writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Many thanks to Eleanor LeFave and Mabel’s Fables for hosting a wonderful triple book launch last night! April is Canadian Independent Booksellers’ Month, so it was especially sweet to be in this iconic Canadian children’s bookstore right now.
It was an honour to be introducing my newest book with kidlit powerhouses Lorna Schultz Nicholson and Anna Rosner. An interesting and storied evening. And there were cookies and fruit! Thanks to everyone who came out and made it such a meaningful event.
Attended a fantastic launch and presentation yesterday in Woodstock Ontario for Oleksa Drachewych’s new book, Replaying the Second World War, which documents the parallels between Soviet myths, national narrative and atrocities in WWII and what the Russians are doing now in Ukraine. The audience was so engaged that questions could have gone on for the rest of the day.
People had driven in from Hamilton and London to hear Oleksa’s talk, and also to participate in a display of Ukrainian culture. Students from St. Sophia Ukrainian Saturday school performed a dance. A number of the students had read my books and had questions, so after everything was over and people were packing up, we grabbed some chairs and the kids asked questions. I think every question began with, “I have a question, no, actually, I have two …” I was very impressed by these young people!
Today was the 6th time media specialist extraordinaire Tiffanie Lifsey invited me to speak with her fifth grade students in Suwanee Georgia!
There were a lot of budding writers in the audience and many questions focused on that. For example, what does my editing process look like before I send a manuscript to the publisher? How many times in all does a manuscript for a novel go through editing? I think they were shocked by the answer.
There were also questions about the real people behind various characters, but this was the first time I was asked about how I researched for the character of Officer Schmidt, who made appearances in both Making Bombs and The War Below.
It’s hard to wrap my head around the fact that my first book, Silver Threads, came out 30 years ago! Writers are by nature introverts, and one of the hardest things about being a writer is having to endure the “author photo” experience. My first few author photos were professionally taken, but after awhile, I just asked my husband to do it.
I’m thrilled to be touring British Columbia (North Vancouver and Sea to Sky Region) with the Canadian Children’s Book Centre during the week of April 26th! I’d love to visit your school or library! Please help spread the word. Here’s my info sheet with application details.
I have been corresponding with Cristofer Mattern, librarian-extraordinaire at Deretchin school for several years so when I finally got to present in person, it felt like coming home.
All of the presentations and lunches were in the library, which was a cozy and comfortable place to do them. I got so many heartfelt questions and responses from kids and educators — just wonderful!
When librarian Monica Wetzig brought me in to her library, one of the very first students I met was a girl who had come in to see me, but also one who Ms Wetzig had selected to eat lunch with me. It turned out the student was ecstatic. She had come into the library to give me a special gift because we shared a heritage — she was also Ukrainian — plus she loves my books. Ms Wetzig had no idea she was Ukrainian, just that she was an avid reader. It was especially sweet that she was selected for that reason! She brought me a Ukrainian flag and socks!
And she drew this flag for me, with a special message on the other side.
A whirlwind of presentations and lunch chats. A fantastic day!
I was so excited to finally have this visit happen. MaryEllen Bryant, librarian-extraordinaire, and I have been corresponding since the fall of 2019. There was a trip in place way back then for me to visit 5 Conroe ISD schools in the spring of 2020. Who knew in the fall of 2019 that such plans were for naught?
MaryEllen warned me that there would be a LOT of books to sign, so I made sure to have several of my favorite sharpies on hand. She was not kidding! First picture is for posterity. Second is us goofing it up.
All of the 5th grade students came in for an assembly in the morning — 600! And in the afternoon, 600 6th grade students came in. I always save lots of time for Q&A and with big groups, ask for educators to select a number of students to come up to the front to ask those questions. Here are some of the questioners:
There were also a number of Ukrainian students at the school, and so they came forward so I could meet them:
Best moment? The group hug:
In the middle of the day there was time for autographing all those books, plus lunch, with selected students cycling through.
The school day ended and I still had two giant cases of books to sign, so MaryEllen grabbed one case and I took the other and we loaded them into the trunk of my rental car. I was seeing her again on Wednesday night for dinner and that would give me time to get them all autographed up.
My final in-person visit of the school year was with Ms Weverink’s grade 10 English students on May 25th. The class had read Hope’s War together, but they also had Making Bombs for Hitler on their literature list so it was really neat to talk about both of these books because one was the seed for the other. In fact, Hope’s War was the seed for my two WWII trilogies. The students asked a lot of nuanced questions about character development and research and what compels me to write a story about a particular time in history. That led to a discussion about writing on topics that are suppressed and why it’s so important to advocate for people who have been silenced. I pointed out that every single one of them had been bullied at some point and so they should use that experience to put themselves in the shoes of others and advocate accordingly. Some of the students had the refugee experience in their own families so this was a resonant discussion.
