Terri Libenson - The Pajama Diaries: Bat-Zilla

The Pajama Diaries is distributed internationally by King Features Syndicate, Inc. For information, write King Features Syndicate, Inc., 300 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019 The Pajama Diaries: Bat-Zilla copyright 2013 by Terri Libenson. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for a review. For information, write to ISBN: 978-0-9833272-6-4 Library of Congress Number: 2013945424 See www.pajamadiaries.com for the latest news, daily strips, and merchandise.

You can also find The Pajama Diaries page on Facebook. If you would like your local paper to carry The Pajama Diaries, please contact the newspaper editor and request that they add it to their lineup. Printed by Laserwave Graphics - www.Laserwave.com When I created the Kaplans in 2004, I wanted the comic family to mirror my own. That meant being honest about every aspect of my life. Judaism is part of that. However, I didnt set out to make it the focus of the strip.

The Kaplans happen to be Jewish, much like other cartoon families happen to be other religions. Instead of writing Christmas-themed Strips in December, I would write about Hanukkah. When the High Holidays rolled around, I would include those, too. Theyre all part of our family traditions. When The Pajama Diaries launched in 2006, my editor and I jointly decided to tread lightly with the Jewish themes at first so as not to alienate readers from the get-go. By December 06, we threw some caution to the wind.

My editor proposed, What if you wrote a few strips about what its like being a Jewish family during all the Christmas hoopla? How would Jewish parents talk to their kids about Santa visiting their friends homes? Would they feel left out? He was genuinely curious, which triggered an itch to explore this. After all, we were living it. Those few strips turned into a two-week Story line. This set the ball rolling. Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and even a few Shabbat strips followed over the years. Most of them are fairly lighthearted.

I deliberately try not to get too religiousI certainly wouldnt want other cartoonists to impose their religion on me. The 2010 Yom Hashoah strip is the only one that departs from this light-heartedness, and its especially dear to me. I wrote it in honor of my husbands grandmother who lost most of her family in the Holocaust. This abridged book is separated into my favorite Jewish holiday-themed strips and the 2012-13 storyline which focuses on the planning of Amys Bat Mitzvah. The holidays come first. More on the Bat Mitzvah series in the pages to follow.

Enjoy! -Terri Libenson, 2013 I always knew I wanted to do a Bat Mitzvah story line. My own daughter had her simcha booked in 2010a full three years in advance. If thats not immediate comic material, I dont know what is. The parties associated with these events tend to be overblown compared to only a few decades ago. While I myself enjoy a good party, I knew Id be instantly torn between wanting to keep my daughters affair simple and impressing the heck out of our out-of-towners. Our limited budget eventually took care of the dilemma.

Writing about the secular vs. spiritual aspects of Bat Mitzvah planning was instant catharsis. On one hand, I relished this life-defining milestone and took pride in my daughter conquering the blessings and Torah portion. On the other hand, my control-freak tendencies threatened to sabotage everything. This dichotomy became a theme. My intention was to write about Jill getting so caught up in the material side of the event-planning, that she loses sight of the spiritual sideand, of course, how she eventually comes around.