warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/jreview/jewishreview.org/includes/bootstrap.inc:3) in /home/jreview/jewishreview.org/includes/common.inc on line 141.

MAYA RAIT of Portland Jewish Academy created this and other illustrations for a picture book by David Michael Slater.

Debut of new Slater novel at MJCC fund-raiser for Portland Jewish Academy

By JEWISH REVIEW

article created on: 2009-01-15T00:00:00

Portland children’s author, David Michael Slater, (“The Book of Nonsense, “ “Cheese Louise!”) presents his first novel for adults, the moving comic drama, “Selfless,” at the book’s nationwide launch party Jan. 21 at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.

The adults-only event is also a fundraiser for the Portland Jewish Academy Library, where Slater’s wife Heidi is the librarian. The couple’s son Max is a PJA second-grader.

The event begins at 7 p.m. with a Powerpoint presentation of an unpublished picture book illustrated by a PJA seventh grader.

“Before I read from ‘Selfless,’ I will be presenting via slideshow an unpublished picture book story currently being illustrated by an extraordinarily talented PJA seventh-grader, Maya Rait, who is thrilled for the chance to show off her work,” said Slater. “The story, called Candles, is based on a tale told by (Congregation Beth Israel) Rabbi Michael Cahana a few years back.”

Slater’s “The Book of Nonsense” was a finalist for the Association of Booksellers for Children’s Best of 2008 list and is now a Cybil Award nominee. He also has a film in development, “Mocha Cola High,” with Right Angle Pictures, and seven picture books are slated for publication in 2009.

More information on the author is available at www.davidmichaelslater.com.

Advance reader copies of the novel will be available at the MJCC event.