What a Week! Red Cedar Nomination!

Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust diary of Rose Rabinowitz, has been nominated for a B.C. Red Cedar Award. Just to make a perfect triple this week, adding that to the Manitoba Day Award and the Canadian Jewish book Award.  Whew! Or should I say Awesome!

Canadian Jewish Book Award for Pieces of the Past!

I am thrilled to announce that Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust diary of Rose Rabinowitz, has won The Helen and Stan Vine Canadian Jewish book Award, for Youth. 
This is a very special honour for me and for the book and I couldn't be happier.
Here is the link:/http://kofflerarts.org/programs-events/2013/11/13/2014-helen-and-stan-vine-canadian-jewish-book-awards/

Pieces of the Past wins a Manitoba Day Award!

Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, was awarded a Manitoba Day Award by The Association for Manitoba Archives. 
The award ceremony was on May 13th at the Berney Theatre at the Rady JCC in Winnipeg. It was a fascinating program honouring people who had used Manitoba archives  with excellent results. My book was one of 10 awards given out.
The award itself is a stunning glass sculpture of prairie wheat, which is now sitting proudly on my dining room hutch. (I may have to move it to avoid destruction when the grandchildren come over!)
I used the archives of The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada extensivley as I researched my book. Stan Carbone, who is Director of Programs and Exhibits at the Centre helped me gather all the relevant materials. In particular I was able to use the minutes from the organizing committee that brought the orphans to Winnipeg. The minutes had every detail of the orphans' resettlemnt from where they were to be housed, to jobs, to dances and swimming, to psychiatric issues.
The book would not have been the same without these detailed documents.

With Stan's permission I am posting his introduction of me from last night:

The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, which I represent, nominated Carol Matas for Pieces of the Past: The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz. For the preparation of her book Carol drew on the Jewish Heritage Centre’s extensive collection of materials that covers virtually every aspect of the history of Winnipeg Jewry including the connection or relation between the local community and the Holocaust in all of its implications, be they historical as well as moral, ethical and psychological. The excellence and high quality of Pieces of the Past is due to various factors not the least of which is Carol’s ability to utilize archival sources to posit a sense and a feel for the period she is writing about. In so doing she is able to integrate the subjective element which is critical to understanding the human condition with objective, historical circumstances and realities.

Carol Matas has a proven track record of documenting, through the medium of literature, the social and cultural life of Winnipeg and Manitoba as reflected in the history and contemporary reality of the local Jewish community. In many of her works, the Holocaust provides an indispensable point of reference as the local Jewish community seeks to negotiate and define its identity in a Manitoban and Canadian social setting. In addition, she has that wonderful ability to connect the local with the universal in that the themes she explores and dissects relate to local circumstances but resonate at a universal level. Her works speak to dimensions and aspects of the human condition that transcend the Jewish experience without of course diminishing the centrality of said experience.  In so doing she has brought the Holocaust to our attention by making it a part of our lives. I’d like to think that the archives of the Jewish Heritage Centre have played a role in this process. The information that she has unravelled and interpreted has allowed her to piece together the past and offer it to her readers so that they will acquire a better understanding of the moral, ethical and human rights issues that reverberate in their everyday lives. If literature and the interpretation of history are vehicles for empowering people by making them aware of their role in society and how they fit in the ups and downs and windings of the course of history, Carol has succeeded on all counts. Through the characters she has created, with their nuanced and complex experiences and values, and through the pedagogical importance of her works, Carol Matas has made a major contribution to our province’s richly textured and vibrant multicultural mosaic.

 I’d like to ask Carol Matas to come up and receive her award.

 To find out more about Carol's writing go to:

A Blog Interview About Pieces of the Past

In this blog interview about Pieces of the Past, as part of the Sydney Taylor book awards 2104 blog tour, I talk about the challenges of writing a Holocaust book. I also mention my upcoming historical novel, Tucson Jo, which is inspired by the life and family of Tucson's first Jewish mayor. It will be available in May.

Greater Than Angels - A "Best" Book for 2013

 

Two of my books are on Resource Links' "The Year's Best 2013" list for Grades 3-6:
Greater Than Angels and Pieces of the Past. I'm thrilled!

4/4 Star Review for Pieces Of The Past

Pieces Of The Past has been named a Best Book for 2013 (for Grades 3 - 6) by Resource Links and has been "highly recommended" by The Deakin Review of Children's Literature. I found their review very touching.

Pieces of the Past awarded Sydney Taylor Honor!

Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz (Scholastic Canada 2013) has just been named a 2014 Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Older Readers by the Association of Jewish Libraries. I will be travelling to the Association of Jewish Libraries Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, this June to pick up my silver medal! I'll also be giving a presentation. I was so excited I sat down and wrote the presentation already!

The Sydney Taylor Book Award is presented annually to outstanding books for children and teens that authentically
portray the Jewish experience.

Number ONE on the Bestseller list!

Pieces of the Past is now number one on the Children's books  bestseller list at McNally Robinson's books.

Pieces Of The Past Book Launch!

Pieces of the Past, The Holocaust Diary Of Rose Rabinowitz launched on April 9th at the Berney Theatre at the Winnipeg JCC. It so happens that that was the date in  1940 Germany invaded Denmark - I wrote about that in my books, Lisa and Jesper. The Jewish Federation organized a wonderful program with a choir and beautiful singers, a collage of pictures from my book and then my presentation. I talked about how I came to tell the story of the Jewish war orphans who came to Canada after the war, and also why I chose to write about the Warsaw Ghetto and the hidden children of the Holocaust. My daughter Rebecca organized the whole thing and made it all possible as part of her job at the Rady. The turn out was fantastic. Afterwards

i talked to lots of people who all seemed to have loved the event and I signed lots of books. I also spoke to 2 sold out events for students at the theatre and they were also fantastic- the kids were great listeners and asked great questions.

Bestseller List 4 weeks in a row!

I'm really amazed that Pieces of the Past has made the bestseller list at McNally Robinson's Books for the 4th week in a row. And before the book even launches. Which, by the way, is coming up fast, this Tuesday, April 9, 7. PM,  at The Berney Theatre, JCC, Winnipeg.

Bestseller list 3 weeks in a row!

Pieces of the Past has made the McNally Robinson Bestseller list for the third week in a row! Just a reminder that the launch is coming up next week- April 9, at the Berney Theatre, 7 PM. Very busy trying to figure out what to read. I'll also be reading to students on the 9th and the 10th in the afternoons, also at the Berney Theatre.

Bestseller List, Again!

Pieces Of The Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, has made the McNally Robinson Bestseller list for a second week in a row. McNally's has done this wonderful poster to publicize the launch coming up April 9, as part of Holocaust Awareness Week.

Book Launch!

Announcing the launch for my brand new book Pieces Of The Past, The Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948. Tuesday, April 9, at the Berney Theatre, Asper Community Campus, 123 Doncaster Street, Winnipeg.
 
The event is part of Holocaust Awareness Week which begins April 17th and goes until April 12. The program is sponsored by The Holocaust Awareness Committee, The Rady JCC, and McNally Robinson Booksellers. Hope to see you all there!

Bestseller!

Pieces Of The Past, The Holocaust Diary Of Rose Rabinowitz, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948 is on the McNally Robinson's Bestseller list this week. What is so exciting about that is we haven't even launched the book here in Winnipeg. News of the launch coming soon!

I Love To Read Month

On Tuesday I visited the Gray academy for I Love To Read Month. I read from "The Lost Locket" for grade 3 and a new, as yet unpublished picture book I have written for grade 1. (Which they loved and that was encouraging.) We made up a story with the grade one class and the grade 3's had more questions than there was time for. It was really great when I asked the children what their favourite book was and two of them said "The Proof that Ghosts Exist." When I said that I thought it was for older kids when I wrote it they were stunned- not realizing I was the author- of course with my friend Perry Nodelman! That was cool.

A Life Cut Short

The cover of this book is particularly haunting. This photo is of a young girl who did not survive The Holocaust. I look at her and wonder who she was and what exactly happened to her, and then think about who she might have become.

Popular Fantasy Soon to be Reissued

Fantasy never becomes dated! I am excited about the reissue of Of Two Minds, the first in a four-book series written with my friend and fellow author Perry Nodelman. Of Two Minds is as fresh as the first day the novel was published, and now has become a well loved classic! It is one of the top selling titles ever in the Japanese library system, and is read all over the world. Check back here for launch date and purchasing links.

Pieces of the Past, my new book launches in April 2013

My new book is finally done and available on Amazon

and will soon be in bookstores. It is a Holocaust book called Pieces of the Past, set in Winnipeg in 1948 about a young Jewish orphan who arrives in the city and then begins to look back over her life during the war. A very haunting thing - the picture is of a young girl, name unknown, who perished during The Holocaust. There are 6 million people who were murdered. We can't tell all their stories but we can try to remember that each one had a story and a life that was precious and a life that was ripped away.

Book Launch Over, Now Onto the Next One

Just back from the launch of Behind Enemy Lines. The place was packed and everyone said the reading went well. (Thanks to 2 years of Drama school in London, England.) Now I need to get back to the Holocaust book I'm writing for Scholastic Canada. Deadline looming. Nearing the end and everything else feels like a distraction. Onward.

CBC and my new book

CBC has done a lovely piece on my new book, Behind Enemy Lines
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/books/2012/03/15/carol-matas/
The launch is tonight and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm hoping to meet, in person, some of the veterans who helped me get my facts right!