writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
So excited to be launching book #3 of my Kidnapped from Ukraine
trilogy at a triple book launch with fabulous Canadian children’s
writers, Anna Rosner and her newest, Last Year with Maddie, and Lorna Schultz Nicholson and her newest, The Man in Motion! Hope to see you
there!
Loved visiting with grade 6-8 students from Bond Academy in Scarborough ON yesterday. We talked about learning challenges, what makes an interesting story and my Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy. My favourite question was a writers’ craft one: how do you fix it when you know the whole story that you’re writing but there are blank spots and details that need to be filled in.
My answer? I said that I hate to break it to you, but what you’ve got there is an outline, not a story. And then we discussed what goes into knowing your character and their world.
Another great question was what does it mean, being banned by Russia!
Another one? Why do you write?
On Dec 4th, I did a zoom presentation for the Lecture Series sponsored by the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies, University of Manitoba. Here’s the recording. Many thanks to CUCS!
It was such an honour to be a reading series presenter for the Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National University of Cherkasy last Thursday. The session was via Zoom and made available to the Global Coalition of Ukrainian Studies.
The questions were perceptive and wide-ranging. I was particularly heartened by this feedback from students Bohdan Khmelnytskyi National University of Cherkasy.
Here are some pics from last night’s book launch for Standoff, book 2 in my Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy. Thanks so much to Jen Rudyk for taking them. Had I been thinking, I would have taken a pic of the audience: it was a full house. I was very impressed with Griffin, in the blue shirt, who bought a whole whack of books, plus brought in a couple of well-thumbed copies from home to get signed. He asked such great questions and knew a lot about WWII and WWI history. Sergio from Brant blog had been waiting patiently for an interview so once all the books were signed, Jen got a pic of him doing the interview.
Thank you The Ukrainian Village presented by Village Ukraina Dancers for hosting last night’s book launch for Standoff, book 2 of the Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy! It was wonderful to see so many people wearing blue and yellow and Ukrainian embroidered blouses in support of Ukraine. For those who were not able to make it to the launch but who still want an autographed book, please visit the Riverside Bookshelf 32A Dundas St W, Paris, ON N3L 1G2
Thank you, Brian Thompson, for the great interview!
What a wonderful book birthday present from School Library Journal. Not just such quotable quotes like these:
“brilliantly written”
“sensitive portrayal of the reality facing innocent children and families in a war zone”
“historically accurate quotes and events interwoven”
“VERDICT Purchase for all middle grade shelves.”
But a STAR. Full review here.
