Sisters Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel,\u00a0who grew up in Syosset, have written a second children\u2019s picture book,\u00a0\u201cProud Mouse.\u201d It features them as colorful mice in elementary school and hearkens back to\u00a0Cara\u2019s quest to embrace her own talents when her older sibling had such an enormous one.<\/p>\n
The release follows their first children\u2019s book, \u201cLoud Mouse,\u201d which focused on Menzel\u2019s struggle to know how much attention to bring to herself as she grew up with a distinctive singing voice. Menzel, 52, starred on Broadway in \u201cRent,\u201d \u201cWicked,\u201d and \u201cIf\/Then,\u201d on TV in the series \u201cGlee,\u201d and most recently plays Adam Sandler\u2019s wife in the Netflix film \u201cYou Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in the world of children and families, Menzel is best known as the voice of Princess Elsa in Disney\u2019s \u201cFrozen\u201d and \u201cFrozen 2\u201d animated movies. If \u201cFrozen\u201d were transferred to the real world, Mentzel would be the Princess Anna to Menzel\u2019s Princess Elsa. Mentzel, 49, who kept the original spelling of the family\u2019s last name, is a teacher and literacy specialist, which is why the sisters, who currently live around the corner from each other in Los Angeles, thought they would be uniquely matched to write children\u2019s books, they say.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always had an idea to have two books, companion books, because they are about two sisters. The first book, \u2018Loud Mouse,\u2019 definitely tells the story of more of my character, Dee,\u201d Menzel says, with Dee being a nickname some friends call her. \u201cHer journey, her need to figure out how much space to take up in the world with her talent and her big voice, literally and figuratively. That was territory that I thought was important to explore. The second book is more about Cara, who is the younger sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
In \u201cProud Mouse\u201d (Disney Publishing Worldwide, $17.99),\u00a0Cara Lee is presenting herself to the world during her first day at the school that Dee also attends, along with fellow students who are different types of animals. \u201cPeople are seeing her through the lens of Dee\u2019s little sister, and she has to navigate what it means to be Cara Lee in a world with Dee,\u201d Mentzel says. \u201cYou have to do a little work to figure out what makes you, you <\/em> when you\u2019re growing up adjacent to somebody like that.\u201d<\/p>\n The hardcover, 48-page book is geared to ages 3 to 7. Its\u00a0story can resonate with any siblings who are navigating their path to define themselves as separate people, the sisters say. \u201cAll these complicated feelings that go with just us really leaning into who we are. I think that\u2019s really what both books are about,\u201d Menzel says.<\/p>\n With that said, Menzel took the opportunity to praise Mentzel\u2019s talents. \u201cShe, for me, is the rock star. I was the muse, I came up with some of the ideas, but she\u2019s really the talented writer in my eyes. And she\u2019s also been the teacher who is another one of our heroes in society. Her connection and her understanding of language and age-appropriate language for kids was very important to me. I just didn\u2019t want it to be this celebrity written children\u2019s book and have no street cred.\u201d<\/p>\n Mentzel introduces kids to \u201cbig words\u201d in the books, such as unprecedented and resonated. \u201cI love language and I love exposing kids to language, whether they\u2019re great big words or great small words,\u201d Mentzel says. The sisters are\u00a0also not above weaving in what they\u00a0called a \u201cbutt joke\u201d \u2014 in the first book, the mouse Dee is so carried away by her singing that her moving butt accidentally erases the writing on the classroom blackboard.<\/p>\n \u201cThat goes over very well with the young kids,\u201d Menzel says. Menzel and Mentzel will do readings, book signings and even sing a duet called \u201cThe Loud Mouse Song\u201d that was written for the books.<\/p>\n The books are based on the sisters\u2019 experiences attending the Syosset School District; Menzel is an alum of the Syosset High School class of 1989, Mentzel is 1992. The elementary school teacher in the books, Miss\u00a0Pink, is named for Menzel\u2019s fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Pincus, whom Menzel called \u201cmy favorite teacher of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n The dedication in \u201cProud Mouse\u201d mentions Pincus, along with Menzel\u2019s music teacher at Baylis Elementary School, Mr. Roper. \u201cHe gave me my first role, in the fourth grade play, which was Dorothy in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’\u201d Menzel says. She called that \u201cprescient,\u201d given that she went on to famously play\u00a0Elphaba, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West, in\u00a0\u201cWicked\u201d on Broadway.<\/p>\n Both of those Syosset teachers have died, Menzel says. The other teachers in the dedication are teacher friends of Mentzel\u2019s from Colorado, where she lived before moving to California about 18 months ago.<\/p>\n In a Zoom interview, the sisters reminisce about using hairbrushes as microphones as they sang around the house growing up. \u201cMy grandfather \u2014 Grandpa Nat \u2014 Nathan, he used to tell stories and sing and dance with me and introduce me from behind the couch. Pop up and we\u2019d put on shows,\u201d Menzel says.<\/p>\n Says Mentzel: \u201cHe\u2019d say, \u2018Introducing\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d say, \u2018Ladies and Germs,\u2019\u201d Menzel added.<\/p>\n Menzel says she first realized her talent was about more than just impromptu performances in their Long Island living room when she was about age 7.<\/p>\n \u201cOur parents took us up to the Catskill mountains, kind of \u2018Dirty Dancing\u2019 style. We went to one of those hotels there with all of their friends. We put on a talent show in this little day camp. I sang \u2018The Way We Were\u2019 on stage. I guess all the parents sort of turned and looked at my parents and said, in their glorious Long Island accents, \u201cStu-ey, you gotta get Idina some voice lessons,\u2019\u201d Menzel says, imitating the accent.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember it to this day the adrenaline, the sort of flush in my skin and my face. It was not just nerves; it was, I believe, excitement because I was on the precipice of something. I remember that distinctly. I had something special to share. I wasn\u2019t sure how it would be or in what capacity, but I had a knowingness there.\u201d<\/p>\n Both women are married with sons they joke have \u201caged out\u201d of their target picture book audience. Mentzel has Avery, 25, and Jake, 20, and a stepson, Oscar, 27. Menzel has Walker, who is 14. The sisters’\u00a0parents, who divorced when Menzel and Mentzel were\u00a015 and 12,\u00a0no longer live on Long Island.<\/p>\n They plan to write a third children\u2019s book, they say. They say it might be about how children often will laugh at inappropriate times. Their working title? \u201cLaugh\u00a0Out Loud Mouse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sisters Idina Menzel and Cara Mentzel,\u00a0who grew up in Syosset, have written a second children\u2019s picture book,\u00a0\u201cProud Mouse.\u201d It features them as colorful mice in elementary school and hearkens back to\u00a0Cara\u2019s quest to embrace her own talents when her older sibling had such an enormous one. The release […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[77,79],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","tag-77","tag-proud-mouse"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/kiproud230906_photos.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Srnq-je","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1194,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions\/1194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.idina-here.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A NOD TO SYOSSET<\/h2>\n