⭐️ Zevi Takes the Spotlight:
“Zevi is Jewish, and this important part of his identity is skillfully woven throughout the narrative. This hi-lo title excels in the genre, packaging an accessible, dyslexia-friendly text with a compelling plot and likeable protagonist whose journey readers will happily follow."Highly recommended
Ready for preorder now:
McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnpeg, Manitoba
Cloning Miranda will be out in Korean in early January. I love, love, love the cover! It's wild.
And for those of you who want to read it in English it is also out in a brand new edition in English. With a new cover! Which I also love!
Miranda, a 14 - year - old who lives in California, discovers that she is the first human clone.
On Monday night, December 4, at 7 PM, I'll be joining two other authors and a very distinguished moderator, Mavis Reimer from the University of Winnipeg, to discuss writing historical fiction for young people.
Who’s Looking has received an Honourable Mention in the Junior Nonfiction category in the Ontario Library Association’s 2022 Best Bets!
So thrilled!
A Struggle For Hope is a Holocaust novel suitable for Grades 4-9
"Every scene is interesting…Young readers will enjoy pointing out the differences and hopefully be encouraged to take closer looks during their own adventures."
Delighted to have been invited to participate in Deborah Kalb's Q&A about my first picture book, Who's Looking: How Animals See the World, and to reflect on the writing process for non-fiction picture books.
We have an all-star cast:
Cornelia Li, the illustrator of Who's Looking
Deborah Kerbel will launch two picture books
Mahtab Narsinhan as moderator
Hosted by McNally Robinson booksellers and Orca Books and Owl Books.
Who’s Looking is featured in the Canadian Independent Booksellers Association Spring Preview for Young Readers ("a collection of new and forthcoming books to fill out your 'to be read' list this spring").
Plus the good people at Thin Air managed to describe A Struggle For Hope better than I could. Here is what they said:
"In A Struggle for Hope, Carol Matas shares the story of Ruth, a young Holocaust survivor caught in a war zone who tells stories to chart a path through memory, trauma, loss, and fear, to find a new way to live."
"The conversational text is well-organized, succinct, child-friendly and inquisitive. Many interesting facts are woven throughout, such as owls have three eyelids; baby rabbits open their eyes when they are ten days old; and mice are colour-blind. Scientific vocabulary is explained in a crystal clear, easily-understood manner:
"Encouraging close obsevation Who’s Looking? is an eye-opening STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math) picture book."
I am thrilled to say the ARC of my new picture book has just arrived! The book is now available for preorder!
Cornelia Li is the illustrator and I can't say enough about how she has imagined my text.
Since I was new to picture books and had never written non-fiction before, my learning curve was, well, ginormous! But my editor Liz Kemp at Orca book gently helped me through the process step by step. And my agent, Amy Tomkins, also contributed with some suggestions that changed the book entirely! So credit to them both. And to everyone at Orca who has been involved, especially Ruth Linka who helped me finish the project.
Who's Looking is a story about how animals see the world. It began as a conversation with my grandson, Kai, one day as we were walking home from the park. We paused to watch some ants scurrying around on the pavement and I asked Kai how he thought we would look to the ants?
By the time we got home the idea for the book was born!
I now have a dozen or more picture books at various stages so I hope this will be the first of many.
