Author: Marsha

I write historical fiction, mostly from the perspective of young people who are thrust in the midst of war.

Grade 5 students of Josyf Cardinal Slipyj school sing the Kolysanka from Making Bombs for Hitler

When I visited Josyf Cardinal Slipyj school in February, it was a dream experience in so many ways.

The Grade 5 students had prepared a wonderful surprise. Their music teacher had taught them the Kolysanka (lullaby) from the sheet music that I had posted on my website last September.

I was so moved by their performance that I asked if they could record it so I could post it here. Just today, I got an email from Iwona Daciuk, the library technician, with this early Ukrainian Easter gift.

You can listen to the grade 5 students singing here:

Here are the notes:

And the English translation:
Little cradle, little cradle
Rock our little baby,
So she’ll sleep and not cry
So she’ll grow and nothing hurt her –
Not her head nor her whole body.

Thank you, Cornelia Bilinsky, who found the music and translated the lullaby!

Oh, and here is a letter written by the grade 7 students. Did I mention that this was a dream visit? A very memorable school visit!

RFTLOI 2018

Such an honour to be invited to speak at the Reading for the Love of It conference. So many good people and great conversations.

Signing at the Ella Minnow Bookstore booth.

Toronto book launch for Don’t Tell the Enemy

Many thanks to the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter for sponsoring this book launch. We had a wonderful turnout.

One of the highlights was meeting the girls of a CYM book club. I suggested they arrive 45 minutes before the start of the launch so they could ask questions about my other books.

Speaking with CYM book club

The other highlight was being given the opportunity to honour Krystia for her bravery. After my talk, the audience gave Krystia a standing ovation.

I asked her to sit at the table so she could sign books with me. It was also wonderful to meet three generations of her family.

Me with Krystia and her family

Dream author visit at Cardinal Josyf Slipyj Catholic School

Iryna and me

Every once in awhile you get to have one of those perfect author visits. You know the ones I mean, when the teacher-librarian looks after ALL the details, from reserving a parking spot with an orange cone for you to asking you to text as you arrive so she can send students out to help you carry things in? And then you enter and are ushered into a room with a carefully prepared lunch? Iwona also invited Iryna Korpan, the daughter of the real Krystia from my newest novel, Don’t Tell the Enemy. She also invited an interviewer from a Ukrainian TV show.

When I walked into the gym, the students were abuzz with anticipation. They all knew my novels and loved them. Such a receptive audience makes it easy to present — the questions are so great.

And after the presentation there were a number of surprises. Iryna thanked me for writing the story of her brave mother and grandmother, and she also introduced the grandson of Maria, Krystia’s younger sister. He is a student at the school. He stood up and his fellow students went wild with applause.

But the surprise that brought me to tears was when the Grade 5 class sang to me the Kolysanka from Stolen Child and Making Bombs for Hitler. Their music teacher had downloaded the Ukrainian words and music from my website. I am so grateful to Cornelia Bilinsky for scanning this in and sending it to me. They’ve promised that they will record the grade 5’s singing it, and I will upload it here. I can hardly wait!

 

The War Below / Underground Soldier

I am THRILLED that The War Below (Scholastic US) is listed on Amazon.com as a #1 New Release for Children’s Holocaust Fiction, but please don’t be confused by the error on this page. This book is not #4 of my WWII series. This novel is part of a trilogy. This novel was previously published by Scholastic Canada as Underground Soldier in 2014.

The error has been reported to Amazon.com:

Same books, different editions: