writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
A reader recently asked if my second trilogy, Don’t Tell the Nazis, Trapped in Hitler’s Web and Traitors Among Us can can be read out of order.
My answer: While there is enough context in each of the novels so that they can be read as standalones, to get a true picture of Krystia and Maria’s experiences in WWII, they should be read in chronological order, which is:
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.
It’s an honor to be included in this commemoration of Kateryna Sikorska and her daughters and to participate in a Q&A about my novel, Don’t Tell the Nazis, inspired by Kateryna and her daughters.
Last Wednesday I had the pleasure to speak with these articulate students from Juda Wisconsin. The session went well beyond the usual hour because in addition to talking about Don’t Tell the Nazis and the Holocaust, we discussed Putin’s authoritarian regime and the horrific assaults on Ukraine right now, and how reading history informs the present. Thank you, Juda students, for your well-considered questions, your compassion and empathy.
