Tuesday, February 22, 2022

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.

Sunday, January 16, 2022

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

Wednesday, January 5, 2022

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.

Monday, November 8, 2021

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!