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Norma Simon
Jewish Before I Was American
My grandparents, my aunt, uncle, two cousins, my parents and I lived in one Williamsburg, Brooklyn brownstone until the early 30s. I spoke Yiddish before I learned English. I was taught to read and write in Hebrew and in Yiddish. Aunt Dora generously shared her public library books of Yiddish poetry and stories with me. We read daily Yiddish newspapers. “Yiddishkeit” was part of my everyday life, not just reserved for Shabbat and holidays.
I wrote about my early years in my first juvenile novel {Ruthie, Meredith Press, 1965). Thinking back to those Williamsburg years, I realize that I became a Jewish person before I became an American person.
Norma Simon is the author of more than 50 children’s books, 13 on Jewish holidays or subjects; 2 new ones due out in 1997 on Passover and Hannukah (HarperCollins). She moved to Cape Cod 27 years ago.
Sugar & Spice – and Beyond
The articles in this special section:Poor Marjorie Morningstar!
Fran Manushkin
Books for the 90s
Sara N.S. Meirowitz
Powerful Adolescent Girls
Naomi Danis
Jewish (But Not Feminist)
Sara N.S. Meirowitz
Feminist (But Not Jewish)
Sara N.S. Meirowitz
Finding Else Ury’s Suitcase at Auschwitz
Anne L. Fox
Israeli Bedtime Stories
Nava Semel
Roseanne (Yes!) on Yidn in Utah
Roseanne
At Last, Jewish Fairy Tales
Jane Yolen
Jewish Before I Was American
Norma Simon
Deborah & Letty
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Please Write One More…
Elizabeth Michaelson
The Book under My Pillow
Leslea Newman
Girls Who Thought about Sex
Barbara Brenner
Searching for Jewish Clues
Johanna Hurwitz
Jewish Rabbits
Rachel Kadish
The Impact of Reality
Yona Zeldis McDonough
God Will Have to Allow It
Esther Hautzig
Sarah Was My Soulmate
Rebecca Goldstein
Uh oh! Babar Celebrates Christmas
Michelle Edwards
Something Good from Hebrew School
Gila Gevirtz
On Yom Kippur When My Stomach Growls
Lisa Pilar Cowan
Safe in America
Paula J. Caplan
So I Had to Write it Myself
Floreva G. Cohen
They were all Orthodox
Deborah Brodie