Welcome to our stop on the Sydney Taylor Book Award blog tour! Author Lesléa Newman and illustrator Susan Gal were kind enough to answer our questions about Joyful Song: A Naming Story, which received a Sydney Taylor Honor in the Picture Book category and was on the Horn Book’s 2024 Fanfare list. In this warm, celebratory, and vibrantly illustrated picture book, it’s Zachary’s baby sister’s first Shabbat. Zachary is bursting to share her name, and finally gets to do just that from the bima while the synagogue’s congregation looks on.

Shoshana Flax: The Jewish tradition of a baby girl’s naming ceremony is not commonly represented in picture books, especially for a general audience. How and when did this idea come to you? And how did you decide that the secret of the name would be a driving force for the story?

Photo of Lesléa Newman: Mary Vazquez.

Lesléa Newman: I was sitting in shul one morning, and at the end of the service, the rabbi said something very special was about to happen. He called a two-mom family up to the bima with their brand-new daughter and blessed them, and then the baby’s name was announced. The ceremony moved me to tears, and in that moment, the idea for the book was born.

Though there are also two other things that inspired the creation of this book. One is my own naming ceremony, which obviously I don’t remember. What I do remember is being told later that my mom wasn’t allowed up on the bima, so she had to sit in the congregation while my dad brought me up to be blessed. (I am old enough to have experienced the time when many if not most synagogues did not allow women, let alone two-mom families, up on the bima.) The second experience took place when I was a young woman living on a farm in Denmark. The woman who lived on the farm next door was pregnant. I asked her what the baby’s name would be. She looked at me, puzzled, and told me that in Denmark babies often aren’t named until they are at least a year old or even older, so the parents have time to get to know the child’s personality and pick a fitting name. She was shocked that in America many parents pick out names the minute they learn they are pregnant. Somehow all these experiences combined in my mind, and the result was Joyful Song.

SF: You’ve collaborated on several books. Do you discuss your works in progress with each other?

Susan Gal: Traditionally authors and illustrators do not collaborate on a book. As you mentioned, I have a history of working with Lesléa, so I understand how thoughtful she is about communicating diversity and joy in her stories. That’s why I feel blessed to be chosen to illustrate her work; we both care about creating worlds that readers can aspire to and hopefully create for themselves.

LN: After my text is accepted and I am lucky enough to be paired with an extremely talented, hard-working, and passionate illustrator, such as the amazing Susan Gal, I generally sit back and let her work her magic. At some point I see sketches — always an exciting moment! — and can offer some feedback. And then I get to see final art, another very exciting moment.

SF: Susan, how did you decide on the setting for the outdoor scenes and on the color palette?

SG: This is one of the things I enjoy most about illustrating picture books — the opportunity to create an environment that brings the story to life. What touched me most about the manuscript was the interaction of the neighbors. It reminded me of my childhood neighborhood in Southern California where everyone looked out for each other. Zachary’s neighborhood was inspired by the pretty stucco houses, gardens, and palm trees of San Diego and Los Angeles.

The most challenging spread to render shows Zachary holding his baby sister when he reveals her name to the congregation. I knew I wanted to have light shining through stained-glass windows, but the designs of the windows were too distracting. I needed to focus on that simple, sweet moment between Zachary and Aliza Shira. When I omitted the window designs and just left shapes of vibrant color, then the spread fell into place. From there I tried to show that radiance in each of the spreads. This is an example of the moment when a book speaks up and tells me what it wants to be. I know this may sound “artsy,” but it’s true.

SF: There’s tension and suspense in the text, with the reveal of the name, and the illustrations make judicious choices about where to focus and when to zoom in and out. What process goes into pacing for each of you?

LN: Once the pattern of three was established in the text — the baby has three family members, three neighbors join the family on their walk to shul, there is a call-and-response of three beats with each neighborly interaction, the baby has three nicknames — the pacing revealed itself to me. It’s a very intuitive process. Everything I write stands on the shoulders of everything I’ve previously written, and since I’ve been writing for over half a century (!) I’ve put in my ten thousand hours and then some. So mostly I rely on my poetic ear.

SG: Lesléa brilliantly set the tone and pacing, so it wasn’t too difficult to take the baton (so to speak) and run with it. Once I established the look of the neighborhood, I could visualize the characters walking through it and what they would see along the way. Drawing the synagogue near a park felt like putting it in the right setting. It was a we could let her have this way to not only show the unity of our characters but also portray a broader view of a community coming together to enjoy a sunny day in the park.

SF: The text and the illustrations both feature so much casual, intersectional inclusivity. What considerations went into those elements?

LN: It was very important to me to create for Zachary and his family the kind of world I would like to live in: a diverse world full of loving neighbors and friends who respect, accept, and celebrate different traditions and cultures. If we can imagine such a world and create it in works of art, we can absolutely make it our reality.

SG: I believe it’s important to show a young reader a world that includes all types of people. That’s what I love about Lesléa’s writing — her intentional choices to show diversity and inclusion and to celebrate those differences. I share her values and I strive to both represent and be a part of that world too.

SF: Why was the theme of joy so important?

LN: As a young poet, as is typical, most of my work was about angst. As I grew older, I realized that it’s also important to write about life’s joys. There’s nothing more joyful than a new baby! And I wanted to communicate everyone’s joy — Zachary’s joy at becoming a big brother, his two moms’ joy about their new baby, the joy of friends and neighbors who eagerly join the family’s walk to shul to hear the baby’s name, the joy felt by the rabbi, the congregation, the whole community, even the exuberant joy of Stella and Bella (Zachary’s family’s dogs). There is so much tsuris (trouble) in the world; we could all use as much joy as possible.

SG: A new baby brings so much joy and possibility and hope. Years ago, someone told me that a name is the first gift we give to a child. What a responsibility for Zachary to hold on to that gift until the proper moment to share it with the world! A community coming together to celebrate a new life — that fills my heart and gives me hope for a better world where joy and compassion can connect us.

SF: What does the Sydney Taylor Honor mean to you?

LN: Everything! To have my name mentioned in the same breath as Sydney Taylor’s is a great honor. To have the recognition and the support of my community touches me deeply. While the honor is given for a book that has been already created, I see it more as something to live up to. For me this reward is a challenge to keep writing Jewish children’s books, which is one of the ways I perform tikkun olam (repairing the world).

SG: It means the world to me. Being acknowledged by the STBA committee fills my soul as an artist and sincerely touches me. I’m truly grateful to have our work recognized along with all the marvelous books that have received this great honor.

Visit the Association of Jewish Libraries website to see where the other gold and silver medalists will be interviewed over the next few days.