"Children always ask what my favorite book is. They always ask that. I say Dave at Night. 

"Dave at Night, is the most important to me because of the connection to my father. It's a book that I really feel is special. I love Solly. Solly is one of my favorite characters that I have written."

How did the character Solly come to you?

"When I was doing the research, I looked at a book about the Italian section of Harlem. In this week-long festival of a local church, the book mentioned that an elderly Jewish man with a white parrot on his shoulder would come. The parrot, which only spoke Yiddish, knew enough Italian to offer to tell people fortunes with a deck of cards. And as soon as I saw him in this book, I knew I had to use him.

"Dave has so few allies. I wanted to give him an ally. And to give him an ally that had a little bit of power."