COVID-19: two of my stories you can share with your students because I own the copyright

Dear educators, thank you for all that you’re doing to assist your students during this scary and isolating time. Many of you have contacted me, asking if you can record yourself reading from my books. Here’s Scholastic‘s temporary relaxed policy on this, as well as a similar one from Pajama Press.

I cannot give you PDF files of my books.

kobzar

However, I own the copyright on two short stories that were originally published in my anthology, Kobzar’s Children. PDF files for both are posted below. Share them with your students. Print them off if you want. I do ask that you acknowledge me as the author and I’d love it if you let me know when you’ve used my stories.

The Red Boots: this was the very first story I ever wrote and it’s based on an incident in my father’s prairie childhood.

The Forchuk children: from left to right, my father Marshall/Myroslav (called Slavko in The Red Boots), Steve, Wally, Olga, Jean

The Rings: this story is set during the Holodomor, the intentional starvation of millions of Ukrainians in the 1930s by Stalin and the Soviet Union. This story is based on first person accounts and was originally a long sequence in an early draft of my novel, Hope’s War.

hopes
from 2001

Other resources? Check out these trailers for my books, but also the reading from Too Young to Escape, and me reading the first lines from a bunch of my favourite books.

Want to see how I’ve been spending my time in isolation? Check out my pysanky.

Duck egg pysanky

Perfect timing. My husband and I decided to self-isolate during this time of COVID-19. Robin Kirby, a local raiser of ducks, delivered fresh duck eggs to my door! I’ve been having some fun with them! The dyes take differently on duck eggs, so after my first (top left) I switched to a wider kistka and didn’t leave the egg soaking in the dyes, but instead, just dipped or applied with a Q-tip.

Mosaic Books and Third Space Coffee House

On Wed night, the Central Okanagan Teacher-Librarian Association hosted an open house at Third Space Coffee House and Mosaic Books brought the books. So nice to meet and chat!

More Kelowna school visits

Three days were spent presenting in the Sanctuary of the Mission Creek Alliance Church, but I also visited three high schools over the week. I love speaking to high school students and it was also really neat to meet with students from a variety of classes, including Genocide Studies and Creative Writing.

I got to spend an entire morning with a select group of students from two different high schools. We had an intense writing workshop and all participants were given the opportunity to write a scene. I was blown away by their talent.

Once Upon a Bookstore

After finishing Monday’s presentations, Pat dropped me off at Once Upon a Bookstore, a wonderful children’s bookstore owned and operated by Melissa Bourdon-King.

Here’s a pic of Melissa and her mother at Once Upon a Bookstore in Kelowna.

I loved browsing this beautiful store and it was interesting to chat with Melissa and her mother about the research and planning that goes in to their selections. Children’s authors are fortunate to have advocates like Melissa and Once Upon a Bookstore.

Kelowna visit: thank you COTLA!

I’m thankful to have squeezed in this long-planned visit to Kelowna before the world was locked down with COVID-19. The week was planned to a T by the Central Okanagan Teacher-Librarian Association and oh my, what a wonderful week it was. My volunteer driver and problem-solver was retired teacher-librarian Pat Kirkey. What a mensch! We had a wonderful time together. Here are some pics from the week.

On most of the days I spoke to elementary and middle grade students in the Sanctuary of the Mission Alliance Church. The acoustics were spectacular and the surroundings lent an aura of calm and respect. Even though there were 400 or more students in each session, the Sanctuary made it feel like an intimate group. After I finished speaking, I’d invite 15 or so students to the stage to ask questions face to face. Those questions were always interesting and insightful. They were often poignant and heartfelt.