World of Science, World of Fantasy

As a scientist, i should be studying the truth and only the truth. 

But in the world of fantasy, the story sometimes becomes truth.

For example, in Jaberwocky.

Scientists want to study how the world works.

Fiction writers make worlds of their own.

Worlds in which mice are performing artists.

Worlds in which you can have a conversation with your dog, and it gets the upper paw.

Or how about George, the hyperactive frog that saves the day?

or Jeff the Mis-fish. In the fantasy world, a fish can have goggles and take showers.

In which nothing has to make sense. And yet it can…

As a child, Dad read me stories, while I tried to grow watermelons from seeds. In Ottawa. In the winter.

But the best story belongs to my sister Rena. Dad used to sing her “A Frog Went Walkin’ on a Summer’s Day”, a song about the intermarriage between a mouse and a frog.

In the last verse, it says “And what do you think they had on the shelf?”

She would ask Dad, who would answer, “Go look for yourself.” This would drive Rena crazy.

I wrote my first children’s book when I was 22. What are bacteria?

As a Ph.D. student of Prof. Eugene Rosenberg and David Gutnick, a fantastical hypothesis (and wrong, as it happens) turned into an experiment that did work.

Another miracle did happen when I was in my forties. Tel Aviv University published my bacteria book.

Dilemma: Should I come out and tell everyone that I am also a children’s book writer?

I wrote a book about the piano.

And the ludicrosity of it having pedals, when you can’t drive it anywhere.

So I continued my career. I sat in the Dental School of Tel Aviv University, studying oral microbiology, primarily bad breath. My friend Hagai Cohen calls it an ‘aromatic career’.

Still I found time to create a dental play with visiting children. It turned into a short film starring Dudu Dotan. And another picture book.

About a decade ago, I met Rotem Omri, who illustrated many of my picture books.

They are all available for free on Ourboox.com 

Recently, the famous illustrator Danny (Dani) Kerman illustrated my book, The King Who Wasn’t Tall Enough. It’s been translated into dozens of languages and over 15,000 people have read it online.

Why did I do it? Leave my scientific career for the world of fiction and fantasy.

Look at the photos below. Where do I look happier?

That’s the answer.