writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Thank you, HREC Education, for providing this webinar for educators. I look forward to speaking with Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki about Winterkill, my novel set during the Holodomor, and how it can be used in the classroom as an entry into a time in Ukraine’s history that is chillingly like the current war.
Go here for more info.
These pics from the other side of the screen are ever so much better than mine! I enjoyed the great questions and enthusiasm of Hurffville students during yesterday’s Scholastic Book Fair visit as we talked about Winterkill, the Holodomor and the current war that Russia is inflicting upon Ukraine.
I love doing virtual visits with Scholastic Book Fairs! Had the opportunity to speak with several hundred students at schools in Georgia, NJ and Iowa about Winterkill, the Holodomor and my WWII novels. Thank you, Kelli Boyer, organizer extraordinaire!
It’s not uploaded to youtube yet, but you can watch it on Facebook here:
It’s such an honour to be asked to read my own backmatter for the audio edition of Winterkill. Being dyslexic, I often misread and mispronounce words, even when reading from something I’ve written myself. That makes reading the backmatter for audio a bit of a challenge, but one I’m certainly up to. Scholastic Audio has been coordinating with Catherine North Studios in Hamilton for the recording of the backmatter and so I’ve had the opportunity to meet with Will Crann several times over these last few years. He is persnickety in all the best ways, and a true professional. It’s always such a pleasure working with him.
Holodomor Research and Education Consortium is funding the cost of a limited number of Winterkill school and library virtual presentations to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the 1932-33 Holodomor in Ukraine.
If you would like Marsha to speak to your middle-grade students about Winterkill and the real history behind the story, but funding is an issue, please send us an email via the contact form below. Please include your own name and title, the school or library, grade level and why you would love a virtual visit. Teacher, librarian and literacy professional groups are also encouraged to apply.
Preference given to middle-grade groups in schools with financial challenges.
More about Winterkill.
Here’s a recent Amazon.com “review” of Don’t Tell the Nazis: This should not be permitted in our school library. This is not a children’s book. It describes in graphic detail violence against women and children. My child brought this home and we have gone chapter by chapter writing a summary for his class, but I should have investigated the content prior to him using this book. I will be speaking to the school board and superintendent about the removal of any of this disturbed author’s works.
Within hours of the above “review” being posted, someone trolled through my Goodreads list and left a comment on my review of a piece of old Soviet propaganda published in book form titled Famine, Fraud and Fascism: The Ukrainian Genocide Myth from Hitler to Harvard. It’s long been part of the Soviet (and now Putin) playbook to label Ukrainians as fascists and therefore killable. Before WWII, they were labeled kulaks to identify them as “enemies of the people” and a killable group. In the 1930s, using this propaganda method, the Stalinists killed millions of Ukrainians by starving them. My review of this book was simple. I gave it a single star and noted that it was hate propaganda. The troller’s comment was, “found the kulak”. Everything old is new again.
When one writes books on topics that others won’t touch, it’s a given that some people will direct hate your way. I’m not a shrinking violet, but thought the timing was interesting. Two attacks within hours of someone like me, a mere children’s writer. Multiply this by all of the other Russian information warfare out there. Smells of desperation.
