For the past year, the National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis (NCJWSTL) has been planning the annual Back to School! Store, scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 4. The organization’s volunteers and staff have now secured a massive stash of school supplies, winter coats, shoes, hats, gloves, backpacks and books.
On Monday, July 29, NCJWSTL made one of its last pickups for the big event: a children’s book, “The Perils of the Peanut Butter Kid,” written by the late Cynthia Kagan Frohlichstein. Frohlichstein died in January at age 94. She was a tireless volunteer who co-chaired the 20th anniversary celebration of the Jewish Book Festival.
Over the years, Frohlichstein won a number of awards for her writing. She wrote “The Perils of the Peanut Butter Kid” seven years ago. Creating a children’s book was a labor of love for the veteran journalist.
“The main idea is a boy who loves peanut butter and his mother keep buying him bigger and bigger jars of it,” said Betty Kagan, Frohlichstein’s daughter. “It’s based on a story she used to tell her grandson. This was her first children’s book. She was primarily a travel journalist.”
After writing the manuscript, Frohlichstein secured an illustrator and graphic designer, then self-published the hardbound book.
“She had an initial print run of 2,000, and she sold or donated about half of them,” Kagan said. “The other half was in her storage unit.”
Since Frohlichstein’s death, Kagan has been managing the emotionally taxing task of going through her mother’s belongings. She recently found 1,000 copies of “The Perils of the Peanut Butter Kid” and started thinking about where she could donate them.
“I knew it was almost time for the Back to School! Store,” she said. “I thought, ‘I better call Ellen Alper’ (NCJWSTL CEO). She said she could take 1,000 copies, which is exactly what I had.”
Those books will be among the treasure trove of back to school supplies many St. Louis area underserved kids will receive next Sunday. It’s the perfect way of honoring Frohlichstein, Kagan said.
“She donated a lot of them over the years,” she said. “This is what she would have wanted.”
