writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
This is me with librarian Lisa Sousa at St. Marguerite in Oakville. Had a GREAT visit today with her students!!! Ms Sousa is in the midst of reading Winterkill to the students and so the questions were about disinformation, history that’s hidden, the bullying by dictators and more. Since there are Ukrainians at this school, I also donated a Ukrainian editions each of Stolen Girl and Making Bombs for Hitler.
I’m immersed in this book right now and am loving it. More later.
It was an honor to be the guest speaker at a gathering of 7th and 8th grade students from Ottawa Christian schools last Thursday. These senior students from 4 schools had selected my novel Don’t Tell the Nazis as their group read. Before my presentation, the classes did their presentations, giving their responses to the assembly. It was deeply moving for me as I watched from the background. There was poetry, flash action scenes. And one class made their own covers of the book.
Don’t Tell the Nazis is based on the real life experiences of Iryna Korpan’s mother and grandmother, Ukrainians who hid their Jewish friends under the kitchen floor in the hopes of saving them from the Nazi Holocaust-by-bullets. I told the students about the real people and the real circumstances.
The book is chillingly relevant, unfortunately.
More on motanka tradition here.
Because in a blink of an eye, the numbers will change. But this shows the power of Ali Velshi. Winterkill shot up on Amazon in both the US and Canada. In the US, Winterkill is currently at #40 overall and is #1 in several categories. Check it out:
I admire Ali Velshi’s fierce defense of freedom to read. His Banned Book Club sheds light on books that illuminate, educate and irritate. Everyone should be able to read what they want and being able to read a variety of books from all different viewpoints is the cornerstone of a democracy. It was such an honor to have Winterkill featured today on Ali Velshi’s Banned Book Club segment, particularly because Ali is in Kyiv right now, highlighting the injustices of russia’s genocidal war. This is so important with the anniversary of the war fast approaching.
I was particularly impressed with the superb research that went into the Holodomor backgrounder as an intro to Winterkill. Deep respect for Ali Velshi.
Here’s the interview:
And a really good backgrounder on the Holodomor here:
#Winterkill tells the story of the very real #Holodomor – or Ukrainian Genocide – Stalin’s calculated attempt to exterminate the Ukrainians and their culture. Sound like today’s war in Ukraine? The parallels are shocking. #VelshiBannedBookClub pic.twitter.com/VPESU73Gsr
— Velshi on MSNBC (@VelshiMSNBC) February 18, 2023
It was a pleasure speaking with 5th grade students and younger about my picture books Enough and Silver Threads, about those who flee from war and about the situation in Ukraine right now. Thank you for the great questions!
