ABOUT THE BOOK
IF I WERE RICH tells the story of a girl who fantasizes about what she would do if she became wealthy. She imagines various changes that she would make in her life if she were rich, but she finally decides that she is better off staying the way she is. Can you figure out why?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Israel (then called "Palestine"), Judith Weinshall Liberman came to the United States in 1947 to pursue higher education. She earned four American university degrees including two in law, a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and an LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School. After settling in the Boston area in 1956, she studied art and creative writing. Beginning in the early 1960s, and for four decades thereafter, Ms. Liberman created numerous series of artworks. Her art has been widely exhibited, and is represented in the collection of museums and other public institutions. During her long career in visual art, Ms. Liberman wrote several books, among them some picture books. Her book THE BIRD'S LAST SONG (Addison-Wesley, 1976), which she also illustrated, won a citation as one of the "fabulous books of the year." Since 2012, she has published several additional picture books, including ICE CREAM SNOW, THE LITTLE FAIRY, COLOR IN OUR WORLD, THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND, HAIFA, ANGEL'S PUPPIES, THE GIANT HOUSE, THE BEE AND THE BUTTERFLY, THE MOUNTAIN, THE TUNNEL, THE OLD DOLL, THE LITTLE SONGBIRD, FIFTEEN FABLES, TWELVE MORE FABLES, THE BIRD WHO WENT TO HEAVEN, A PARAKEET FOR ERIC, TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY, THE GIRL AND THE PIGEONS, MORE TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, MICHAEL AND THE FLAG, WHAT WILL I BE?, and IF I HAD THE POWER. Judith Weinshall Liberman's archives can be found in the Arts Department of the Boston Public Library and at the Smithsonian Archives of American Art.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
IF I WERE RICH is the sixteenth book on which Judith Weinshall Liberman, the author, has collaborated with Gail Davis, the illustrator. Since Ms. Liberman did not feel that, in light of her deteriorated eyesight, she could do justice to illustrating IF I WERE RICH herself, she selected a fine artist, Ms. Gail Davis, to create the illustrations under the author's guidance.
The two had previously collaborated on THE LITTLE FAIRY, on THE VERY OLD PAINTER AND HER HUSBAND, on ANGEL'S PUPPIES, on THE GIANT HOUSE, on THE MOUNTAIN, on THE TUNNEL, on THE OLD DOLL, on FIFTEEN FABLES, on TWELVE MORE FABLES, on A PARAKEET FOR ERIC, on TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, on IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY, on MORE TALES OF HUMAN FOIBLES, on MICHAEL AND THE FLAG, and on IF I HAD THE POWER. In the present book, Ms. Davis beautifully captures the spirit of the story and of its characters.