Join LILRC as we welcome Bridget Hodder, co-author of The Promise (Kar-Ben Sept. 5, 2023), co-authored by Fawzia Gilani-Williams and Illustrated by Cinzia Battistel.

A garden is a prayer. It is also a promise. In a Moroccan village, a Jewish boy and a Muslim boy are best friends. Jacob and Hassan play together every day in the cool shade of Jacob’s family garden. They take care of the garden together, watching the roses and the orange trees grow tall. When news of terrible things happening to Jews in Europe reaches their little village, Jacob’s family must leave Morocco. Hassan promises to care for their beloved garden. “While the garden lives, our friendship will never die,” Jacob says. Years pass until, one day, the prayer of the garden is answered. Inspired by a true story.

Bridget Hodder began her career as an Aztec archaeologist, translating ancient stories. Then she realized she had her own tales to tell. She is Sephardic, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, UCLA and Vanderbilt University.

She is also the author of the middle grade fairy tale The Rat Prince (Macmillan/FSG), and co-author of the Kirkus-starred interfaith MG fantasy The Button Box, with Fawzia Gilani-Williams (Lerner Books/Kar-Ben). Bridget’s books have received awards and recognition from Kirkus, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, the International Literacy Association, the Mythopoeic Society, Book Riot, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other organizations.

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