AJL gives Kai and the Golem a great review!

Thank you to Mimi Leyton for her wonderful review of Kai and the Golem in the Fall 2025 issue of AJL News and Reviews from the Association  of Jewish Libraries: 

 "...offering a tender and hopeful conclusion...The minimal text per page makes the book highly accessible for early readers and well-suited to shared reading. It encourages discussions about emotions, resilience, and how imagination can help reframe difficult experiences."

"Doing Good Deeds Dissipates Personal Feelings of Gloom" says San Diego Jewish World

Thank you to Donald Harrison of the San Diego Jewish World for this wonderful review.

Donald Harrison understands what I was trying to do in Kai in the Golem:

"There’s a bright side to life depending on your perspective. It’s a mitzvah to cheer up hospitalized patients. Helping others can brighten your outlook on the world, dispelling your personal gloom."

A Storm Unleashed included in new Manitoba Holocaust curriculum

Back (left to right): Mike Moroz, Tracy Schmidt, Kelly Hiebert,
Belle Jarniewski  Front: Carla Compton, Carol Matas

What an honour! The Manitoaba Minister of Education and Childhood Learning, Tracy Schmidt, chose to announce the new mandatory Holocaust curriculum at the launch of A Storm Unleashed on November 10. A Storm Unleashed is a recommended resource for grade 6! Also there to support the announcement and the book launch were Mike Moroz, Minister of Innovation and New Technology, and Carla Compton, MLA for Tuxedo.

Tracy Schmidt announcing
the new Holocaust curriculum

Belle Jarniewski, Executive Director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, and Kelly Hiebert, teacher and Holocaust scholar, discussed the book with me and participated in a lively discussion.

Many thanks to the Jewish Heritage Centre, which sponsored and organized the launch. The Jewish Federation of Winnipeg and Scholastic Canada were also sponsors. And to friends, family, teachers, attendees, thank you for coming! What a great turnout! And a special thanks to my nine-year-old granddaughter who assisted me in the book signing!

November 4 is pub day for Kai and the Golem

Today is publication date for Kai and the Golem. Can't think of a better way to celebrate than to share this "Q&A" with Deborah Kalb on her Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb. 

First Review in for A Storm Unleashed

 Delighted to see A Storm Unleashed as a November Children's Book Pick in the Calgary Herald. 

"This historical fiction of bravery in the times of Nazi terror is an important read."