At the age of 87 Shirley Cohen Steinberg, writer of beloved Passover song 'One Morning (The Frog Song)' teamed up with author/illustrator and created something beautiful; the result is Frogs in the Bed: My Passover Seder Activity Book.
Steinberg's daughter, Laya, recently sat down with her mother to interview her for a behind the scenes of her journey that lead to publication.
Q. How did you come to write One Morning?
SCS: At the time I was teaching pre-school and found that there was very little available other than the traditional Jewish holiday songs, certainly nothing whimsical or fun and that allowed the children to participate in the music, whether it was marching or dramatizing a part of the holiday story. So I wrote the music, a series of three albums called the Holiday Music Box for my own purposes, to produce material that I could use in the classroom. The children loved the music—they loved pretending being frogs jumping around, marching to the Red Sea, and singing other songs that taught about the Passover holiday.
Q: What drew you to children’s music and education?
SCS: My undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College was in languages and psychology. I also got a degree in Hebrew Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. One summer I sat in on a workshop for Hebrew preschool teachers. After the course, the instructor encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree in Early Childhood Education. I became her teacher’s assistant as I worked towards my Master’s degree at New York University. That’s when Hebrew, music, and education coalesced. As I taught and supervised preschool classrooms, I came to write the Holiday Music Box albums.
Q: Your music spread farther afield than you had imagined.
SCS: Yes. Every so often I’d get calls from preschool teachers who were using my songs in their classrooms and wanted to know where they could get a recording. Once, at a Passover Seder in Calgary a few years ago, I was sitting with a family from Australia that requested we sing The Frog Song, not knowing that I had written it. I heard from friends from all over—England, Israel, and much of the United States—who had seen my Passover songs printed in Haggadot and re-recorded on CDs by other artists. But most of those artists did not credit me—I’m not sure they knew where the songs came from, or they didn’t try to find out.
Q: But Ann Koffsky did.
SCS: Yes. Ann was quite resourceful in tracking me down in Ottawa, even though I had changed my name when I got married and moved to another country. When she called I was thrilled to hear that she wanted to use my song in a children’s book— a Seder companion that was as participatory and interactive as I had intended my songs to be.
Q: What are you working on now?
SCS: My love of languages has propelled me into a position as the director of the Folkshpieler Yiddish Players at the Ottawa JCC. I write, direct and produce one show a year. Our twelfth production will be in June 2014. The scripts have recently become available on the Yiddish Book Center’s website.
Q: Do you foresee any other children’s books in the future?
I would be delighted to see more of The Holiday Music Box songs featured in books—they’re a natural fit for the medium. And it’s such a good feeling to know that a whole new generation of children will have access to my songs.
Frogs in the Bed is a combination storybook and activity book that will keep young children interested and engaged during the seder.
With Frogs in the Bed children will be able to:
- Sing along to “One Morning (The Frog Song)”
- Explore seder plate symbols
- Recite the Four Questions
- Munch some matzah shapes
- Solve the afikoman crafts
- Create pre-holiday crafts
- Welcome Elijah with a sparkly cup
Plus: make your own jumping frog!
Ann D. Koffsky has illustrated and authored over 30 books for children. She is an elementary school art teacher, a public speaker, and a teacher of drawing and illustration at her alma mater, Yeshiva University. She wrote and illustrated Frogs in the Bed before coming on staff here at Behrman House as Editor. She blogs and shares artwork at www. Annkoffsky.com.
Frogs in the Bed, $7.95 is available now for Passover 2014
