I think the writers you’re hearing from are telling a truth: There can be pressure to pick one focus or, to put it otherwise, to establish a “brand.” What has your range of pursuits done for you in terms of craft and career? Often I hear from new writers that they feel pressured to pick one focus. Hey, I have a newspaper background, too–so much in common! You write fiction and nonfiction across formats and age levels. Writing for children: This was a vocation with long-term potential. (Check out her books, and her reviewing work!) Then I took a class at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, with the excellent Mary Quattlebaum.

But writing books for children is the only job I’ve held for more than six years. I did practice law for several years after law school. Did you practice law or go straight to writing for young readers like I did (or rather like I did after clerking)? Welcome to Cynsations, Debbie! We’re both graduates of The University of Michigan Law School. See also the Glorious RBG Blog (click to view 11 entries). Supreme Court shows that disagreeing does not make you disagreeable and that important change can happen one disagreement at a time. This picture book about the first female Jewish justice of the U.S. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has changed her life, and ours, by voicing her disagreements and standing up for what’s right. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has spent her lifetime disagreeing. I didn’t know before that Justice Ginsburg wears a different lace collar over her robes when she writes a majority opinion from the one she wears when she writes a dissenting opinion.We welcome author Debbie Levy to talk about her new picture book biography.įrom the promotional copy of I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley (Simon & Schuster, 2016): There are notes at the back with more information and listing specific cases. They speak in general terms of cases she presented before the Supreme Court, and then her appointment to the Supreme Court.

After she got married, her family agreed that it was best for her husband to do the cooking.īut the bulk of the book covers her career as a lawyer. I like the pages where it tells what she doesn’t do well – cooking and singing.

Ruth was left-handed, but was told to use her right hand and got a D in penmanship – until she protested. We learn about her childhood in 1940 in an immigrant neighborhood, her love of reading, and family travels where they saw signs that Jews weren’t allowed. This is how Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed her life – and ours.Īlthough the story is told quite simply, it’s still filled with details. You could say that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s life has been.

I Dissent by Debbie Levy