KC native returns with Chanukah book

When Neil Shapiro returns to his hometown next weekend to sign copies and talk about the latest book he has illustrated, “The Amazing Menorah of Mazeltown,” (Red Rock Press, 2009) he’ll be coming full circle, so to speak.

That’s because his first published illustration was done in connection with a Jewish holiday while living in Kansas City. That was the 1964 Rosh Hashanah edition of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle, where Paul’s mother, the late Anne Schirn, worked as an administrative assistant to then-Editor Milton Firestone. Teen-age Neil Shapiro drew a rabbi blowing a shofar and a Torah scroll for that edition of the paper.

His artistic inclination led him on to a 35-year career in the advertising industry in Chicago, working as an art director and creative director. Since his retirement a few years ago, he has worked primarily as an illustrator.

“I am real excited to be coming back to Kansas City,” Neil Shapiro said in a phone interview from Chicago this week. “This book that I am coming in to town to sign is my first Chanukah book. …

“It’s the story of little village on the banks of a Cry-Me-A-River, based on a story that I first wrote about 40 years ago, as a Chanukah present for my first wife while I was in art school. I sat on it. I didn’t do anything with it. I had made up a little dummy book … and gave it to her as present.”

A few years ago, Shapiro illustrated another book for Red Rock Press, which he called “a very successful, little gift book called ‘Wisdom and Wacks for the Graduate.’ It is excerpts from commencement speeches. That’s how I hooked up with the publisher, and they asked what else I had going on.

“I described this menorah idea that had been sitting in the back of my head all those years. They loved the idea, but they were not crazy about my writing.”

Collaborative process
Shapiro said that on his recommendation, the publisher reached out to the husband-and-wife writing team of Hal Dresner and Joy Fate. Hal Dresner is a retired screenwriter (“The Eiger Sanction,” “Night Gallery,” etc.), whom Shapiro has previously met and with whom he had hit it off.

The couple accepted the offer to write the book, and the entire process from idea to publication took about 18 months, Shapiro said.

“I put my ego on the shelf and decided to do what it takes to get it done,” Shapiro said. “So the writing was a compromise between what I had done and the new version. I decided my contribution was going to be strictly visual. I take no writing credit.”

Shapiro pronounced himself pleased with the final version.

“It is the story of Mazeltown,” Shapiro said, “and how it was plunged into darkness when the molehills surrounding it grew too tall and became mountains. At the same time, Molly finds a menorah in back of her father’s junk shop. It was left by an old rabbi. It has an unusual center stem, with four rabbis stacked on top of each other with their arms outstretched, so that each hand holds a candle.

“Once my contribution became purely visual, I decided to do something to make it stand out, and I hope the menorah is that,” Shapiro said.

“Every night a candle is lit, a new kind of lightness comes to the town the following day, he said. “It’s a very simple story.”

Shapiro said he has several other book ideas percolating in hishead, but he declined to discuss them, other than to say they, too, involve Jewish holidays.

In addition to his visit to Kansas City, Shapiro will do some talks in the Chicago area timed to coincide with the Chanukah season.

Neil Shapiro talks books
Neil Shapiro will appear at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 13, at the Barnes & Noble store in the Oak Park Mall, 11323 W. 95th St. It’s free and open to the public.
He will also make several appearances Monday, Dec. 14, at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy and at the Jewish Community Center Child Development Center.

Trackback(0)

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Write comment