In collaboration with two Brandeis graduates, Prof. Martin Levin (POL) published his first children's picture book this past December titled Little Cheese: The Brie that Brought Sunshine to Chicago.

Levin has been a professor at the University since the 1970s and has taught a wide range of courses, including classes on political leadership, the politics of the novel and policymaking. In an interview with the Justice, Levin said that during his time at Brandeis, Levin has published nine books in political science and public policy.

Little Cheese is Levin's first published book of fiction, however, and when asked how writing children's fiction compares to writing academic work, Levin equated the two, saying that in both, you have an "idea and you explain it."

The book is a new take on an old story-the story of the ugly duckling. In the book, a piece of Brie cheese living with his loving parents in France has only one problem: he is yellow. Yellow is apparently a stigmatized color for Brie in France. "[The French] want their brie to be creamy white," Levin writes on the first page of his book.

Levin plays with a pun as he states that the Little Cheese could never become a "Big Cheese" if he stayed in France, due to his unfavorable color. Thus, Little Cheese takes a journey to Chicago-where people are not so picky about the color of their cheese-and embarks on an adventure in which he finds solace and comfort in imagination and discovers his true passion: cooking. His yellow color actually helps him in the end, since only yellow cheese, as mentioned in the book, is "able to stand the heat" of the kitchen. Little Cheese finally becomes a "Big Cheese," working in a restaurant in Chicago.

Elizabeth Davenport's '08 playful illustrations add context and emotion to the story-portraying the Little Cheese content in his home in Paris, struggling to fit in as he wanders the streets of Chicago, and finally finding his place within the kitchen.

The inspiration for the book's unusual cast of characters came from a single image: a piece of half-eaten Brie cheese sitting on a table with other half-demolished food at a child's birthday party. The "idea generates momentum," Levin said. He had an idea about a piece of cheese and went with it-finally creating a story around the idea.
"I thought of the Brie coming from France and right away I had in mind the scene that the book touches on-it's the ugly ducking story. It's about an outsider. It's about an immigrant. It's about loss," Levin said.

Levin wrote the book for his grandson, Emilio, who is now 10 years old and has read the unpublished story since his childhood. He wanted to create "a story that would make sense to him," and thus, Levin tailored it specifically to his grandchild, setting the novel both in Provence, France where his father grew up, and in Chicago, where Levin's side of the family is from.

Levin discussed his collaboration with his co-author and editor, Nathan Porteshawver '09, and illustrator, Davenport, a post-baccalaureate student. Levin said that he has been in touch with many of his former students over the years. "I consider my students my equals and my colleagues... and I learn from them." 

In an email to the Justice, Porteshawver mentioned that he took Levin's course in the Politics department, "134A: Politics and the Novel," and wrote a paper during an independent study under Levin's advisement. "Even then he treated me like a collaborator, like he does with most of his students," he said.

Porteshawver mentioned that he and Levin are currently working on an article called "The Collaborationist" that, he said, "takes on the authorship debate surrounding Shakespeare's work. In a way, this article will describe how Marty and I view collaboration in general," he said.

Levin is currently working on a memoir of his father, living in Chicago, a character that he compares to Willie Lowman in Death of a Salesman-only successful. He is also in the process of writing another children's book for his second grandchild.