaw?
- [06:29]
Melissa Stoller
No, I'm not. But maybe Anita is. Yeah. But time passed. They made different pals and enjoyed new outings. And here's that little owl for the owl post where they're posting their letters, which is such a cute detail. And here, here they are making new friends, which happens when someone moves away, you know, and the person is left behind and has to make new friends. And then the other person moves and they have to adjust and things shift and change and they have to make new friends. But then one day, five magic words landed in Hazel's paw. Hazel placed the letter in her pocket, close to her heart. So there's the beautiful heart imagery that is carried through. And the words are I will see you soon. You can see that. And now here comes the kind of the crux of the story and the problem. When Mabel arrived, Hazel opened her arms wide in a big bear hug. Words flowed, smiles spread, a rainbow lit the sky. Yet a few gray clouds dotted the horizon. Hazel pointed to the meadow. Let's fly kites like we always did. Mabel kicked the dirt. Maybe something else. Hazel plucked a pebble from the grass. How about skipping stones? Maisel frowned. I haven't practiced. Maybe another time. Hazel glanced hopefully at Mabel. We can paint on the hill if you want. Mabel shrugged. I don't want to get paint on my paws. So. Yeah, exactly. So they're. They're. They're. You know, this is kind of the crux of it. Like, they. They. Their friendship shifted. You know, Mabel moved away, their friendship shifted, Things moved on. And then when they come back together, they think it's going to be as it exactly was. But as we all know, things never stay the same. Things are not exactly as they once were. Things shift, friendship shift, and people change a little bit, and sometimes you like different things. And so the rest of the story is, how do Hazel and Mabel use their creativity and their shared, you know, knowledge of what they used to do before to kind of think creatively and figure out how their friendship can survive and maybe even be better and maybe even grow? And they try all kinds of different things. And then this is one thing kind of more toward the end, which I talked to you about a minute ago, they look up at the clouds and they realize this is something they can do together. They love looking at cloud shapes, and they spy different things, and they spy two hearts. And that kind of helps them realize, like, their hearts are connected, and their hearts are always going to be connected. And they had tried other things that just didn't work. And then they realize there was something else they shared. The letters that they wrote back and forth. And they realized they love to write letters, they love to tell stories. And here's this gorgeous heart, and it's really a heart of imagination and all these things wrapped up in here of, like, how their little minds are whirring around, whirling and twirling and thinking, like, how can our hearts still be connected? And they end up connecting through storytelling, through letter writing, through looking at the clouds. And, like, they know their hearts are always connected in the end. And so, you know, you kind of have to see the end, how it actually ends. But there's a lot of creativity and a lot of focus on storytelling, letter writing, and being creative to keep a friendship back on, you know, alive. And I kind of always say, how do they get their heart of their friendship beating again? So. So. So that's it. I loved working on it.
- [09:55]
Mel Rosenberg
It's. It's a lovely story, and it's classic and universal, and I'm in love with it. There's two. There's two things that, you know, that we teach people not to do, and that is to write about things that don't exist anymore, like letter writing. And I love that you bucked a regular. A way of doing it like that.
- [10:19]
Melissa Stoller
Trends. Yeah. Thank you. You know what? I Like, I like letter writing. I mean, of course I write on text all the time. I text you all the time. I write to you on Facebook messenger.
- [10:32]
Mel Rosenberg
I'm writing now a story about a grandfather. Grandfather and her and her granddaughter. And it's also a little bit the autobiographical. And there's a thing about letters, you know, where she says, what are letters? I mean, you know, who knows what letters are? So congratulations for not bowing to popular wisdom. And it is a throwback, and it's a lovely throwback. And the other thing is that I love. It's not such a popular subject, you know, our friend, our friends growing apart. I don't know that many books. I'm sure there are, but I don't know that many.
- [11:12]
Melissa Stoller
Wait, I want to just say one more thing about letter writing. My college age daughter loves actually getting letters in her college mailbox. Like I text her every day, of course. But I do also send letters and I think it's fun for kids even that even if they're not writing letters, she likes to get a little something in the mail. So I think it is a throwback, but yet people, some, some people still enjoy it. So. So I do appreciate that you said that. Yeah. And I can't get to read your notebook.
- [11:39]
Mel Rosenberg
I think it's. Well, my book has to be finished and sold, Melissa. And we know how difficult both of those are. So here's a throwback for you because I'm much older. There's a song from the 1940s, I think called Two Friends. Two friends lovers no more. It's called Just Friends. Two friends drifting apart. Two friends but one broken heart. I'm going to send that to you. Okay. So I'm throwing back to songs from 80 years ago about the ending of love and friendship. So now what I want to know is this book, which is universal and it's not the regular topic and it's not a regular up to date book about texting and. And emojis. How you sold Cassandra.
- [12:32]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, thank you for asking that. And it's kind of exactly what. What you were getting at. When I first queried her, she wrote back that what she liked about this book was she said there were so many. And there are a lot of excellent stories that I used as mentor texts and contexts about moving. Like, you know, when. When someone moves and then they move and there it takes a minute to adjust to a new place and the story is centered on them and their move and how they adjust. And she said there are so many stor. But she hadn't really seen a story about what comes after the move with the friendship and how the friendship shifts and changes and kind of comes back at the end. And so you hit it right on the head. That's exactly what she saw in the story that she really liked that distinguished it from the market, which actually does have quite a number of beautiful moving stories. So that's exactly what she liked, moving.
- [13:23]
Mel Rosenberg
Stories, which are moving.
- [13:25]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. And they are, and I love them. And I read them all. I think I read them all because, you know, to see what was out there. And yes, I was moved by them all.
- [13:33]
Mel Rosenberg
Right. Sorry. Terrible pun. Yeah, okay, great.
- [13:35]
Melissa Stoller
But it was. It was good. It was a good pun. So, yeah, I think that's really. I think that's what she appreciated.
- [13:42]
Mel Rosenberg
You wrote to Sandra. Does she know you? Was it a cold query what happened?
- [13:47]
Melissa Stoller
No, it wasn't a cold query. I knew Sandra. I had taken. We had both taken classes with Mira Riseberg, the Children's Book Academy, years ago. We were both in those classes. And then I was an assistant, and I actually still blog once a month for the Children's Book Academy, and I write blogs about finding ideas. So every month I kind of just give a few quick, short writing prompts about how to find and capture ideas. So we were both in that. Yeah, exactly. We were both in those classes and we met years ago as writers. And then Sandra started Gnome Road Publishing and invited people to query, and of course I did. And I sent several stories and I've sent several stories over the years. And she's very, very particular, as she should be because it's a small press that's growing and she has an amazing list, but she's very careful about what she chooses for her list and she picks different. And I know you've interviewed her, so you know this. And she is careful about her list and how things go together for each season and the year. So I was very happy and very excited that she chose this story. And I mean, I've queried other things that she hasn't chosen because it's, you know, that's just what publishing is. So I was thrilled, I was really thrilled that she found the heart in the story and it was something that she was interested in and that she thought would work for Gnome Road Publishing. And I mean, it, you know, it came out just a few months ago and I really could not be happier, you know, you know, when you, you know, because, you know, your book, I know, is coming out soon, you know, when you give the book to a publisher, and then they pair you with an illustrator. You don't really know how that's gonna go. I knew when she told me that.
- [15:30]
Mel Rosenberg
Melissa, you're so kind, and we find a lovely way of saying things. We have no bloody idea what the book is gonna look like.
- [15:39]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, yeah. No, that's so true. And, you know, I'm a little. You know, I'm a little bit of like a type A personality. So it's, you know, I had to learn at the beginning that you have to give up control to the publisher, to the art director, to the illustrator and all of that. But what I have found in every one of my books is that it comes out way better than you could have ever imagined. I mean, at least that's been my experience. The characters are so incredible. Nothing like what I imagine usually. So, I mean, it's always been such a happy surprise, I guess. But I was gonna say I did know that when she told me that she was gonna pair my book with Anita Bagsy, I did know that Anita had illustrated my piano also for no Mode Publishing. So then, of course, I actually had that book because I had bought it because it's a beautiful book. And so I did know the quality of her illustration. So I knew I was going to be in good hands. But you don't really know how your book is going to turn out. So of course I thrilled.
- [16:33]
Mel Rosenberg
I just wrote about that today, about this, you know, giving. People don't know this, but when you are lucky enough to find a traditional publisher, they usually team you up with an illustrator. And the illustrator takes the story and goes up and illustrates it.
- [16:49]
Melissa Stoller
Exactly.
- [16:50]
Mel Rosenberg
And you kind of lose your baby. But as you said so beautifully that you get your baby back in the end. The other thing I learned is that, okay, so you lose your story. You lose your story to the editor at the publisher, in your case, Sandra, which is a good person to lose it to. And then you lose it to the illustrator and the art director, and then it comes out and you lose it twice more. You lose it to your audience, you know, the children and the parents and the grandparents, and you lose it also for the people who are writing reviews, in my case, the reviews, they were very nice, but they were always. They misinterpreted what I meant in my story. And then I realized that there's no such thing as misinterpreting because they have their reader response, you know, and if I talk about an orange and they happen to see that the planet Uranus, you know, what am I going to say?
- [17:46]
Melissa Stoller
Exactly. No, it's so true. And that's such a good way to put it, Mel, that you lose, you know, you're kind of giving up control at each step of the way. But it comes back to you in many ways. And I know when, you know, when I talk to students about this or parents or people that, you know, that I've. That I've discussed the story with and the book with, it's so interesting to see what people say, because it's like when you're looking at a piece of art, you know, like people interpret it and bring their own life experiences to a piece of art or to a book, to a story. And so the children that I've spoken to or the parents I've spoken to mentioned, like, oh, you know, I moved, or my friend moved, and then this and that happened, and that's how it related to me. But it also doesn't have to be a story, only about moving. Someone could just be in school and their best friend of the day is now not their best friend tomorrow. And kids that I've worked with have said to me, you know, this kind of resonated with me on the level, like, boy, I had a best friend, and now I don't have that best friend anymore. And I'm trying to get it back. So it's, you know, it kind of resonates with people, and they bring to it what is going on in their own life as we do. You know, when we read a book or listen to music or see art.
- [18:49]
Mel Rosenberg
You know, Melissa, I'm going to make this even more difficult for you because the book in my mind is written and illustrated for kindergarten, maybe first grade. And these experiences come to us a bit later of moving apart physically. And I can see how young children will love the story, even though they don't send letters. They don't know what letters are. They don't have the experience of friends moving apart for any period of time. They just haven't been on the planet for long enough. And yet there's something endearing about this story.
- [19:26]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. Thank you so much. No, I appreciate that, Mel. And I also have to say I was inspired to write this mainly because my children always had friends who moved. Always. And I think part of that is maybe because we live in New York City, in Manhattan. And a lot of times when people have young families, like we stayed in Manhattan, I raised my kids here. They went to school here. But a lot of our friends, when the kids were in preschool, said, okay, I'm here for preschool. And then we're going to move to the suburbs for kindergarten. So when my kids were 2, 3 and 4, they found they formed these strong bonds as one, you know, in a. In a childish way when one does, when they're, you know, when you're little. But still they had these, you know, best buddies that they went through preschool with for three years that I thought in my head, oh, these are going to be friends for life. And a lot of them moved out of the city to live in the suburbs. So my kids really did, at a young age experience these losses that did feel like big losses. And many we've kept in touch with because they really were true good friends. And I kept in touch with the parents. And some we just didn't because time and distance and it just, you know, didn't, didn't, didn't work. So I do understand what you're saying that a big move, you know, like those things resonate when you're older. But I think little kids can experience this as well. And I saw it with my own kids, and it's hard.
- [20:46]
Mel Rosenberg
I think that they can imagine it.
- [20:49]
Melissa Stoller
That's true, too.
- [20:51]
Mel Rosenberg
The same way that they haven't seen the dragons, but they can still enjoy a good dragon story.
- [20:56]
Melissa Stoller
Exactly.
- [20:58]
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- [21:25]
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- [21:50]
Mel Rosenberg
So I think, I think, I think this is so well written that it overcomes these challenges and their throwbacks. Which brings me now to my next question. You're young. If I remember correctly, you had a career as a lawyer once.
- [22:10]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I met my husband in law school at Georgetown Law school. And now my daughter is a junior at Georgetown, so it's kind of a nice full circle moment for me.
- [22:19]
Mel Rosenberg
Did you need the law or are you still lawyering?
- [22:22]
Melissa Stoller
I'm. I'm not. I'm not. I'm once a lawyer, always a lawyer, but I'm not lawyering. But I was also during law school and like a law fellow, which was a legal research and writing instructor, which where I taught lawyering skills to younger students. And then after I worked for several years in a law firm in Washington, D.C. i had a job at two law schools teaching in the lawyering skills program as an adjunct professor. So I did love, like lawyering myself, but I also love teaching. And so teaching was kind of a constant thread throughout my career. And what I really liked also mostly about being a lawyer, was the research, the writing, the communication, the analysis. And I feel like my brain always works in that way. Like I'm always using my lawyering brain because, you know, like, there's so much research that goes into writing these stories. I mean, I was. Even though, you know, Hazel and Mabel is a raccoon and a bear, I was researching raccoons and bears just to understand behaviors and things like that. So every book that I do, I do a lot of research, even if it doesn't like, necessarily make it into the book in an obvious way, as.
- [23:32]
Mel Rosenberg
You know, because you're just helping me now with my next question. You see?
- [23:36]
Melissa Stoller
Perfect. Happy to help, Mel.
- [23:37]
Mel Rosenberg
You know, you and I love writing fiction.
- [23:41]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah.
- [23:42]
Mel Rosenberg
This is our go to place. Yeah. Sometimes, you know, we can do too much research. We write these stories. I think you did just the right amount here. But this is bringing me to my next question, which is about comfort zones.
- [23:57]
Melissa Stoller
Comfort books.
- [23:58]
Mel Rosenberg
Comfort zones.
- [23:59]
Melissa Stoller
Oh, comfort zones. Okay.
- [24:01]
Mel Rosenberg
And I've known you for a couple of years and you are a wonderful author of books mainly on Jewish topics or Jewish children. You know, the Hanukkah want to be read. I don't remember all your books. The Shabbat and Challah. And you happen to have them with you.
- [24:19]
Melissa Stoller
I have them. Of course I have them. I have Sadie Shabbat Stories, which is also about a grandmother and granddaughter and the telling of stories. So you can see there's a theme and things that I like. Intergeneration.
- [24:30]
Mel Rosenberg
Right.
- [24:30]
Melissa Stoller
That was our first interview. And then I co authored Planting Friendship, Peace, Salaam Shalom and Building Bridges. Peace, Salaam Shalom. And our world definitely needs kindness and understanding and some shalom in the world. And then. Well, it's very exciting. I have a new book coming out with Car Ben Publishing. I think, you know, I'm so excited. I don't have the arc yet. But I printed out Stella's special recipe, a Rosh Hashanah story. Also. Thank you. With Carben Publishing. August 4th. Just in Time for Rosh Hashanah. And it's a story, an intergenerational story about a girl and her grandmother, because I love those. And they have a Rosh Hashanah recipe for their family's favorite stuffed cabbage. And so the great grandmother, Bubby, Sophie, and then the grandmother and then the mama have all added little bits of ingredients and little bits of love to the recipe. And now, finally, Sophie, Stella is old enough, and it's her turn to figure out how to cook this recipe with her mother and what kind of ingredients and little bits of love she can add. So I'm really excited about this. It's kind of like very near and dear to my heart because my mom and I cooked stuffed cabbage always together, and also with my own nana. And my mom passed away a year ago, but when we did, before, you know, before I. Before the book I knew was gonna be acquired by Carbon, we cooked the recipe together. I have a lot of pictures of cooking the recipe with my mom, and I actually submitted those to Joni Sussman at Carbon when I submitted the manuscript about three years ago. And my mom knew it was acquired. So I'm really happy about that. Even though she's not here to see it published, I'm really happy she knew that it was going to be a book.
- [26:15]
Mel Rosenberg
So, yeah, it's wonderful. And here. Here again, Melissa, you're going back to your. Your story and your roots, which is. Which is wonderful. But, you know, and as very many people, including me, we might be trapped in this, you know, this comfort zone thing of, you know, who we define ourselves. And here, what is unique about your new story of Hazel and Mabel is that it's not a Jewish story.
- [26:43]
Melissa Stoller
Right.
- [26:44]
Mel Rosenberg
And it's. I'm. I'm. Bear with me for a second. Oy vey. Another one. Raccoon with me for just a moment, if you will. So is it possible that now that you've been able to sell a universal story, which is not about Rosh Hashanah and challah and Shabbat and dreidels to one of the best publishers in America? You know, people are dying to have books published, and the chance is very, very small. And Samuel has been on the show, and you have published a lovely book. And I'm saying, you know, I. I don't see why you shouldn't continue to write stories about dreidels. And the Hanukkah. But, Melissa, you know, you can write stories for the universe.
- [27:30]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you.
- [27:31]
Mel Rosenberg
You've just proven it. You've just proven. And as you're a friend, I want to bug you a little bit.
- [27:36]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. I have so many stories, so many manuscripts out there. So. Okay, we're putting this. We're manifesting this into the world. I mean, you know how this. You know how hard it is. And I. Yes, I keep submitting. I. I have something.
- [27:52]
Mel Rosenberg
It's not hard. It's next to impossible.
- [27:55]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, no, it is. It's. It's just.
- [27:57]
Mel Rosenberg
And. And what about agents?
- [28:00]
Melissa Stoller
So I had. I mean, I worked with such an amazing agent, Jonathan Rosen, at the Seymour Agency, and we worked so well together, and I really appreciated him, and we had such a great relationship. And then he. Yeah, no, he's amazing. And then he left.
- [28:13]
Mel Rosenberg
I've interviewed him as well. He's a lovely guy.
- [28:15]
Melissa Stoller
He's lovely. I know you. I know. I've watched that interview. He's amazing, and he's doing so much good and putting so much good into the world, and we had such a fantastic relationship. And then he left the agency business to pursue other parts of his life and to do other amazing things, which he's doing. And so I'm back in the query trenches. So I keep querying. So here I am. I mean it. And, you know, it takes so much to get, you know, to sign with one agent. So I finally did, and I was so happy. And then, you know, it just didn't last. But, you know, it is what it is. I'm back in the quarry trenches. I'm querying. You know, I have so many books, and you mentioned nonfiction. I have fiction. I have nonfiction, regular books, Jewish books. I have a big list that I'm querying. So I will, you know, definitely keep you posted. And I think you're right. Or we keep going. Right. We have. There's. It's ups and downs. It's not a linear path. Right. We just have to keep going.
- [29:05]
Mel Rosenberg
Melissa, you're up.
- [29:07]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. Thank you. This is.
- [29:09]
Mel Rosenberg
This is a wonderful book. I love it. And it changes my whole thinking about. About. About where you can be. You know, I don't want to paraphrase Dr. Seuss, but you can. The places you can go are. You know, they're. Yes. Borscht and. Yes. And yes. Matzah and whatever. But I think that you have this great potential to write to humanity in general.
- [29:40]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. And the world needs that.
- [29:43]
Mel Rosenberg
Yeah, the world needs that for sure. And now we're going to say a few words. I don't want to talk much about this book because it's about October 7th and I live in Israel and I'm traumatized to talk about it even. But just if you could, just a sentence about the book so that people will know that you've co authored it.
- [30:08]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. And I understand completely. So I'm the co author with Mary Millman and Lishai Lavimiran, who is Lishan Miran Levy, sorry, who is the wife of returned hostage Omri Miran. And we co authored this story. It just came out in December 2025. So a few months ago. And thank God Omri came home in October with that last group of hostages. And we were just through Leshai's brother. I was introduced to my friend. Mary and I were introduced through Leshai's brother to Leshai and to their story. And so the three of us wrote this story together. It's a very happy and hopeful story, although obviously based on the events of October 7th, but it's the story of their family, basically, but it's also universal. And it's about their dog, Mojo, who was missing after October 7 and then came home. And in the story, the father does not yet come home, but happily. Omri's story had a good ending, but, you know, not every story did. But we used a metaphor of a storm to depict what happened. And we wrote it as a universal story so that anyone facing any kind of situation, it could be a parent who's missing, a parent who's sick, a parent who's in the army, a parent who is in, you know, prison. Any situation where someone is missing and someone longs for a loved one, this could apply to, and I'll just show you the ending, which is a hopeful ending. And you know, we say, you know, that the family, the mother, the daughter, the two daughters and their dog are waiting together, petting Mojo the dog, with hope in their hearts for a new sun kissed day to arrive. So basically it's a story about resilience and hope and how we have to have hope in our hearts for life to go on. We, of course, you can be yearning and missing a loved one in any type of situation, a sickness, you know, anything, but life is good and we have to have hope in our hearts for a new sun kissed day. And that's what the story is about. Actually, it was featured in the Jewish Insider today, so we're getting a lot of good press. And we work with Lee Shai on this Mazel tov.
- [32:25]
Mel Rosenberg
And I went to your book launching in Tel Aviv.
- [32:30]
Melissa Stoller
You did, And I really appreciate that. Yeah.
- [32:32]
Mel Rosenberg
I wanted to say I got to meet all of these heroes.
- [32:37]
Melissa Stoller
I wanted to say the Anyu Museum of the Jewish People is our partner. And they hosted this amazing book launch in Tel Aviv at the museum. And I know. I was so thrilled that you were there, Mel, and you sent me pictures. I wish we could have gone. But you saw Mary and I did a video.
- [32:51]
Mel Rosenberg
But I did take you an air ticket.
- [32:55]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. Next time, we're gonna go. And the book is in the museum gift shop for anyone who may be in Israel. It's actually. The book is printed in Hebrew and in Israel. And the two most important things. One, it's. The first edition was printed at Kibbutz Bay Area, which was affected in October 7th. And we're happy that they're back up. But the main point is that all. Every. You know, all proceeds from the book are going to benefit charities that benefit children and families in Israel. So that's really the most important thing that we want to help. We want to do our part. It's a philanthropic project. And we were so honored and blessed to work with Lishai. And then we met Omri and Lish. And we had met Lishai before, but we met Omri and his dad when they came to New York in. In December. You know, he had returned in October, so that was a true blessing. And we were so thrilled to be able to meet him and greet him. And, you know, he was happy that we wrote the book with. With Lee Shy. So we're.
- [33:46]
Mel Rosenberg
We're.
- [33:47]
Melissa Stoller
It's an honor. It was an honor to work on this and a blessing.
- [33:50]
Mel Rosenberg
Okay. But because I live here, where the action has been, I'm a little. You're going to forgive me for changing the subject.
- [33:58]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. But I was happy you were there. Thank you very much, Mel. It meant the world to me, Honestly.
- [34:03]
Mel Rosenberg
I was delighted to stand in for you, Melissa. So what does the future hold for you?
- [34:10]
Melissa Stoller
Thank you. So. Well, I'm excited. I mean, I'm excited to keep doing school visits for Hazel and Mabel. I love. As I know you do. I see your pictures as well. With the children. I love visiting with children. I do library visits, school visits. I'm doing World Read Aloud Day.
- [34:27]
Mel Rosenberg
This is all stuff that you organize. You have somebody who organizes it for you. Hi, I'm Melissa. I want to visit schools.
- [34:36]
Melissa Stoller
I do it. I organize it myself. Yeah, I know. I know. It would be nice to have someone to Help marketing. I think for many authors, marketing is hard. You know, it's not my thing, naturally. I mean, you said moving out of your comfort zone. It's not really my comfort zone. Like, I don't have. You know, it's hard. I think that's a hard part of being an author, but it's a fun part as well, because it's nice to meet with students. Like, the pleasure of seeing your book in the hands of children who are appreciating it and enjoying it and reading it and maybe learning a little bit about writing or life through your book is really kind of the joy of writing. So I love meeting with students, and I do school visits and library visits and read alouds in person and online. So I'm continuing to do that with Hazel and Mabel, which is so much fun.
- [35:23]
Mel Rosenberg
And they. And they pay you money for this, the schools?
- [35:25]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, I do paid school visits. I mean, World Read Aloud Day is complimentary, but, I mean, if they knew.
- [35:31]
Mel Rosenberg
The truth, they would be charging us, right?
- [35:35]
Melissa Stoller
I know. Joy for us. Joy.
- [35:38]
Mel Rosenberg
So now I'm going to. After this wonderful interview, I'm going to now ask you to help me, because in two weeks, I'm writing a blog about ideas and inspiration. And you do that every month.
- [35:55]
Melissa Stoller
I do, yeah.
- [35:56]
Mel Rosenberg
So what are your best tips that I can steal or riff off of?
- [36:01]
Melissa Stoller
Okay, good.
- [36:01]
Mel Rosenberg
Well, I will send you some unabashed for everybody.
- [36:05]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. Here are a few good ones that I always tell students. Observe everything. You know, keep your eyes and ears really open for everything. Even a snippet of conversation in a playground, in a restaurant, some cute little thing that a child or a parent is saying. So my book, Ready, Set, Gorilla, and it's Gorilla G O rilla. I was in Times Square, and I saw a sign that said ready or a billboard, a huge billboard that said ready, set, go. And I was. And I thought, like, oh, what if it said ready, set, gorilla? And it was about a gorilla having a race, and then what if there was a cheetah who was cheating? So I always say, like, observe, and then say, what if? Like, what if that happened? What if this happened? Then that happens. You know, you can always. You can always kind of riff off that. My books, Scarlett's Magic Paintbrush, about a girl using her own creativity. I was in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is near where I live, in my favorite museum, and I love Monet. And I was looking at the Monets, and I kind of said, oh, what if I had a magic paintbrush and I could paint, like, Monet and then my mind just started going. So I'm always, literally always thinking and always observing and always wondering and bringing curiosity. I think as writers, we're kind of usually generally curious people, so I do that. Also. I think about my own childhood as kind of. We've discussed family rituals. I love looking at family pictures. I'm like the person in my family that puts together photo albums. So I always go back and look at my albums. I look at, like, family objects, maybe ritual objects from your own or someone else, you know, your own culture, your own religious practice. If there were ritual objects sitting in your home, can you tell a story using those objects? Did you go on a trip and buy, like, a little souvenir? Maybe that souvenir will give you something. Like, I have a snow globe collection. So my book, the Snow Globe Return to Coney island, the Enchanted Snow Globe Collection. I wrote that time travel story because I love my snow globes. And I loved also the Magic Treehouse books when I was reading them to my kids. And I was thinking of, like, I want to write a time travel book. What could be a vehicle? And I was like, literally looking at my snow globe collection, and then I thought, oh, could it be shaking your snow globe? And the kids get transported back in time. So I kind of look around my house at things I've collected and things I do. I like taking seal walks at the beach. I did that last week, and we saw a few in a bay and a few in the ocean. And now we have a seal walk.
- [38:39]
Mel Rosenberg
Here's an idea for a story. What is a seal walk?
- [38:42]
Melissa Stoller
Oh, at. On Long island in New York, where their seals, these harbor seals come. They migrate from Canada and they come to the bay and the beach. They breed and they look for food, and they come to this, and I take a walk to see them.
- [38:59]
Mel Rosenberg
Yeah, we see. When you. Because I'm from Israel, we don't have seals here. I did grow up in Canada, but I never saw a seal in Ottawa or all Winnipegs. But when you said seal walk, we go for seal walks. So, like, I'm thinking of, you know, people going to the beach and going like this, like, for a kilometer and having a competition as to who can walk most like the seal.
- [39:22]
Melissa Stoller
So maybe we have to collaborate on that, because my book that I have written but has not sold is a nonfiction story about seals. So maybe we collaborate. Mel, Because I don't. I don't have this, but I like it.
- [39:34]
Mel Rosenberg
Well, are you going to be in New York or not?
- [39:37]
Melissa Stoller
Yeah, I'm Definitely going to be in New York. I can't wait to see you.
- [39:39]
Mel Rosenberg
So then we'll. We'll do it.
- [39:41]
Melissa Stoller
We'll have to collaborate. I know when we saw each other a few years ago in New York and it's been a couple of years.
- [39:45]
Mel Rosenberg
So that's for sure. Yeah. So. So this is the thing. You know, people ask me because I have a book coming out and with the.
- [39:57]
Melissa Stoller
I have it on pre order, Mel. I have it on pre order.
- [39:59]
Mel Rosenberg
So I can't wait to glad you blessing you. I'm waiting to sign it for you. So you say, oh yeah, I know where the idea came from. It came from this. I saw a sign at the sea and then I said oh no, no, no, no. I worked in a place with lots of doors and then I said oh no, no, no. 50 years ago I drew this picture. So there is something in our cognitive minds that say okay, but I think it's much more complicated then we realize. It's an interplay of the cognitive mind which remembers something and all the other stuff.
- [40:33]
Melissa Stoller
Exactly. And it's like drilling in your mind. It's really like a mining. A mining or a drilling in your mind for things that may be from your childhood or from something you read. Something is in there and then sometimes it just takes a spark or something you observe or some. A memory, you know, sometimes a Jatian memories of things that happens as a child or to my own children. So thank you.
- [40:54]
Mel Rosenberg
Or perhaps a misunderstanding.
- [40:56]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. Oh my God. Misunderstandings are good.
- [40:59]
Mel Rosenberg
Like going for seal walk.
- [41:02]
Melissa Stoller
That would be funny. We would have a good origin story.
- [41:05]
Mel Rosenberg
Absolutely. Melissa. So now's a good time to bring up again Hazel and Mabel, two hearts apart and Gnome Publishing. Or maybe Gnome Publishing. I never get that right.
- [41:16]
Melissa Stoller
Gnome Road Publishing. Sandra Sutter. And they are just, just amazing. I have to say for anyone who doesn't know them, the books are winning a lot of awards. They're on a lot of lists. Sandra and her team are.
- [41:27]
Mel Rosenberg
Melissa, don't rub it in here.
- [41:29]
Melissa Stoller
No, I know. I didn't know you.
- [41:31]
Mel Rosenberg
Yeah, but you can, you can. No, it's okay. I've been very lucky. You can submit directly to Sandra. You don't need an agent, so you don't.
- [41:40]
Melissa Stoller
But she, she works with agents. But she also has very specific limited submission windows and I know you have to follow them exactly. She's only open very rarely. She also sometime does conferences or interviews and then she'll have an open window after that. But she's not open all the time. And if you do have an agent submit through your agent to her for sure.
- [42:01]
Mel Rosenberg
So congratulations on this wonderful book Hazel enabled. Two Hearts Apart. The pronunciation of the illustrator is Anita Baghdi. Anita Baghdi. And written by the wonderful Melissa Staller. And I'm not saying you're magnificent just because your name is Melissa.
- [42:20]
Melissa Stoller
Mel. To Mel. We have our Melon Mel thing going on.
- [42:23]
Mel Rosenberg
We have our melancholy going on.
- [42:25]
Melissa Stoller
No melancholy Melon Mel. Long live the Mels.
- [42:28]
Mel Rosenberg
It's been wonderful to see you and I hope we'll see you in person.
- [42:31]
Melissa Stoller
Absolutely. In New York and in Tel Aviv. Absolutely.
- [42:35]
Mel Rosenberg
Okay.
- [42:36]
Melissa Stoller
Gonna make that. I'm gonna get there.
- [42:38]
Mel Rosenberg
I'm game for both of them. And I've been talking with one from Melissa Stoller. And it's a good thing you left alone became an author. And I am Mel Rosenberg. And I left bacteria and also became an author. And I'm the host of the Children's Literature Channel of the New Books Network. So, Melissa, we're going to say goodbye to everybody. Run out and buy that book. It's gorgeous. Bye. Bye, everybody.
- [42:59]
Melissa Stoller
Thanks for this opportunity. Mel. It's such a pleasure as always to chat with you. I loved it. Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Bye, everyone.
- [43:14]
Mel Rosenberg
Sam.