Doreen Klein Robinson Interview
Doreen Klein Robinson is having a great year. Just last October, Doreen’s debut book, Golem Loves Latkes: A Tasty Hanukkah Tale was published by Intergalactic Afikoman. Now, less than four months later, Worthy Kids has published her second book, A Place to Pray. I am thrilled to feature an interview with Doreen who has graciously agreed to answer a few questions about her newest book.
Doreen Klein Robinson Discusses
A Place to Pray
Q. Doreen, thank you so much for taking time to talk about your new book. What inspired “A Place to Pray”
A. Thank you so much for having me on your blog – you do so much for the book-loving community! I was inspired to write A PLACE TO PRAY after reading about the tragic electrical fire that destroyed Middle Collegiate Church in December 2020. This historic church was so much more than a house of worship – it was a community and I began to imagine how that community felt because now they had no place to pray. Thankfully, nobody was in the church since the fire took place during COVID – but I think the entire world was suffering from loneliness and it gave me a heightened sense of the human need for community.
Q. What research did you need to do for the book?
A. As a former journalist, I love doing research before writing about a topic or covering a story. So I approached this the same way – by doing some investigative research. I read every article and watched every news clip about the fire. I even read the fire department’s report.
Although the story is fiction, there are many elements and plot points that are derived from the true and tragic fire at the church. The back matter includes additional facts about the fire, the church and synagogue, the New York Liberty Bell and the Yiddish Theater Walk of Fame – so tons of research and fact-checking went into that section.
I was also able to do hands on research – a field trip if you will – while on a trip to New York in June 2023. I walked the path from East End Temple to the site of the burned down church and was able to tour the temple and stand inside the sanctuary. I had already written the manuscript (which had not yet sold) – but being there gave me goosebumps …and hope.
Once the manuscript was acquired, I did a Zoom interview with the clergy from Middle Collegiate Church and East End Temple – Rev. Dr. Jacqueline Lewis and Rabbi Joshua Stanton. That helped me learn about their friendship, their congregations and the ways in which they work together to spread unity in the community.
Q. This is a fictional story based on fact. Why did you write about two children instead of the friendship between the rabbi and the reverend?
A. What a great question! I felt it was important to write about two children of different faiths rather than have the story center around the friendship between the reverend and the rabbi. Picture books are both a mirror and a window – a way to see ourselves and see people that are different from us. Using children as the main characters gives the child reader an opportunity to see things from a kid’s point of view, making it accessible and relatable. This enables the child reader to see what compassion, empathy and kindness looks like from another child’s perspective – and hopefully they can be inspired to be like those child characters!
When a parent, teacher or caregiver (or child) has finished reading the story, they can engage with the reader and discuss the characters, the story’s themes and the emotional arcs. There’s also a downloadable activity packet on the Worthy Kids website – which can be found here.
Q. How did you go from that initial story seed, to the finished book? Were there any major revisions?
A. This was one of those stories that just came out all at once. I knew I wanted to write about a child that wondered where his friend would pray after witnessing the church fire. I wanted the reader to see the child’s empathy and trace the child’s steps from the church to the temple. I wanted to honor the church in all its glory and the New York Liberty Bell, which survived the fire. I wanted to create a concept (unity and community), a landscape (the path that the boy knew by heart), and these two characters (the boy and the girl) and I wanted it all to feel real, since some of it is based on a true event.
I wrote the first draft in early 2021. After feedback from various critique partners, I made some minor revisions. I even entered the manuscript as my work in progress for a mentorship program and received honorable mention. During a Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators conference in May 2023, I was paired up with an amazing agent, Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary, for a critique of this manuscript. I was super nervous, because Karen is a rock star and I was an unpublished, unagented author with a BIG dream. Karen was so kind and calming and she loved the manuscript as is and offered to represent it. Needless to say, I was elated.
A few months later, Rebekah Moredock, an acquiring editor at Worthy Kids (at the time) loved the manuscript and asked for a revise and resubmit. Rebekah was instrumental in pushing me to explore the girl and her POV more in depth. In doing so, the girl’s emotional arc was stronger and so was the manuscript. Revealing her story, her sorrow, her grief, unearthed the universal message – the boy and the girl (and ultimately, all of us) want the same things: a place to pray. Rebekah took it to acquisitions and we inked the deal with Worthy Kids/Hachette Book Group on September 13, 2024.
Q. Most authors get very little opportunity for input about the illustrations. Did you provide any art notes? Once you saw the illustrations, did you need to ask for changes or change any of the text to match the pictures?
A. I was so fortunate to be involved in the process from the start. The publisher at Worthy Kids shared portfolios of some very talented artists and illustrators. I was given the opportunity to rank them – which was very difficult because they all had such unique and beautiful work. It turns out, the publisher went with my number one choice, Yuke Li. One of the reasons I thought she would be the best illustrator for this manuscript is that she was the only one that lives in New York and I felt that she could capture the NY landscape/cityscape best.
I may have had a few art notes, but I think the art director removed them before sharing the manuscript with Yuke. I shared a folder of photos that included images of the church before and after the fire, as well as the temple, the New York Liberty Bell, and the stars on the ground for the Yiddish Theater Walk of Fame.
From the start, the art director showed me Yuke’s sketches of the boy and girl and included me in discussions about Jewish representation. They were very open to my suggestions and appreciated my photos of East End Temple and Jewish objects, such as a tallit (prayer shawl). The clergy in the story were drawn as fictional characters (any resemblance to Rev. Dr. Lewis and Rabbi Stanton is coincidental).
Q. Was there a message that you tried to send to your readers?
A. My hope is that readers of all ages, races, and religions come away with this:
– Be the unity in community.
We are living in a time of divisiveness – rising racism and antisemitism, all types of discrimination – around the world. I really want children to see that we are more alike than we are different and that if we all subscribed to The Golden Rule: Love Thy Neighbor – the world would be a much better place.
Q. Do you have any other books in the pipeline that readers can look forward to reading?
A. I’m working on several projects that I’m very passionate about, and hopefully they’ll become books in the not-too-distant future! I feel very fortunate to be on this journey ~ it’s a dream fulfilled and truly an honor to write stories for children. Thanks for having me on your blog and for all you do for the book-loving community!
About Doreen Klein Robinson
Doreen Klein Robinson has more than twenty-five years of storytelling experience as a career journalist and editor for community newspapers. In 2022 Doreen was awarded a scholarship for PJ Library’s Emerging Authors. In 2023 she was the recipient of the Florida SCBWI Mirror and Windows scholarship. When writing, Doreen looks for the heart of the story, hoping to inform and inspire her readers. She loves telling stories that spread universal messages of kindness and connection.
Learn More about the Author
Find out more about Author and her books at writerdoreenrobinson.com
You can learn about her books and buy them at major retail cites through the links on her book page.
Storybook Lady
Review
A Place to Pray
“Where will they pray?”
Doreen Klein Robinson has written a touching story about the community and friendship. Based on a true story, Klein tells how a Jewish congregation stepped up and shared it’s sanctuary with the congregation of a destroyed church.
In December 2020 when the fire destroyed the historic Middle Collegiate Church in New York City the congregation was devastated. The church, congregants and neighbors all wondered “Where will they pray?” But Rabbi Joshua Stranton of the East End Temple reached out to his friend Reverend Jacqueline Lewis. The temple opened their doors and for several years the building housed both congregations.
This book is more than a story about a place to pray. Rather than simply reporting the facts, the author didn’t concentrate on the adults but framed the story in the friendship of two youngsters and the similarity between them. They both take similar walks with their family to a house of worship on Sabbath. They both wave to their friend. They both see the destroyed church and wonder about the congregation and think “Where will they pray?” Yuke Li’s watercolor illustrations capture the sunny beauty of the historic church with it’s steels, steeples and stained glass windows and she contrasts it with dark clouds of smoke and the sooty shell of the ruined church. She captures the expressions of heartache in the crowd.
Where Will They Pray is a perfect story about cooperation and friendship that shows children that even if we seem different we are all alike in many ways.
About A Place to Pray
Picture Book
Setting – New York City, 2020
Publisher : Worthy Kids
Publication date : February 3, 2026
Print length: 40 pages
You can read a review of Doreen’s first Book, Golem Loves Latkes here on my 2025 Hanukkah Book post
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Check out Bubbe’s Bookshelf for reviews on other Jewish Children’s books. For more children’s books read the reviews on the Picture Books and Children’s Books shelves. Interested in other genres? I have almost two thousand reviews on Goodreads. With shelves for several genres and interests, I can help you find the story on your next read.
