About Richard

Richard Seidman

Bonjour, I’m Francois DuBois.
I’m here interviewing children’s book author, Richard Seidman.

François: Richard, I enjoyed reading World Cup Mouse, especially the parts with me in it! Your books are really funny.

Richard: Thank you, François. I love to make jokes and funny business. That’s one of the main reasons I enjoy writing – to amuse myself and children (and also the big children that we call “grown-ups”). For me, funny business is a way to love life, and it’s also a way to transform sorrows.

François: Why do you like writing about mice like me and Louie?

Richard: Some of my favorite literary characters are mice: Stuart Little, Doctor De Soto, Norman the Doorman, Desperaux. It’s fun to write about you mice guys.

François: Thanks. Where did you grow up, and what were you like as a child?

Richard: I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I was a really shy child, and to tell you the truth, I’m still pretty shy. Here’s a photo of me when I was about four years old. I didn’t really know how to play chess when this picture was taken, but I liked moving the pieces around. My father, Herb, was one of the best chess players in the U.S..When I was growing up, playing games and sports and reading were the favorite things I enjoyed, and they’re still the favorite things I enjoy today! In high school and college, my number one passion was running. That’s me on the left, running for James Madison High School.

François: My last name, you know, means “of the trees.” I heard that you were part of a tree-planting organization.

Richard: Yes. In the 1970s, I moved to Portland, Oregon, and in 1989 I founded the nonprofit tree-planting group, Friends of Trees. I’m proud that all these years later Friends of Trees is still going strong. More than 50,000 volunteers have planted close to a million trees since the beginning of the organization.

François: Wow, that’s a lot of trees! What other accomplishments are you proud of?

Richard: Well, I’m proud of the book I wrote for grown-ups, A New Oracle of Kabbalah: Mystical Teachings of the Hebrew Letters. And I’m proud that in the fall of 2013, after training in the martial arts for eighteen years, I finally earned a black belt in Shotokan Karate.

François: Congratulations. Remind me not to pick a fight with you.

Richard (laughing): Don’t worry, François.

François: My cheese soufflé is almost done. Is there anything else you want to say about yourself before we close?

Richard: Yes. I’m  a founding member of a local children’s book writing critique group that’s been meeting together every month for more than thirteen years. I compiled and edited a nonfiction children’s book for Benchmark Education, I Am Deaf and I Dance: A Memoir. I’m also the author of  a dozen screenplays for family films, including an adaptation of World Cup Mouse. Maybe you’ll become a Hollywood star, François! I now live in Ashland, Oregon with my beloved wife, Rachael Resch, our elderly chicken, and our myriad stuffed animals and other small friends.

François: Any mice?

Richard: Only a stuffed toy Despearaux looking over my writing desk.

François: I guess that’s better than nothing. Well, thanks for the interview.

Richard: Thank you. Please say hi to Louie for me.

François: Oui. Au revoir.