Broken Strings by Eric Walters and Kathy Kacer (Puffin/Penguin Random House) has been shortlisted for the 2020 IODE Canada Violet Downey Book Award! This award, administered by IODE Canada, is offered to the best English language children’s book. The winner will be announced at IODE Canada’s 120th National Annual Meeting, being held by teleconference, on Saturday, 22 May 2020.
A violin and a middle-school musical unleash a dark family secret in this moving story by an award-winning author duo. In the aftermath of the twin towers — and the death of her beloved grandmother — Shirli Berman is intent on moving forward. The best singer in her junior high, she auditions for the lead role in Fiddler on the Roof, but is crushed to learn that she’s been given the part of the old Jewish mother in the musical rather than the coveted part of the sister. Deciding to throw herself into the role, she rummages in her grandfather’s attic for some props. There, she discovers an old violin in the corner. Showing it to her grandfather unleashes an anger in him she has never seen before. A long-kept family secret spills out, and Shirli learns the true power of music, both terrible and wonderful. BROKEN STRINGS is represented by Amy Tompkins.
Eric Walters is one of Canada’s best-known and most prolific writers of fiction for children and young adults. His books have been translated into thirteen languages and have won over 120 awards, including thirteen separate children’s choice awards, as well as the Africana Children’s Book Award, the UNESCO Award for Literature in Service of Tolerance and The Christopher Award. He lives in Guelph, Ontario, and is the co-founder of Creation of Hope, a charity that provides care for orphans in the Mbooni district of Kenya. In 2014 Eric was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Visit him online at ericwalters.net and on Twitter: @EricRWalters.
Kathy Kacer’s award-winning list of Holocaust fiction and non-fiction for young readers includes The Secret of Gabi’s Dresser (winner of OLA Silver Birch Award), The Diary of Laura’s Twin (winner of the National Jewish Book Council Award [US] as well as the Canadian Jewish Book Award), Hiding Edith (winner of the OLA Silver Birch Award; the Sydney Taylor Book Award [Association of Jewish Libraries], Notable Book for Older Readers; and the Yad Vashem Award for Children’s Holocaust Literature [Israel]), and To Look a Nazi in the Eye (a Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Teens). Her books have been published and translated in twenty countries. She is the child of Holocaust survivors, and the parent of two actors and musical theater performers. For more information, please see: www.kathykacer.com.