Abigail Halpin: Hi, my name is Abigail Halpin and I'm the illustrator of Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin. What drew me to the project was, as a child, I had watched Sesame Street when Itzhak Perlman had been on and I had really terrific memories and it had actually inspired me to learn to play the violin later on. Between that and my own connection to the instrument, it was a project I knew I really wanted to be involved with as soon as I read the manuscript.

I did a lot of research for this book, more so than others because it was non-fiction. So there was a lot of photo research, looking up what Tel Aviv would've looked like when Itzhak lived there, different things about orchestras, New York City during the same time period. So it was like being a detective on a mystery case, finding all this information, and then developing sketches from that research.

After the research, I did sketches and then the sketches went to the editor, art director. We did a few rounds of those to get everything right, especially because it was a historical character. And then after that, I did the artwork as paintings in watercolor wash and colored pencil, and then the paintings I brought to Photoshop and tweaked some final colors, added textures.

I think the thing that stands out to me most about Itzhak Perlman is his joy for life, his joy for music, family, and in the artwork that was something I was hoping to capture. So if there's anything that readers take away from it, it's that hoping to find the good around you and to just really love life and pursue it.

My favorite image from the book is when Itzhak is actually standing in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater and he's getting ready to go in. He's holding his violin and there's all the hustle and bustle of New York around him. And I put a little sailor with red hair in the picture and it's actually my grandfather who's from New York City. So that is probably why it's my favorite. I love just the emotion and the excitement and the image of Itzhak getting ready to go into the theater, but also the personal connection I have to it.