She is interviewed by Netanel Semrik, CEO of Contento Now Publishing House.
As the saying goes, the grass is always greener on the other side. Sara Shalev’s grass dolls, however, are green and grin for everybody. It was during the COVID-19 lockdowns, that she managed to answer the longing of people all over the world for nature and going outdoors. Her innovative solution Grass Heads: the dolls with grass on their head which always smile and can be grown everywhere.
Shalev had taken it a step further, writing a book intended for international readership, titled “Granma Louly’s Grass Heads”. It was even translated to English recently, being so relatable in a world facing the COVID-19 challenges.
At first, Shalev wanted to name the main character Grandma Sara, but then, her daughter, together with her 8-year old daughter (who quickly became her apprentice), gave her a genius marketing advice, to give her a name more appealing to children. Since there was a certain “Grandma Loulou” who lived in the same building, Shalev decided that “Grandma Louly” in the title sounded cooler.
“Granma Louly’s Grass Heads” offers tips on growing plants, with the use of household items, such as seeds found in the pantry and discarded items such as dispensable trays and empty spray cans. Thanks to this book, children all over the world could make Grass Dolls, and grow and shape their gassy-hair, reusing all kinds of discarded items.
The success of this book among Israeli children urged the writer to address children all over the world, so its translation to English became inevitable.
This book is for all those who are still children in heart, who love nature and support recycling and sustainability.
The love of grass and the desire to grow it successfully is an essential attribute of good-natured humanity, which constantly tries to justify its existence.
Sara Shalev had also been educating children more directly, as a teacher in Shalva School, in Haifa, for about four decades. One of her former students is an Israeli celebrity comedian, who congratulated her for her book’s publication. As a grandma, Shalev is well aware of the importance of hairstyling among children and teenagers.
Semrik: “How did you fell in love with Grass Heads?”
Shalev: “I met them by accident, when I glanced at a young man carrying a case of Grass Heads on the street, and he offered me to buy them. Being a child trapped in an adult body, I still miss my childhood home where I had a garden with grass and fruit trees, as opposed to the high-rise, garden-less building where I live now. Naturally, I couldn’t refuse”.
“It was love at first sight. I was enchanted by what seemed to me the look the plants gave me. They triggered something which was teeming deep inside me, as if speaking with me with no words. To this very day, I enjoy passing by a Gras Head, looking at him, and it seems to utter word of flirtation. All it takes to participate in such a dialogue is being attentive to yourself and the life teeming all around you”.
“That constant dialogue between living creatures and plants is universal, but is especially intense among attentive and intelligent children. Just like children, plants are the most innocent creatures, as far as love is concerned. The love you give them is the love you get”.
Semrik: “When did you first share your hobby with your school students?”
Shalev: “It was somewhere in 1995, when I first brought Grass Heads to my school, and my six-graders were completely enchanted by them, like curious kids.
They became so thrilled, that they gave up their breaks in order to learn from Granma Louly, which was me, how to grow and sell grass heads. The money we’d made by selling them, we used to pay for a class trip.”
The last lockdown turned this hobby into a necessity for Shalev and her granddaughter, as a way to escape the despair and melancholy caused by COVID-19. “While everybody was down, we had fun here”, Sara declares, with an 8-year old girl’s spark in her eyes, waving her book and boasting of her grass heads which grow all over the place in her house.
She and her granddaughter handled that darkest hour by growing grass heads like mad, shaping their hair insanely and placing them all over.
This is how that book was born. Its international edition, which, as mentioned above, is launched today, may serve as a kind of remedy for a world still threatened by COVID-19-related lockdowns.
So, if you feel you have nobody to talk to, just read and imitate what Granma Louly does, in order not to feel lonely. After all, we all have grass growing deep inside our heads, and we can talk to it.
Media Contact
Contact Person: Sara Shalev
Email: Send Email
Phone: 0546603761
State: Merkaz
Country: Israel
Website: www.contentonow.co.il