My book recommendation is the recent Golden Kite award-winning YA novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. This book is another gripping tale in the same vein as David's recommendation, Breaking Stalin's Nose. It's set in 1941 when the communists have taken over the country of Lithuania, in particular, but also Latvia and Estonia, and have imprisoned many of the men/fathers/husbands and sent the women and children to desolate work camps in Siberia. Though it is a harsh and brutal story, it is also infused with love, courage, and hope. I was especially intrigued because my aunt (married to my mother's brother) grew up in just such a work camp before her Latvian family managed to emigrate to the United States. Here's a link to the video interview with author Ruta Sepetys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPiQ_LuKtDE/.
And in this post, I'd like to include a few photos from my recent trip through Kentucky and North Carolina. I'm still waiting for photos of me with the amazing Beulah Campbell, my former children's literature professor, but here are some from the culmination of the Family Reading Project at Hardin Park School in Boone, North Carolina. It was a wonderful evening spent with 5th and 6th grade students and their families and two terrific librarians, Candice Trexler and Amy Hiatt!
7 comments:
Edie! I love the photo of you with your dulcimer and the eager bodies of all ages leaning into you shows a captivated audience. I wish I could have been one of them to hear you!
Thanks for the book recommendation- it sounds excellent!
Thank you, Lauren! It was so nice to have such an energetic and responsive audience. And, yes, Between Shades of Gray is an excellent book.
I, too, wish I could have been there to have heard you play the dulcimer, Edie. I'm glad your event in Boone, NC, was so successful.
A well-written book can make me interested in topics that I wouldn't normally gravitate to. It sounds like BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY might be one of those books...although it sounds like you already had a strong connection to it.
Lucky students! I'm transported back to your cabin with you playing. We need a spud sing-along (to go with our spud quilting bee).
Between Shades of Gray is a good title and sounds fabulous! I didn't realize you had a Latvian background. In an early publishing job I worked with a Latvian, so I learned a little bit about the country then. This will go on my to read list.
Christy,
I don't have a Latvian background, but my uncle (my mother's brother) married a young Latvian woman, who had grown up in a displaced person's camp before her family emigrated to the US. I don't think her experience was as harsh as those in the book, but she never talked about it much, except I do remember her telling me once she was forced to wear her hair in braids. Her hair was so thin and fine that it would never stay in a braid, and she was constantly reprimanded for that.
I'm definitely looking forward to a spud get-together, whether it's a sing-along, quilting bee, or a writing retreat. :>)
I read that book and really enjoyed it. Fun pictures, looks like the kids had a great time with you:)
Looks like your trip was a success, Edie. Thanks for sharing a couple photos, and for the book recommendation. The cover intrigues me -- a sprig of color/life breaks through the snow...
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