Barbara Kimmel has done it all — corporate executive, world traveler, avid volunteer, wife, and mother — and landed on a new career as a children’s book author. Her first book, “Hanukkah Hippity-Hop,” is interactive, rhyming fun that encourages children to explore their Jewish roots through movement.
In the early 1990s, Kimmel and her husband, playwright Hank Kimmel, were immersed in the New York rat race.
“I was working really long corporate hours at Procter and Gamble, and my husband was working as a sports reporter nights and weekends after we got married. A few years in, we said, ‘This is crazy.’ We were corporate people, and it didn’t feel right,” she said.
They bought plane tickets on Pan Am Airlines that allowed passengers to travel around the world with unlimited stops. Their adventures included working in a spiritual community in Scotland and on a kibbutz in Israel.
“We traveled to Vietnam before Americans were even allowed to. We had a really full life, and then came back and decided to re-evaluate,” she recalled.
They moved to Atlanta in 1996 with the intention of living here for three years, but they fell in love with the state — so much so that their third child is named Georgia.
After their three kids graduated and moved out, Kimmel had more time for writing. In 2009, she was diagnosed with dystonia, a neurological movement disorder, which forced her to stop driving.
It didn’t stop Kimmel from writing or volunteering. She takes MARTA Mobility to volunteer with a hospice organization, and she writes from her home office. She is hoping to announce a second book in the spring.
Kimmel’s latest book, “Hanukkah Hippity-Hop,” was inspired by short-form writing contests she entered during the pandemic. Out of hundreds of entries, Kimmel consistently placed in the top five.
“I made the entries rhyming because I couldn’t squeeze [the story] into 50 words, and realized that’s really where I can write best,” she said. “[Hanukkah Hippity-Hop] is really short and really interactive.”
Hanukkah Hippity-Hop is a “get-your-wiggles-out” kind of book. On her book tour, Kimmel is making her way around the Metro Atlanta area, encouraging little ones to jump, wiggle, rhyme, and jive to Hanukkah beats.
“I felt like there was a need for more Jewish books,” she said. “Bringing Jewish joy is so important.”
Kimmel has several appearances coming up:
- Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m. at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur Square
- Dec. 15 at 10:30 a.m. at The Breman in Atlanta and at 1 p.m. at The Spicy Peach in Toco Hills
- Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. at The General Muir in Emory Point
“Hanukkah Hippity-Hop” can be purchased on Amazon and in local book stores.