writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Under Attack will be published tomorrow, but I got to do two presentations at one of my all-time favorite schools — Riverside Elementary in Suwanee GA with one of my all-time favorite library media specialists, Kristin Bartholomew!! The students were absolutely fabulous and it was a great way to kick off 2025.
Hope to see you there!
Thrilled with this review of Under Attack!
They say: “this important and tough to read novel … fictionalizes, in harsh detail, true events from a child’s point of view.”
Kirkus says: “Gut-punching: This is essential reading.” Full review is here.
Love having the opportunity to speak the backmatter and acknowledgements for the audio editions of my books. Today, I did that for Kidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack, Scholastic. Thank you, Will Crann at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton! I have deep respect for professional narrators who do this all the time.
Thank you Dr. Mateusz Świetlicki for sending me these screen shots from Polish Amazon. Kidnapped from Ukraine: Under Attack will be published on Jan 7, 2025 and is currently a #1 new release in two categories: Europe for children, and historical fiction for children:
This novel will be published on Jan 7, 2025, so imagine my surprise to see it pop up as a #1 release on Amazon.com. Yay!
I never thought I would be writing about a war as it’s happening. When the war in Ukraine began, I had been writing a companion novel to Winterkill, but had to set it aside. I plunged in to a project I had been working on for a long time: a novel set in the 1500s. Then Scholastic asked me to pivot. It took a lot of soul-searching, but in the end I realized I had to do this. The emotional pain of researching and writing these three books is nothing compared to what Ukrainians are enduring every minute, every hour. I invite you to step into the shoes of 12 year old Dariia and her twin sister Rada. Feel what it’s like to wake up one morning to your bed shaking from bombings. To have your country invaded by a jealous neighbor who doesn’t acknowledge your right to exist.
