Amazing review of Who's Looking, How Animals See the World in Canadian Children's Book News!

"Will delight readers of all ages...A magical and wonderful story that is not only accessible but enjoyable for readers of all abilities. This is a rich addition to the abundant genre of animal books as it offers a new and engaging perspective that will appeal to the inquisitive nature of primary school children." From the Fall 2022 issue of the Canadian Children's Book News . 

The reviewer not only likes the book, which is wonderful, but understood exactly what I was going for and how Cornelia Li, the illustrator, enhanced my vision and ‒ as far as I'm concerned ‒ improved upon it!

Who's Looking is reviewed by ALA Booklist!

 "Every scene is interesting…Young readers will enjoy pointing out the differences and hopefully be encouraged to take closer looks during their own adventures."

Full reviewfrom Booklist Online Exclusive (July 29,2002) here.

Q&A with Deborah Kalb

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.  

A Struggle For Hope featured by CBC Books and the Canadian Children's Book Centre

Thrilled that CBC Books has included A Struggle For Hope in 10 Kid's books by Jewish Canadian authors to read right now, as part of #JewishHeritageMonth.

A Struggle for Hope has also been included in The Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids and Teens 2022 Spring Edition. 

Happy to report that Who's Looking is featured in the May 2022 Hot Off the Press list by the Children's Book Council.

 

Starred review from School Library Journal!

PreSchool-Gr 2– NONFICTION

Orca. Apr. 2022. 32p. Tr $21.95. ISBN 9781459826762

⭐"We see the animals around us, but what does the world look like to them? In this delightfully original nonfiction picture book, a young girl and her baby sister wander through woods, fields, and a shoreline, while a variety of creatures look on: birds, insects, whales, rabbits, and even wolves ... The readable text offers understandable science, while the engaging illustrations promote careful investigation ... A valuable addition to science and nature collections. Highly recommended."𑁋School Library Journal

Who's Looking Book Launch Tuesday April 26

REGISTER HERE

Who's Looking, my debut picture book, will launch on Tuesday, April 26, 2020, at 7 p.m. CDT.

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 featured by Canadian Independant Booksellers!

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").

Catch Me At Thin Air Kids Festival

I am thrilled to be part of Thin Air Kids Festival, part of the 2022 Winnipeg International Writers Festival. I have made two videos about my new novel A Struggle for Hope and one video for my novel Cloning Miranda. I hope you will check them out.

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."

Five-star review from Canadian Review of Materials

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

"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."

Click here for full review.

Available here 

Join me on Jan. 27 for an International Holocaust Remembrance Day Webinar

Attention: Principals, Teachers and Parents 

On January 27, I will be participating in a virtual event for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Hosted by Eric Walters and Sigmund Brouwer, the webinar will include presentations by Rabbi David Paskin, Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer (Broken Strings) and myself (A Struggle For Hope.)

During the presentation, we will engage directly with students via a chatbox and a Q&A in a secure Zoom webinar format, so they’ll have plenty of chances to jump in with questions and comments.

Click here to register for an all-school pass at $150. If you put "Friend of Carol" in the notes field, the cost drops to $125. If you’d like to register a single classroom, the "Friend of Carol" rate is $40 instead of $65. Families are also invited to attend. Cost is just $15. Families can register here.

The webinar will last an hour. Teachers and students — either in the classroom or at home — can choose either the 11:00 a.m. (ET) session or the 1:00 p.m. (ET) session. A recording of the event will be available for up to a week after the event.

More information about the event is available here. Questions? Email Kayli at kayli@storyninjawritingclasses.com

Debut Picture Book, Who's Looking, April 2022!

 Happy New Year to everyone!

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.

A Struggle for Hope officially launched Nov 4

Many thanks to Belle Jarniewski, Executive Director of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada, for doing such a terrific job of hosting the virtual launch of A Struggle for Hope as part of Holocaust Education Week. We had a "packed house," and I have received so many congratulations and so many enthusiastic responses to our presentation. I hope you will take the time to click below and watch it.

Attention teachers: The video is a wide-ranging discussion about the Holocaust, racism, and how fascism can take hold in any democratic society. It also talks about "story" and how stories can be used for good or for ill. 

This event was jointly sponsored by Scholastic Canada, McNally Robinson Booksellers Winnipeg, The Winnipeg Jewish Federation and The Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada. 

First Review for A Struggle for Hope – Highly Recommended!

"The action keeps readers on the edge of their seats. A touch of romance softens some of the harsh realities the characters face. And the comfort, compassion and belonging to a communal family sustains their struggle for hope in the face of adversity."

Highly Recommended. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Click here for the full review from CM: Canadian Review of Materials. 

Plus an interview on CTV!

A Struggle for Hope book signing

Delighted to sign books at McNally Robinson Booksellers.

 Click here to order A Struggle for Hope from McNally Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg.
Also available from other Canadian booksellers.  

Struggle for Hope Featured on the CBC's Fall 2021 Middle-Grades List

Delighted to find my newest Holocaust novel from Scholastic Canada featured on CBC Book's list of the 35 Canadian Middle-Grade Books to Watch for in Fall 2021. Now available at McNally Robinson and other Canadian booksellers. 

Holocaust Education Week 2021

I am really honoured that my newest novel from Scholastic Canada will be launched as part of Holocaust Education Week, with the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg. 

Click here to order A Struggle for Hope.

Cloning Miranda Rights Sale to Korea/Sakyejul Publishing

Cloning Miranda was originally the first of a three-book series I published with Scholastic Canada. The series was translated into numerous languages all over the world and is still used widely in German schools in an English edition.

A few years ago I had the idea to update the science and revamp the book. A small independent publisher, Fictive Press, also liked the idea. We decided we would combine all three books into one big story. Then I began an extensive revision. I'd say about half the book has been revised – including sentence by sentence. But we didn't feel it was enough to rename it as a new book, so we stuck to the original title and published it.

This is our first big foreign rights sale and I couldn't be happier.

The novel asks some big questions – like, what does it mean to be human? It delves into the moral issues of genetic engineering and cloning and would be a fun book to read and discuss in schools.

Science Fiction can tackle the big questions.

I love to think about the big questions and I love to write about the big questions. 

Thanks so much to Lindsey Carmichael for hosting me on her blog so that I can talk about science fiction and how it is perfectly suited for tackling big questions like, "What does it mean to be human?"

The 2023 author edition of Cloning Miranda is available in Kindle and print.

                                                                                                             

Teaching the Holocaust

Teachers: Please feel free to use these videos in the classroom when teaching the Holocaust or any of my novels.