Every once in awhile you get to have one of those perfect author visits. You know the ones I mean, when the teacher-librarian looks after ALL the details, from reserving a parking spot with an orange cone for you to asking you to text as you arrive so she can send students out to help you carry things in? And then you enter and are ushered into a room with a carefully prepared lunch? Iwona also invited Iryna Korpan, the daughter of the real Krystia from my newest novel, Don’t Tell the Enemy. She also invited an interviewer from a Ukrainian TV show.
When I walked into the gym, the students were abuzz with anticipation. They all knew my novels and loved them. Such a receptive audience makes it easy to present — the questions are so great.
And after the presentation there were a number of surprises. Iryna thanked me for writing the story of her brave mother and grandmother, and she also introduced the grandson of Maria, Krystia’s younger sister. He is a student at the school. He stood up and his fellow students went wild with applause.
But the surprise that brought me to tears was when the Grade 5 class sang to me the Kolysanka from Stolen Child and Making Bombs for Hitler. Their music teacher had downloaded the Ukrainian words and music from my website. I am so grateful to Cornelia Bilinsky for scanning this in and sending it to me. They’ve promised that they will record the grade 5’s singing it, and I will upload it here. I can hardly wait!
