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A Message from the Author of The Odd Potato,

Eileen Bluestone Sherman:

In the summer of 1982, I made my playwriting debut at Hallmark Cards' Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. Following a performance, an audience member asked me to write an original story for a local cable show she was producing for Hanukkah. That's when I wrote The Odd Potato.

After the taping, I decided to submit the story to a magazine that I remembered from my Hebrew School days in Atlantic City. Several months later, I received my "rejected" manuscript from The World Over with a form letter announcing that after forty-four years they were closing their doors. Disappointed, I went to toss the empty manila envelope into the trash. Suddenly, I stopped myself and checked the mailer a second time. Tucked at the bottom was a short note from a woman at The Jewish Board of Education of New York.

"While I can't personally help you," she wrote, "I believe The Odd Potato has potential." She listed editors at eight publishing houses. The final name on the list, Kar-Ben Copies in Rockville, Maryland, offered me a contract and published my first book.

From print to stage to an Emmy Award-winning television special, The Odd Potato continues to earn the affection of audiences of every age, religion, and nationality. Jewish families throughout the country have embraced The Odd Potato as part of their annual Hanukkah celebrations. Likewise, non-Jewish families have often lovingly nicknamed it "The Hanukkah Nutcracker" or "The Jewish Christmas Carol."

This was particularly evident in 2003 when the popular stage musical made its All-Star concert debut in NYC. Entitled Broadway Sings The Odd Potato, the starry production included the talents of Batman's Frank Gorshin, The Facts of Life's Charlotte Rae, Tony Award Winner Debbie Gravitte, Tony Award Nominee Mark Jacoby, and Grammy Award winner BJ Crosby.

The Odd Potato, which is based on my father's true-life story of growing up during the Great Depression, pulls at the heartstrings of all ages and religions. What has been most rewarding to my sister (the show's composer) and me is that our father's story is repeatedly used by charitable groups to educate, delight, and enhance the lives of thousands of children with special needs. It is with great excitement that we now collaborate with Variety - The Childrens' Charity.

The story's message and the music's spirit perfectly complement Variety's mission to create hope in a child's life.

— Eileen Bluestone Sherman