The Author and Illustrator

Melania Levitsky is a theater director, actor, teacher, singer, mother, friend of the birds and the ground. She splits her time between New York City and Upstate NY. This is her first book.

The Book

Thirteen years ago I was looking for material to adapt for a new children’s play. A friend suggested I look in The Giving Box, a small book of international folktales collected by Fred Rogers.

“The Gold in the Ground,” from Kazakhstan, captured my attention. Who would not love a story about a farmer and a shepherd who find a pot of gold nobody wants? Inspiration sprang from the pages and soon we were rehearsing with a cast of nine actors. We incorporated music from Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Iraq with costumes, props, traditional songs and dancing. We performed the play in 39 different schools and theaters over the course of three years.

When that time ended, the story was still very much alive in me so I started illustrating. I hoped to one day make it into a children’s book. Finally, it is here!

Making a book is very different from making theater. I highly recommend both.