A star in pysanka (written egg) art represents renewal and rebirth. The Trizub is the ancient symbol for Ukraine. This is my hope and prayer for Ukraine.

writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
A star in pysanka (written egg) art represents renewal and rebirth. The Trizub is the ancient symbol for Ukraine. This is my hope and prayer for Ukraine.
This was all I could take with me as I fled my homeland.
Something that is common here in Canada is not necessarily common for a kid newly arrived. A weird but tasty Canadian food: carrot cake and strawberry jello!
I had the pleasure of visiting Arthurs MS in person in 2019 and so it was really neat to catch up with them again, albeit virtually. Those kids are now in high school but it was great to see the same wonderful educators and another crop of avid readers, including Alex, who described himself as my biggest fan. Also, they used the same Welcome Marsha sign! How cool is that?
Here are my fave questions from this session:
In Winterkill, Auntie Pawlina’s songbook is destroyed by the shockworkers. In real life, what was the fate of her collected songs?
Why were you banned by Russia?
When you write a novel, do you use an outline?
Why does Russia hate Ukraine?
I like to leave lots of room for questions when presenting to students and this morning’s questions were superb! The topic was Winterkill, set during the Holodomor. Plus, I always talk about my own struggles as a kid, for example not reading til I was 9, and being bullied. Here are some of my favorite questions of the day:
If the Holodomor was such a huge event, how was it possible to hide it?
How did you deal with the bullying, and were you able to get it to stop?
Did you ever regret writing your first book about the Holodomor (Enough), seeing as you were subjected to so much hate because of it?
Congratulations to Mateusz Świetlicki on the publication of this groundbreaking work. Ukrainian historical themes have been sadly absent in most popular literature, including literature for young people. This book is a comprehensive and perceptive examination of Canadian works tackling the topic, including my own.
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.
It was pajama day at Traphagen school on my Scholastic Book Fairs virtual visit. I decided to join in and wore my housecoat. Many of the students were partway through Winterkill so they asked me not to give away anything past chapter 11! Great questions, nice students! And now I’m considering wearing a hat to bed!