'One Grillie' by Sandy Reitman
Shortly after returning home to Milwaukee after 10 years in New York, Sandy Reitman had an epiphany. She was sitting with her mother, watching her nephews and nieces playing in the waterpark at the Jewish Community Center, when the outline of a children’s story flashed to mind. And that outline looked a whole lot like a grilled cheese sandwich most of us grew up with.
“I had no idea how to get it from a note to myself to a book,” she admits. Asking around, she found a friend who published a book about her dog. This led to a Virginia-based publisher, Mascot Kids, and her new children’s book, One Grillie, brightly illustrated by British-born artist Amelina Jones.
The book’s name comes from what the counter staff at Kopp’s used to shout to the cooks when someone ordered grilled cheese: “One grillie!” The hero of Reitman’s story, intended for ages 4-8, is an anthropomorphic grilled cheese sandwich. Grillie always felt different from all the other little grilled cheese sandwiches and, leaving her home in Griddleville, sought fulfillment in places like Fridge City and Trash Town before she realized: “Were her adventures leading her anywhere?”
The story is clearly autobiographical. “After you hit 10 years in New York, you begin to assess your life,” Reitman says. “I was living with my two best friends, and we were moving further and further out in Brooklyn. I didn’t see the end goal anymore.”
Back in Milwaukee aka Griddleville, Reitman mapped out a story that affirms the value of difference—among kids as well as sandwiches. As Mama Grill tells Grillie when she asks why she feels so different, Mama answers, “We put a special blend of cheeses in you when you were born. One that would never settle for anything less than the extraordinary … and you can be whoever you want.”
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You can purchase One Grillie at Lion’s Tooth (2421 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) and The Smiley Barn (2420 Milwaukee St., Delafield) or at mascotbooks.com/mascot-marketplace/buy-books/childrens/picture-books/one-grillie.
