How to use this Page

I am standing at the mouth of the Cave of Revision, impatiently waiting for the coffee pot to finish making coffee. I think I have a few more long days on this revision before I turn it in.

So. Here are my rambling, hurry-up-coffee-pot notes:

1. Yesterday, I corresponded with readers in Brazil and Norway. How cool is that?

2. My latest obsession is worm castings. Yes, that is a polite word for worm poop. I am gardening organically this year and worms are my new best friends. I am looking for a source in Central New York, if anyone knows of one. So far, I've been ordering them from Vermont, and am having a friend's family (who are in the business of producing worm poop, don't ask) bring me some on their next visit to the area.

Go ahead, laugh, but you should see what it is doing to my broccoli plants.

3. If you live in Michigan, please vote for the Thumbs Up! Award by May 30th! (twistedtwistedtwistedtwisted)

4. Little birds have been reporting that the TWISTED paperback version is turning up in stores in one of those cardboard stands. (Those are called dumps, but after my discussion of worm poop, I am not going there.) Have you seen one?

5. When you are in the bookstore, be sure to buy Tanya Lee Stone's newest wonderful picture book: Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote. It has been named a Book Links Best New Books of 2008, and a Booklist Top Ten Youth Biography, and is sure to garner more awards soon.

Not only is it a wonderful book, but Tanya just made a generous contribution that brought my Beloved Husband's fund raising efforts to his goal of $2,500!!! ALL HAIL TANYA! (Please give her some love on her blog!)

The fund raising is done! The fund raising is done! Our nice friends chipped in $5000 for cancer research! ::dances around the cave!!

Now all we have to do is run 13.1 miles on June 15th! ::sits down on cave floor::

No, really, our training has been going very well, so it shouldn't be a problem. We ran 13.3 miles two weeks ago, and had a hilly 10.5 mile run on Sunday. That one aggravated some tendon issues, but everything will heal in time because I said it would.

6. INDEPENDENT DAMES received another awesome blog review. This one is of particular interest to middle school teachers.

7. CHAINS has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection!

8. Did I mention how great my broccoli looks?

The coffee is done and my characters are whining for me to hurry up because they have a lot to do today. See ya!

I’ve read quite a bit of historical fiction set in Nazi Europe, but SOMEONE NAMED EVA by Joan M. Wolf takes a look at a part of World War II that I never knew about.  Eva is really Milada – a young Czech girl who has blond hair and blue eyes that allow her to pass as a German.  The Nazis raid her village and steal her from her family; they take her name, her language, and her very identity in an attempt to remake her into one of them.  

This book is beautifully written, and I simply ached for Milada, renamed Eva, every time I turned a page.  Wolf writes with a sensitivity that allows us to understand how a young Czech girl could feel herself slipping into another identity.  

The characters in this historical novel seem painfully real, and the author’s extensive research, which took her to Czechoslovakia in search of her roots, is evident throughout the book. The author’s note explains how that research is woven into the novel, though it never feels like you’re being fed facts while you’re reading. No matter how much you’ve read about the Holocaust, you’ll come away with a new perspective.  Mostly, though, your heart will break for Milada.

Joan Wolf’s debut novel provides a unique perspective on a much-written-about chapter in world history. More than that, though, it provides readers with a heartbreaking and thought provoking journey through the human spirit – at its best and at its worst.  SOMEONE LIKE EVA is a poignant book about survival, redemption, holding on, and remembering who you are.