In each installment of "Three Questions With," we get to know a different PJ Library celebrity by asking three questions about their work, their process, and interests. Today we're talking to Marc Kornblatt, author of the new PJ Our Way book, Understanding Buddy. To see more from our conversation with the author, and to sign up for PJ Our Way, visit pjourway.org.
What books inspired you when you were young?
Believe it or not, I have fond memories of reading Dick and Jane books when I was in first grade. Those books are so old your parents probably never read them, unless they were passed down to them by their parents. People today think the books are corny and old-fashioned, but I liked reading about a sister and brother who got along well, as I did with my twin sister Maddy. Plus, as a dog-lover having Spot the dog in the story was also fun and familiar. The books were easy to read, too. There was a series of books about Tom Swift, a young inventor, that was passed down to me from my uncle. The adventures he had traveling around the world made a strong impression on me, as traveling to foreign places has been a big part of my life. I also remember reading condensed versions of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Both were classics that you may have read already, or will read some day, so I needn't say anything more about them except they taught me about excellence. Finally, there was one book that I must have read over dozens of times. It was called Jews at a Glance. It contained short biographies of famous Jews from Biblical times to the 1950s when the book was published. These included scholars, scientists, musicians, actors, athletes, soldiers and political leaders. The book made me proud to be a Jew.
What do you like better, writing books or making films?
I love doing both, though they are very different activities. Writing books tends to be a solitary endeavor, whereas making films is highly collaborative. In recent years, I've made many more films. That work grew out of making music videos and short documentaries with my students when I was an elementary school teacher. I'm a social person who enjoyed working in a classroom, so films were a natural fit. (You can see some of my work here: http://refugefilms.net/school-videos/ and here: http://refugefilms.net/sit-down-with-smith-and-kornblatt/). Since I retired from teaching two years ago, I've devoted myself almost entirely to filmmaking, but I'm starting to return to books.
What are you working on now?
Having spent the past year living in Israel, I'm busy finishing up three short documentaries about life there. Two of them have to do with people I met in Jerusalem and the West Bank. The third features two laughing doves that built a nest outside our bathroom window in Tel Aviv. I'm also working on a new children's novel and volunteering in a fifth grade classroom to sing and talk about books.
Born in Edison, NJ, Marc Kornblatt started out as an actor in New York after college (Brandeis Univ.). He turned to playwriting, earned an MA in journalism (NYU), wrote for magazines and newspapers, published children’s books, married, became a father and then returned to college in his mid 40’s to earn an education degree. Teaching at an elementary school with a large underprivileged population, he began making music videos with students. That led to short narratives, documentaries and the founding of Refuge Films. He has since produced more than 100 short films and four feature-length documentaries — Street Pulse, What I Did In Fifth Grade, In Search of America and the award-winning Dostoevsky Behind Bars.
PJ Our Way lets tweens pick their own free Jewish chapter books and graphic novels each month. Sign your 9-11 year old up at pjourway.org.
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October 2, 2017