writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
My final school visit for Book Week was on Friday afternoon at École Sherwood Park ES. Students had so many interesting questions and observations about writing, world history, the war in Ukraine, and dyslexia. Often, by Friday afternoon, students are tired, but these young readers were animated and interested. Thanks so much, Patricia Laursen, teacher-librarian!
I had been in correspondence with Linette McNeil, Highland’s teacher-librarian, for several weeks. She had been searching for copies of my Dear Canada novel, Prisoners in the Promised Land, but could only find used copies. Nearly all of my 30 years of books are still in print, but this one currently isn’t. However, a few years ago the Toronto Ukrainian Canadian Congress ordered a special print run in softcover to give as a graduation gift to grade 8 students in Toronto Ukrainian schools. I received some author copies. I brought Linette two of them, and in lieu of payment, she made a donation to the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.
What a lovely surprise I had when I got to the school!
Students were very engaged and asked lots of questions. In the background is my grade 4 report card — the first one — when I was failed.
K, who escaped from Mariupol when the the 2022 attacks began, was in the audience and stayed after to introduce herself. She asked if she could get her sister M out of her class so we could meet and get a photo. A very emotional meeting.
These are the students who introduced me. I’m always impressed with students who are able to get up in front of a big group of their peers and calmly deliver their words.
We got a group pic too!
I was back at Signal Hill in the morning on Thursday and had the opportunity to speak with grade four students. They were very engaged and had lots of questions. In the afternoon, I presented to grade nine students at Pemberton Secondary School. Nicole was also the teacher-librarian for this school! I am impressed and amazed by how many hats she wears! With older students, I like to talk about the process of writing a book, including research and challenges, getting it published, what happens then. We also discussed the need for accurate information, even in fiction. Often grade 9s won’t ask questions, but these students weren’t at all shy and asked away.
I had two sets of grade 6 and 7 students on Wednesday April 29 at Signal Hill ES in Pemberton. Both sessions were in the morning and the kids were fantastic. Teacher-librarian Nicole Benes is amazing! Not only did she organize these sessions, and the ones for tomorrow, but she was taking a bunch of her students on a bike ride midday!
The afternoon was open, so I got some fresh air and took in my stunning surroundings.
And look at this matcha latte, made with care by the barista at Mount Currie Coffee! It was as delicious as it was beautiful. I bought a package of locally roasted coffee as well so I could make coffee in my hotel room each morning. I had brought some with me, but had run out. (I bring my own filters, pour-over cone, and mini-kettle — obsessive, I know)
The last time I did a book tour for CCBC’s Canadian Children’s Book Week was way back in 2014 when I toured Quebec. Before that, I toured Alberta in 2008 and Manitoba in 2002. It’s always a great opportunity to interact with students and educators that I’d never otherwise get to meet. I was at the school about thirty minutes early — I hate being late!
Teacher Librarian Kate Montgomerie greeted me with an enthusiastic smile and told me all about her fundraising efforts to increase her book buying powers. As she talked, she rearranged the library for my presentation, chatted with students, set up my power point. First up were grades 6&7 students, and the next were grades 5&6. I talked about why I write what I write, and my own struggles as a student. They were full of interesting questions and comments.
I took a direct Porter flight from Hamilton, which made things simple. I had prebooked a small AWD SUV from the Vancouver airport Enterprise, but when I got there, they didn’t have my car.
“We can give you an alternate,” said the rep, walking me through the vehicles they had on hand.
“The key is all wheel drive,” I said. “I’m driving on those curvy Sea-to-Sky roads.”
“We’ve got two AWD vehicles available right now,” he said, showing me a Jeep Cherokee and a humungous Mercedes SUV.
I didn’t want to drive a Jeep on curvy roads, but the Mercedes, hmm. “You’ll honour the price on the contract? For a small SUV?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll take the Mercedes.”
“Good choice.” He handed me the keys, put my luggage in the trunk, and left.
I got in the car and tried to figure out the controls. Weirdly, everything was on the wand that on my car is for the windshield wiper. It took me forever to find Park. This was going to be a learning curve. I also had to attach my phone mount so I could use my cell phone as a GPS, and then plug in where I was going.
The rep tapped on my window. “Can you move the car? People behind you can’t get out.”
I still hadn’t located Drive!
I managed to move the car and get it back into park, and keyed in my location, then drove out of the airport and into heavy Vancouver traffic, still trying to get used to the controls. Scary!
I met up with my longtime friend Paulette MacQuarrie, host of Nash Holos, Ukrainian Roots Radio. She had taken the ferry in to meet me for lunch.
We headed over to Kozak Eatery in Gastown, a fabulous Ukrainian restaurant, and feasted on borshch and rye bread, with syrniki for dessert. It was so great to see Paulette in person. We chat often by zoom and phone but hadn’t seen each other in over a decade.
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.
