Check out festival's school trips

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

If you're an adult planning to go to the 21st Annual Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival, don't simply pass over the school field trips. While these events may be targeted toward younger readers, a few will appeal to a broader audience.

Girl's super power

Whether superstitious or not, most of us have, at some point, thought twice about walking under a ladder or felt luckier when wearing a certain piece of clothing or carrying a special object. There are times when this belief has helped us deal with life's challenges. Such a talisman gives strength to 11-year-old Sophie LaGrange in the latest novel of Norma Charles's Sophie series.

Set in 1950, Sophie's Friend in Need follows the award-winning Sophie Sea to Sea and Criss Cross, Double Cross. In it, Sophie goes to camp, smuggling in her Star Girl comics, as well as her Star Girl Super Bounce Ball. While most of the children seem friendly, there is one who is not, Ginette Berger. When Ginette tries to escape from camp in a canoe one night, Sophie sets after her to bring her back. In getting to know the unhappy fellow camper, Sophie discovers that Ginette has some very big problems with which to deal, but also has her own talisman that helps her stay strong.

Charles will read from Sophie's Friend in Need, which is nominated for the Chocolate Lily Award, at the book festival on Nov. 29, 9:30 a.m.

A Victorian mystery

Aleister Lister Smith is 14 years old. He's a star pupil at his school; he knows all his Latin conjugations. His life in Victorian England is rather dull though. Then, one day, the schoolmaster's brother-in-law, Arthur Talbot, shows up. Talbot's in trouble and he enlists Aleister to help him discover his blackmailer's identity. Posing as a clerk in an insurance office, Aleister tries to help Talbot. In doing so, he meets a young girl named Kate and gets to know his co-workers. As exciting as this all is for Aleister, his life gets more complicated when someone is murdered on Guy Fawkes Night.

This is the plot of Remember, Remember, a murder mystery by Vancouverite Sheldon Goldfarb. While the genesis of the novel may have been accidental, as Goldfarb explains in the book's acknowledgements, the story is well thought out and compelling. Both 10-to-14-year-old readers and adults should enjoy it.

Goldfarb is at the festival on Nov. 20, 9:30 a.m.

The power of the press

The ability of hope to help people survive near-impossible, treacherous circumstances can never be underestimated. In The Underground Reporters, award- winning Toronto author Kathy Kacer tells the story – in words and pictures - of a courageous group of Jewish youth from Budejovice, a small town in eastern Europe, who created a newspaper during the Second World War, at a time when all privileges for Jews were taken away. While most of these children did not survive the Holocaust, 22 editions of their newspaper, Klepy, were hidden and recovered after the war.

In his final editorial for the paper, Ruda Stadler recorded the original purpose of Klepy, which was started in 1940: "To give expression to the pride of the Jewish youth of our town; to energize them to physical and mental achievements.... For two summers, we have played sport, established friendships and kept up our spirit."

In February 1942, all the Jewish families in Budejovice received the news that they were to be transported from their homes to Theresienstadt concentration camp.

The Underground Reporters centres on John Freund, one of the only survivors of the Klepy group. He relates his experiences in Theresienstadt, including the start of another newspaper, Bobrick. As did Klepy, it served as a way for the children to be creative: "writing was a way to use your mind, a way to feel connected to other people and to fight against rules and restrictions," writes Kacer.

The Underground Reporters is an amazing story about survival, rather than death. Kacer will read from it and use historical slides to help her tell the story on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 9:30 a.m.

Meet great scientists

Despite the fact that it is not always easy to comprehend, Barry Shell's Sensational Scientists: The Journeys and Discoveries of 24 Men and Women of Science is fascinating. It not only profiles two dozen accomplished men and women, including Nobel Prize winners, working in myriad areas – from chemistry to meteorology to psychology – but it provides explanations of the science these people research, using diagrams and photographs for clarification. As well, it offers career advice for aspiring scientists. Most notably, each chapter of Sensational Scientists contains an educational experiment that children (and/or their parents) can do themselves to see a scientific principle in action.

For the book festival, Shell will explain what is involved in creating a book on scientists, read an excerpt from Sensational Scientists and lead the audience in a hands-on science activity on Dec. 1, 11 a.m.

More fun for the kids

Other school field trips include two on Monday, Nov. 28. At 1 p.m., Kathleen Cook Waldron, whose writing contrasts the urban life of her childhood with her current life "in the bush," will discuss her books A Wilderness Passover and Round-up at the Palace and her experiences as the only Jewish person for miles around. At 3 p.m., storyteller Dan Yashinsky will perform stories from his summer camp days, as well as stories from his recent book Suddenly They Heard Footsteps – Storytelling for the Twenty-First Century.

Other events targeted to a younger audience include a children's illustration workshop on Nov. 27, at 12:30 p.m., with Vancouver-born artist and children's book illustrator Rae Maté (Crocodiles Say, written by local poet and teacher Robert Heidbreder). In this interactive session, Maté will speak about the illustrating process and participants will be invited to create their own crocodile creatures with chalk and oil pastels on paper.

As well, there is the annual Young Authors' Tea, which takes place after Maté's workshop. This year's theme is sports and the stories from children in grades 3 to 5 are on topics such as My Most Memorable (Unusual) Moment in Sports and My Favorite Sports Hero. During the tea, participants will be introduced to local Maccabi athletes and watch a video of previous JCC Maccabi games.

The Cherie Smith JCC Jewish Book Festival takes place at various locations in the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver Nov. 27-Dec. 1. Festival-goers will be able to meet authors from across Canada, attend writing and storytelling workshops and add to their own book collections with purchases from the festival's bookstores. As well, Temple Sholom Sisterhood will once again have its Chanukah gift shop at the centre during the week. For more information, call 604-257-5111.

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