News

Rescuing the Children: Book Launch

 I’m pleased to announce that the Jewish Book Festival in Vancouver has invited me to be part of their program this year. I will be speaking about my new book: Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport.

If you are in the area and would like to attend, I’d love to see you! Consider yourself officially invited. The book launch is at the Jewish Community Centre at Oak and 41st on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 1 pm.

For more about the festival, go here and for more about my event, please go here or see the flyer below. Hope you can make it!


New York, New Jersey

I’ve been so sorry to hear all the post-storm news from New York and New Jersey. What a terrible time the residents are having. Still no power for millions of people, others with homes lost, and many with no food, water or gasoline. I am thinking about all of you east-coasters and hoping for a speedy and safe recovery.

Today, I received a personal phone call from the New York Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side. I had pre-purchased tickets to visit the museum on my research trip to NYC. The young staffer from the museum told me they were refunding the tickets because the power was still out on the Lower East Side and the museum couldn’t open. She hoped I was safe and dry.

I asked her if the museum had been flooded, and she reported it hadn’t. She asked me to please visit on my next trip to NYC. I promised I would.

Take care, East Coast folks. Thank you for your call.

Rescuing the Children, Published Today!

I’m happy to announce that today is the publication date for my new book. Hooray! It’s been a long time coming.

Thank you to Tundra Books (a division of Random House Canada) for publishing the book, and to my editors, Kelly Jones, Kathryn Cole and Tara Walker, for their support and help.

And a huge and heartfelt thank you to the book’s contributors who so generously shared their personal stories and photographs. Their memories, quotes and beautiful art bring this book to life.

If you’d like to learn more about Rescuing the Children: The Story of the Kindertransport, please go here or here.

Green Prize for Sustainable Literature

I’m happy to announce that my book Watch Me Grow! A Down-to-Earth Look at Growing Food in the City is the winner of the 2012 Green Prize Award for the Best Community Garden Book for Children, given by the Santa Monica Public Library. To see more about the award, please go here and to read more about the book, please go here.

In addition to that lovely news, Watch Me Grow! was also named as a Best Children’s Book of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education in New York. To find out more about the Bank Street List of Best Books, please go here.

A big thank you to the Santa Monica Library and to Bank Street College for these wonderful honours!

Wild West Coast

It’s been a few weeks since I posted and I am pleased to report that we west coasters have indeed seen the sunshine. We are thrilled!

I recently returned from a trip to the very west coast of Canada — to Long Beach and Tofino, BC. I am posting a couple of photos taken from Mackenzie beach where we stayed. The beautiful sunset photo was taken by my niece on an evening stroll down the beach. The other photo (blue sky, tide out) was taken by moi from the porch of the cabin we stayed in.

As always, it was an inspiring trip, seeing the power of the ocean and the beauty of the rainforest. It’s possible there may be a book in the works. And on that note, I picked up a copy of Long Beach Wild written by my friend and fellow author, Adrienne Mason, who is a Tofino resident. It is fascinating reading. I recommend it!

Hope you enjoy the photos and are having a lovely summer.

Visit to Harry Hooge School

A big bouquet of thanks to Pam Rose, teacher-librarian, and the primary students and teachers at Harry Hooge School for a lovely day. It was great to meet you all and chat about books. You were a wonderful audience!

I wish you a happy June and a relaxing summer.

Salt Spring Island

I’m back after a wonderful couple of days in Salt Spring Island schools. Thank you to Deb Nostdal, teacher-librarian, who invited me and organized my trip. Thanks also to the students and staff at Fulford and Salt Spring Elementary Schools. It was lovely to meet you all!

And speaking of lovely, the photo above is one I snapped at a local beach early one evening. My friend and fellow author, Margriet Ruurs, lives on the island and she took me to see her favourite beach (shown in the photo). She also has a B&B with a literary focus. It’s called Between the Covers, a booklovers B&B.  A great place to stay!

Every time I go to Salt Spring, I check out the real estate listings and dream…

Hello Saltspring!

I’m looking forward to meeting the students and staff at two Saltspring Island schools this week. Hello to Fulford Elementary and Salt Spring Elementary! (It’s interesting that the island’s name can be spelled as either a compound word or as two words. Apparently, both are correct.)

See you soon!

Toronto

I’m just back from a trip to Toronto where I was visiting my publishers. There are many changes going on in the publishing world right now and it seemed like a good time to catch up and chat with people face-to-face.

A few highlights, in a nutshell:

– Spring has arrived in Toronto. It was great to sit outside and eat lunch under a bright, yellow sun.
– My publishers are so smart! They were very hospitable and gave me lots to think about.
– Toronto is a vibrant, multicultural city. It was fun to see areas, such as Rosedale and the fashion district, that I had not visited before.
– I enjoyed strolling through the historic St. Lawrence Market.
– I had a chance to meet my web designer and most recent editor, who were both lovely people.

My conclusions? I need to go back soon. Lots is happening in that great city!

I hope spring sunshine has arrived where you are, too.