I just received the most beautiful package of letters and cards from students and staff at JL Simpson MS (Virginia) in response to 6 virtual visits over two days that we did together a few weeks ago. Jeannine and I had corresponded about this for about a year and I was very impressed by the students and their in-depth questions on a wide variety of my books, and about history, and about the current war in Ukraine. The letters were tied in a blue satin ribbon, and the cards are amazing. Individual student artists created cards based on scenes from books. The artwork below is inspired by Stolen Girl, about Nadia’s joy at having a tree with a swing, now that she’s safe and living with people who love and care for her.
This is from Making Bombs for Hitler, when Lida is in the Displaced Persons’ camp. She’s checking the hundreds of bits of fluttering paper that have been attached to one of the few stone walls still standing. Each paper was a note with a person’s details on it, as they were trying to connect with loved ones who survived. I think of the war going on now in Ukraine when I look at this artwork, and think of all the people trying to find their loved ones.This is from Stolen Girl. It’s Nadia’s confused memories because of the Nazi brainwashing she endured, making her forget her true family. It breaks my heart seeing this picture because there are kids right now kidnapped by Russia, in the midst of having their memories washed.Here are all of them.
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting with 300 students in 7th grade at J.L. Simpson in Leesburg Virginia over the course of 6 virtual sessions. Jeannine, their media specialist extraordinaire cobbled together grants from the Nora Roberts Foundation and HREC ED to make this happen and also to purchase copies of Winterkill for the students. The planning had been in the works since April of 2023! Students asked great questions, and look at the notes they took!
Olesia Elvey, the Ukrainian language and literature teacher at Sophia Ukrainian school in Dubai, contacted me a couple of months ago about the possibility of doing a virtual visit with her students, using my picture book Enough, which is set during the Holodomor, as part of their commemoration on Holodomor Memorial Day, which was yesterday. She also wanted her students to see the lighting of the candle in Kyiv at 4pm Kyiv time. It took a fair bit of coordination with three time zones and several languages for Olesia to arrange this but it all came off beautifully. The students read my works about the Holodomor that were available in Ukrainian, so that was Enough, and The Rings. They asked their questions in English, and their English was perfect. Their perspective was quite interesting. They wanted to know how and why I was so interested in Ukrainian topics, because to them, I was Canadian through and through. I don’t speak Ukrainian and not only was I born in Canada, but so were my parents. They were surprised that I could have such a deep tie with the country, but this is true of many Ukrainians in the diaspora. My heart is solid Ukrainian.
I told them that Ukrainians who were able to find refuge in Canada were like seeds of memory (Mateusz Świetlicki has written a brilliant book on this very topic). Those who stayed were often subjected to gulags, imprisonment, death, re-education, not to mention propaganda and disinformation. Stalin specifically targeted for extinction the storytellers, journalists, artists. How do you tell your stories when you’re dead?
The diaspora had challenges, but nothing like Ukrainians. Memories were shared and recorded and passed down. Memories of WWI, WWII, the Holodomor, as well as Ukrainian pioneer life in Canada, interwar life, DPs, and so on were all preserved. Many of my books are inspired by these experiences. I am deeply moved when Ukrainian read and respond to my books, and when they recognize their own history on the pages.
Here are some of the questions the students asked:
Dmytro and Alina:
.- Are there episodes in your stories (in particular, in the fairy tale “Enough”) that related to the history of your family?
Чи є у Ваших творах (зокрема, у казці “Досить”” ) епізоди, які пов’язані з історією Вашої родини?
Timur:
– Where did you get information about the Holodomor?
Де ви брали інформацію про Голодомор?
Tamara:
– How did the idea to write the story “Enough” come about?
Як виникла ідея написати твір “Досить”?
Marianna:
– Is the story about the grain being buried in graves true, actual history, or did you make it up? If true, how did you hear about it?
Чи ви чули справжню історію про те, що ховали збіжжя у могилах чи це Ви вигадали?
– How old is Marusia in your story? (Usually older girls have a hope chest). Якого віку приблизно Маруся у Вашій історії? (Вона має скриню для приданого, тож хочеться уявити, якого вона віку).
Maya:
– How big was the sack of grain that Marusia brought to the village on a stork? Approximately how many kilograms did the village need to survive? Наскільки великим був мішок із зерном, який Маруся привезла на лелеці в село. Скільки приблизно кілограмів потрібно було, щоб село вижило?
General
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Anjey:
– What was your childhood like? Яким було Ваше дитинство?
– What made you write stories related to war? Що спонукало вас пистати історії, повязані з війною?
Ameli:
– Which of your stories is your favorite and why? Яка з Ваших казок найулюбленіша?
– What encouraged you to write fairy tales? Що Вас спонукало писати казки?
Dmytro and Alina:
– In recent years, many Ukrainian children have become victims of Russian aggression, forced migrants in other countries, many children were actually kidnapped by Russia, and Ukraine is fighting for their return. Which of your books could become a source of support and hope for young Ukrainians and their parents?
Багато українських дітей в останні роки стали жертвами російської агресії, стали вимушеними переселенцями в інших країнах, багато дітей були фактично викрадені росією, і Україна бореться за їх повернення. Які Ваші твори могли б стати джерелом підтримки, надії для маленьких українців та їхніх батьків?
On Friday, on the lead-up to the Nov 25th Holodomor Memorial Day, I had the honor to speak with 16 classes of 8th grade students in the morning and one class of high school students in the afternoon, all from the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board. It’s a difficult subject to speak about but students asked perceptive and intelligent questions. Many thanks to HREC Ed for funding these sessions and also for their wonderful resource materials. Thank you, Betty Hicks, Evelin Niemiec, Paola Kontic and Mary Holadyk for coordinating and organizing.
Participating 8th grade students from St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Elementary SchoolMs. Cave’s class at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Hamilton.
4th to 6th grade students from Jackson Elementary comprised my final virtual visit of this school year! Great questions about Winterkill and the Holodomor! Thank you Scholastic Book Fairs for organizing!
It was wonderful to speak with avid readers from Southside JH this morning. It was great to answer some very good questions and some of them were ones I had never been asked by students before. What I particularly enjoyed were the connections that students made between the Holodomor and the current war in Ukraine, and between Stalin and Putin. One student asked how an American kid could help people in Ukraine. I told them that if they wanted to raise money, the best place to donate is the US-Ukraine Foundation but also said that doing things that keep the reality of war in Ukraine in the minds of regular people was very important too. There’s a simple way to keep it in people’s minds and that’s to follow #KidsFleeWar on social media and to share the images. What is #KidsFleeWar? The Shevchenko Foundation, myself and educators from across Canada who have Ukrainian refugee kids in their schools have been facilitating and sharing artwork about the war from a child’s perspective. Following, commenting and sharing these images keeps the injustices of the war on the radar of regular people but it also gives a voice to kids. I also host those pics on my website here.
Southside students were introduced to Winterkill and the Holodomor many weeks ago by their librarian, Jenna Remedies-France. Many thanks to HREC ED for funding this visit. Here is a quote from Jenna: I read Winterkill a few weeks ago; I absolutely LOVED it! I have to be honest and say that I had never heard of the Holodomor before, much less knew anything substantial about it. I love history! I cannot believe that in all my schooling it was never brought up. Thank you for writing such a beautiful book about this tragic time in history. The story deserves to be told, read, and known by everyone. I will definitely do my part in making that happen! Jenna Remedies-France, Middle School Librarian, Southside Junior High, Denham Springs, Louisiana
Thank you, Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki, for this thorough examination of Winterkill, particularly in terms of historical veracity and how the novel gives needed context to the Russian Federation’s current genocidal war against the Ukrainian nation and culture. This paper is a great resource for educators who are doing a novel study with Winterkill. Here’s the link.
Pic from Oct 13th HREC ED Webinar about Winterkill with Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki and Valentina Kuryliw
Some really great questions about the Holodomor and Winterkill, particularly about individual characters in the book and what their lives looked like after the book was over. But my favorite question of the virtual session was, “What’s it like to be over 60 years old?” I told him that inside, I still feel 12 years old. Another student asked if I would ever work with an illustrator to make one of my books into a graphic novel and I said that was a great idea and would love to see it happen with Making Bombs for Hitler. I showed them Five Stalks of Grain by Adrian Lysenko and Ivanka Galadza and suggested they would like it. I also showed them Sylvia McNicholl’s What the Dog Knows when asked about my current fave book. Thank you, HREC ED, for funding this presentation.
Loved speaking with 190 5th grade students at Cedar Hill this morning.
