YES! It’s time to sing Happy Birthday to another wonderful new book!
You all know how much I LOVE nonfiction bios…and one of my dear kid lit friends, Ann Koffsky, has a brand new nonfiction early chapter book…a story that most of you have probably never heard about: THE PEDDLER AND THE PRESIDENT, written by Ann Diamond Koffsky, illustrated by Pedro Rodriguez and published by Apples and Honey Press.

I’m such a fan of history…and here’s a piece of history that is new to me…so I’m grateful to Ann. I’m also grateful that she stopped by to share the story behind the story.
ME: Welcome, Ann! Thank you for visiting Picture Books Help Kids Soar! I’m thrilled that you are going to share some of the back story for this new book.

ANN: Hello Vivian! Thanks for having me.
First of all, let me share a little bit about the book and the main characters.

This is a true story of the lifelong friendship between President Harry Truman and salesman Eddie Jacobson.

Harry and Eddie were unlikely friends. Harry was 19. Eddie was 14. Harry lived on a farm with chickens, cows, and horses. Eddie never even had a pet! Harry was Christian. Eddie was Jewish. But they worked together very well. When they grew up, they served in the army together during WW1, and later founded a hat shop together.

They remained friends their entire lives, and when the question of whether the Jewish people should establish a new country-Israel- it was Eddie who courageously visited his friend and spoke to him on behalf of the Jewish people.

ME: WOW! THAT’S FASCINATING! And I think it reminds us that we all need to make our voices heard when something isn’t right or we have an opinion about something that we need to share!
WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGING MEMENTS OR HUMOROUS INCIDENTS ON THE PATH TO PUBLICATION?

ANN: A humorous incident in writing the book…YES!

I think this was pretty funny!

The climax of the book retells how Eddie Jacobson visited his friend, President Harry Truman, in the oval office, and asked him to meet with Chaim Weitzman to discuss the fate of a possible Jewish state.

Both Truman and Jacobson reflect on this singular moment later in their lives, and Jacobson wrote a detailed account of it, which you can see in detail here:  https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/israel/Truman/jacobson1.jpg

I also read detailed accounts of it in other sources too- it’s a very well documented conversation!

So, here’s the funny part: At the critical juncture of the conversation, Harry agrees to do what Eddie has asked. He says, and I quote, “You win, you bald headed son-of-a bitch!”

I LOVE this quote. Eddie and Harry were in the army together- it’s not surprising that their language was [ahem] salty. And it’s just so real and authentic and I love it.

But I was writing a kid’s book for children 6-8…probably not the right phrase to include, right? Yet, I am a little rebellious so even though I knew I was probably dead wrong, I asked my editor to think about including it, because I KNOW that every 6-8 year old on the planet will also LOVE  that quote!

But my editor, Aviva Gutnick, has tremendous common sense. So she said…uhm, no.

So I proposed how about we do this instead: “You win you bald headed son-of-a!#@#$&!!”

That she  wasn’t sure about, so she sent it to a bunch of educators and asked them. And they said…uhm, no.

So the line is not in the book, because the educators were absolutely correct: it’s not appropriate to curse in front of 6-year-olds.

But I just love the image in my head of Aviva emailing a bunch of thoughtful, childhood educators something like, “hey what do you think of the phrase ’Son-of-a-bitch?’  What do you think of !#@#$$&!”

What an email to write!

I love this job.

ME: And we are so glad that you love this job, Ann…because you write incredible stories…and we get to read them and kids get to enjoy them.

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today and spending your precious time with us. To connect with Ann and learn more about her books, here’s some info for you:

Ann Diament Koffsky is the award-winning author and illustrator of more than 50 books for children, including Ping Pong Shabbat (Little Bee) Different Kinds of Minds with Temple Grandin (Philomel) and the Kayla and Kugel series (Apples and Honey Press).

Recently, she got to visit the Truman library with her family and it was wonderful! She highly recommends it.

You can see more about her work at www.annkoffsky.com/ and you can sign up to receive her free coloring pages on substack here: https://coloringjewish.substack.com/

Order link:

Her Social media links and books:
Ann Diament Koffsky
Author and Illustrator
www.annkoffsky.com
DIFFERENT KINDS OF MINDS with TEMPLE GRANDIN (Philomel, 2023)
PING PONG SHABBAT (Little Bee, 2024)
KAYLA AND KUGEL’S PLAYFUL PURIM (Apples and Honey, 2024)
THE THREE LITTLE SHEEP (Green Bean Books, 2025)
THE PEDDLER AND THE PRESIDENT (Apples and Honey, 2025)
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @AnnKoffsky
On Bluesky @ArtbyAnn:
https://coloringjewish.substack.com/

I hope you check out this book and help it become a success and get into the hands of kids by:
Buying the book
Reviewing the book
Telling friends about the book
Asking your local library to purchase copies for their collection

Have a wonderful week! Can you believe it’s almost MAY?