writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
#Winterkill tells the story of the very real #Holodomor – or Ukrainian Genocide – Stalin’s calculated attempt to exterminate the Ukrainians and their culture. Sound like today’s war in Ukraine? The parallels are shocking. #VelshiBannedBookClub pic.twitter.com/VPESU73Gsr
— Velshi on MSNBC (@VelshiMSNBC) February 18, 2023
Because in a blink of an eye, the numbers will change. But this shows the power of Ali Velshi. Winterkill shot up on Amazon in both the US and Canada. In the US, Winterkill is currently at #40 overall and is #1 in several categories. Check it out:
I admire Ali Velshi’s fierce defense of freedom to read. His Banned Book Club sheds light on books that illuminate, educate and irritate. Everyone should be able to read what they want and being able to read a variety of books from all different viewpoints is the cornerstone of a democracy. It was such an honor to have Winterkill featured today on Ali Velshi’s Banned Book Club segment, particularly because Ali is in Kyiv right now, highlighting the injustices of russia’s genocidal war. This is so important with the anniversary of the war fast approaching.
I was particularly impressed with the superb research that went into the Holodomor backgrounder as an intro to Winterkill. Deep respect for Ali Velshi.
Here’s the interview:
And a really good backgrounder on the Holodomor here:
#Winterkill tells the story of the very real #Holodomor – or Ukrainian Genocide – Stalin’s calculated attempt to exterminate the Ukrainians and their culture. Sound like today’s war in Ukraine? The parallels are shocking. #VelshiBannedBookClub pic.twitter.com/VPESU73Gsr
— Velshi on MSNBC (@VelshiMSNBC) February 18, 2023
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!
Thank you Susan Lowell and the Historical Novel Society for this review of Winterkill. You’d think an author wouldn’t like their book to be called terrible, but seeing as I’m immersing the reader in the midst of a largely unknown genocide that’s being replicated by Russia right now, the description is apt. Here’s how the review begins:
This is an excellent and terrible book.
Well-written, it includes convincing and sympathetic characters, and it bears witness to an awful historical event: Stalin’s partially successful attempt between 1930 and 1933 to starve Ukraine to death. Its author, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, is, in her own words, “fierce in her pursuit of truth.” Read more here.
Eleven schools on WRAD23. The 2 in Texas were snowed out (stay safe and warm my friends) and one school was late, but by luck that coincided with a snowed out school, so all good. In addition to Winterkill I talked about Sylvia McNicoll’s What the Dog Knows and Adrian Lysenko’ s Five Stalks of Grain, and then showed the best nonfiction written about the Holodomor, Anne Applebalm’s Red Famine.
Educator feedback:
“Thank you for reading aloud to my fifth and sixth graders today. It was fabulous. We now have a waiting list for Making Bombs for Hitler and for Winterkill.“
“Thank you so much for Zooming with us this morning. The excerpt you read was powerful and I anticipate Winterkill being checked out for the foreseeable future! Thank you for shining a light on this lesser known piece of history.”
“We enjoyed hearing you read from Winterkill and learning so much about your writing process.”
Thanks again for visiting with us! Every single one of your books that I have are checked out to students now! Success!
It was such a pleasure to speak with 6th grade students from Saint Vincent Elementary School in Concord PQ! Such thought-provoking questions about the Holodomor and Winterkill but also about the process of writing and how I feel about the books that I wrote ages ago — would I like to go back and change them? I particularly appreciated the question about why an author like me would get hate mail and death threats for writing about the Holodomor. It provided the opportunity to describe intimidation tactics used by oppressive regimes to control information and to deny history. It’s not just politicians and protesters who are treated this way. Writers and journalists are key targets too.
The wonderful Ms Bartholomew invited me to Riverside Elementary, Suwanee Georgia, for two back to back visits this morning. I think this is the third time I’ve visited Riverside and always, the students are such a pleasure to speak with. Thank you, Ms Bartholomew and Riverside educators for your great prepping!
I didn’t think to ask for a photo until the second session was almost over — that should tell you how excited I was to get back in the class with students after the holiday break. This spring I have a number of in person visits scheduled and I’m really looking forward to that.
Look at these smiling faces!
