New Releases by Carol Matas

"After losing her mother as a young girl, twelve-year-old Mia is living in Berlin with her veterinarian father and beloved German shepherd, Max. Mia tries to focus on her hobbies, her studies and her trips to her grandparents'' farm where she cares for the animals she loves. But it''s 1935, and life has changed radically for Mia and her Jewish father over the last two years. Antisemitism is now official state policy. At school, Mia is vilified and treated cruelly by her teachers and fellow students. Outside of school, she witnesses violence against her friends and family. And then suddenly a girl from the Nazi Youth tries to take Max. From that moment on, life becomes more and more dangerous for Mia and her father--who is now being forced to help the Nazis train Hitler''s army of dogs. Mia and her best friend, Frieda, must come up with a plan to navigate this new reality. But could it cost Mia more than she realises?--Publisher.

Key Selling Points Thirteen-year-old Zevi uses his psychic powers to save the life of a famous actor during the filming of a movie. This story examines the effects of fame and the importance of choices, while exploring themes of responsibility, empathy and doing the right thing. Carol Matas is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning author of dozens of books for young people. She’s written in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, sci-fi, supernatural and thriller. She is also a graduate of the Actor’s Lab in London, England, and pursued an acting career for a few years. The accuracy of the movie set and filming scenes was expert reviewed by filmmaker John Kozak, a professor of film at the University of Winnipeg. Enhanced features (highly-readable font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

In 1815, after immigrating from Scotland to Canada, thirteen-year-old Isobel chronicles her family''s experiences as they adjust to their new home in Rupert''s Land, Manitoba, with the help of their Cree Indian neighbors and, especially, White Loon, their father''s new wife.

In this gorgeously illustrated nonfiction picture book, a young girl and her baby sister explore the land around them while various animals and insects look on. The art reflects the world as viewed by the animals, along with the text explaining some science behind each animal''s unique type of vision.

In 1815, after immigrating from Scotland to Canada, thirteen-year-old Isobel chronicles her family''s experiences as they adjust to their new home in Rupert''s Land, Manitoba, with the help of their Cree Indian neighbors and, especially, White Loon, their father''s new wife.

A gripping story of survival and hope from acclaimed author Carol Matas. Ruth survived the Holocaust and the long journey to Palestine. Now she finds herself once again in a war zone as Israel battles for its existence. Her brother is on the front lines. Ruth and her boyfriend are injured and cannot fight, so they care for children in a hospital. Ruth tells the children stories to distract them and help them make sense of their situation. As she recovers, she too must return to the fight. A trauma forces her back to another time when she told stories: to her fellow prisoners in Auschwitz. We discover what Ruth went through in the camps, the horrors she saw, the friends she made and lost. Through it all Ruth comes to understand that she must find a new way to live, a way that does not give up on hope.

Daniel, whose family suffers as the Nazis rise to power in Germany, describes his imprisonment in a concentration camp and his eventual liberation.

See below for English description. Qu''auraient écrit de simples jeunes filles si elles avaient vécu l''un ou l''autre des événements qui ont marqué l''histoire canadienne? Rose a survécu à l''Holocauste en vivant dans la clandestinité après avoir échappé de justesse au ghetto de Varsovie.À la fin de la guerre, elle se retrouve dans un orphelinat, puis émigre au Canada, mais elle fait encore face à beaucoup de souvenirs angoissants. The Cher Journal series invites readers into the intimate worlds of girls throughout different times in Canadian history. The ongoing series showcases Canada''s most distinguished children authors who recreate some of the most dramatic events from our diverse history. Rose survives the Holocaust by going into hiding after a narrow escape from the Warsaw Ghetto, but when the war is over and she ends up in an orphanage and then emigrates to Canada, there is still much to be faced as disturbing memories surface. Original Title: Pieces of the Past: the Holocaust Diary of Rose Rabinowitz Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1948

Le jour de l''anniversaire de son arrière-grand-mère, Sarah Rose reçoit en héritage son médaillon. Elle promet à sa mère qu''elle ne le perdra pas si elle le porte pour aller à l''école. Mais l''impensable se produit. Quelqu''un vole son médaillon! Rose et ses amis pourront-ils le récupérer avant que sa mère ne le découvre?Le médaillon perdu explore les thèmes intemporels de la responsabilité et de l''intimidation.

An unforgettable reminder of the resilience of human compassion, even in the face of the worst horrors of our history. In the autumn of 1940, Anna Hirsch and her friends and family are rounded up by Nazis and deported to Gurs, a refugee camp in the south of France. Food is scarce, and the living conditions inhumane. Even worse is the ever-present fear that they will be relocated once again -- this time to one of the death camps. But when word comes that Anna and the other children are to be moved, their destination is not Auschwitz or Buchenwald, but Le Chambon-sur-Lignon: a tiny village whose citizens have agreed to care for deported Jewish children. Based on the true story of a French village that banded together to protect the Jews during WWII, this unforgettable tale honours the contagious goodness that permeated one corner of a region otherwise enveloped in evil, and celebrates the courage of all those who put their lives at risk to save others.

I survived. Protected by the Nazis that killed my family. Could I ever forgive myself? Award-winning novelist Carol Matas brings readers into the heart of Nazi Germany with the harrowing story of Marisa, a Polish Jew whose blond hair and blue eyes make it easy for her to pass as a Christian. With the Nazis ready to herd the remaining Jews of her town into a ghetto, and with her family either scattered or dead, Marisa takes the papers of a Polish girl and goes to Germany in a desperate attempt to survive as a Polish worker. Marisa finds work as a servant for the Reymanns, a German family that treats her with respect. But she must never forget that Herr Reymann is a high-ranking Nazi. Marisa is hiding in plain sight in her enemy''s house. This unflinching account of Marisa''s dilemma as a Jew living a lie in order to survive will give readers a new perspective on the nature of good and evil, even as it touches their hearts.

A young Jewish girl recounts her experiences during a horrifying time in recent history.As Rose begins her diary, she is in her third home since coming to Winnipeg. Traumatized by her experiences in the Holocaust, she struggles to connect with others, and above all, to trust again.When her new guardian, Saul, tries to get Rose to deal with what happened to her during the war, she begins writing in her diary about how she survived the murder of the Jews in Poland by going into hiding.Memories of herself and her mother being taken in by those willing to risk sheltering Jews, moving from place to place, being constantly on the run to escape capture, begin to flood her diary pages. Recalling those harrowing days, includingwhen they stumbled on a resistance cell deep in the forest and lived underground in filthy conditions, begins to take its toll on Rose.As she delves deeper into her past, she is haunted by the most terrifying memory of all. Will she find the courage to bear witness to her mother''s ultimate sacrifice?

Octobre 1940. Anna doit fuir son pays, l''Allemagne, parce qu''elle est juive. La Gestapo oblige sa famille à prendre un train, avec des centaines d''autres Juifs, en direction d''un camp du sud de la France. Heureusement, Anna et ses camarades, grâce à un formidable réseau de solidarité, pourront quitter le camp pour être envoyés au Chambon-sur-Lignon, un village dont le nom restera à jamais associé au pasteur Trocmé et à son incroyable générosité. Mais il ne faut pas croire que parce qu''ils sont cachés, les enfants sont enfin en sécurité. L''ennemi les traque ! Au fil d''un récit aussi émouvant que palpitant, Carol Matas témoigne d''un passage trop souvent oublié de l''histoire de France, une France courbée sous le régime du gouvernement de Vichy.

Les dix récits rassemblés dans ce roman relatent les événements qui sont survenus durant la période des fêtes, après que les héroïnes des romans de la collection Cher Journal eurent terminé d''écrire leur journal intime. Il n''est toutefois pas nécessaire d''avoir lu les autres livres de la collection ou de connaître les héroïnes pour comprendre et apprécier les récits du présent ouvrage.

Suivez l''histoire de Déborah Bernstein, alors que, du Canada où elle vit, elle cherche à aider sa cousine Sarah à fuir Paris avant que les nazis regroupent les Juifs et les déportent vers les camps de concentration.

A young WWII gunner from the Prairies sees the horrors of war firsthand when he is captured by the Gestapo.Eighteen-year-old Sam Frederiksen has come a long way from the Prairies. Trained to be a gunner in a Lancaster bomber during WWII, he is shot down over France. Battered and bruised, he does survive, and joins forces with the French Resistance... only to be betrayed by one of its members. He and other flyers from various Allied countries are rounded up by the Gestapo and held in Fresnes prison just outside of Paris.Treated as spies, rather than POWs, these men are beaten, some tortured — then sent to Buchenwald Concentration Camp in eastern Germany. It is here, in these wretched conditions, that Sam witnesses the darkest side of humanity — gas chambers, torture and starvation. Yet it is also here that he comes to understand the true resilience and unfathomable courage of the victims.Author Carol Matas has won numerous awards for her previous novels about the Holocaust. Behind Enemy Lines is partially based on a true incident from WWII, in which 168 Allied airmen were captured and sent to Buchenwald. Twenty-six of these men were Canadian.

No one knows if it''s a family curse, or just plain old bad luck, but it seems as if the Barnett males are prone to dropping dead on the day before they turn thirty-five. Luckily, Molly and Adams mom has a plan: a getaway to the familys low-stress, danger-free lakeside cottage. But even the best laid plans can go horribly wrong. First, Mom gets called into work and is forced to stay home. Then theres the fact that Mollys room has been turned into a storage space for her dead grandfathers creepy old desk and papers. Finally, theres the freak fall that leaves Molly and Adams dad with a badly twisted ankle. Everyone swears that the accident was Mollys faultthat she was screaming out for help as she swam in the lakebut she knows this isnt true. Things go from very bad to even worse when an odd nurse by the name of Reggie Crankshaft appears out of nowhere and offers his help. As Molly and Adam struggle to make sense of these strange events, and to keep their father safe, more questions than answers arise. What really happened down on the lake, and what was that strange white light that Molly saw just before her father fell? Who is Reggie Crankshaft and why is he so interested in their family? And whats up with the figure that both Molly and Adam see sitting at the old desk in Mollys rooma figure that bears a weird resemblance to their own dad? In The Proof That Ghosts Exist, the first installment of The Ghosthunters trilogy, Carol Matas and Perry Nodelman team up to deliver a rip-roaring ghost story complete with chills, thrills, mysteries, and more than a few laughs. Its a combination thats guaranteed to leave readers wanting more.

After the shocking murder of her husband, 19-year-old Ros and her one-year-old son relocate to her childhood home to live with her parents. Palm Springs--full of sunlight, small and safe--should be the perfect place to bring up a child. But things aren''t always as they appear. When the father of one of Ros''s friends is shot in front of her house--an incident that also lands Ros in the hospital--it marks the beginning of a terrible string of events. Someone is out to get her, and they seem determined not to stop until her friends and family are also drawn in. As she struggles to uncover the identity of her mysterious enemy, Ros finds herself looking for answers in the most unusual places. Could the attacks have something to do with her increasingly disturbing dreams? And if so, how can she make them stop? In Past Crimes, bestselling author Carol Matas once again asks her readers to question their assumptions about the world around them. Are we capable of fully understanding the lives we lead, or do the things we fail to understand far outnumber those that we do? Growing out of her work in books like The Freak, Past Crimes offers an innovative twist on the mystery/thriller genre, and is a must-read for fans of Matas''s work. Veteran novelist Carol Matas knows that a fast-paced plot is mandatory for youth raised on television. In Ros [the protagonist], Matas has created a heroin who will appeal to teenage girls Canadian Review of Materials Ive read Past Crimes and its interesting that shes tackled something typically new. Shes gone from one genre to another and not many writers can. Shes willing to challenge different kinds of writing, and shes incredibly productive. Helen Norrie, Childrens reviewer from the Winnipeg Free Press as quoted in the Jewish Tribune

Ben flees Nazi Germany only to find himself in a battle for his life and his soul.

The thrilling sequel to Cloning Miranda and The Second Clone. When Miranda is accused of vandalism on school property, she''s confident she can clear her name - until she''s shown the security tapes. Even she can''t tell that the girl on the tapes isn''t her, or her cloned "twin" sister Ariel. Miranda must fight to clear her name or face being expelled, and possibly charged by the police. But one way or another, she knows she can''t tell the truth to the authorities, or share her suspicions about the real culprit. Meanwhile, Dr. Mullen, her creator, has called a press conference to announce that he is the first scientist ever to create a living human clone. Could the girl on the security tape be yet another Mullen-made Miranda clone? Or could it be Eve, the dying third clone that Mullen kidnapped? No matter what, it looks like Miranda and Ariel are about to face the biggest challenge of their lives.

In her third adventure, Rosie and her family leave Chicago to make movies in Los Angeles and Papa brings home an entire Wild West show for filming.

Een Pools-joods meisje probeert tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Duitsland te overleven onder zeer moeilijke omstandigheden.

When Mama falls ill and Papa invests all the family''s money in a new business, eleven-year-old Rosie Lepidus must go to work in a garment factory and soon gets involved in union activities.

On the anniversary of her great-grandmothers birthday, Roz is given a family heirloom: her great-grandmothers locket. She convinces her mother she wont lose the locket if she wears it to school. But then the unthinkable happens. Someone steals her locket! Can Roz and her friends get it back before her mother finds out?

Ariel, Miranda''s clone, is becoming a person in her own right. Ariel is living with Miranda and they arebecoming close, as sisters do. Everything seems perfect, until Miranda starts noticing things that don''t seem to fit with the Ariel she knows. She sees her sister in places she shouldn''t be, doing things Ariel would never be doing, and Miranda begins to wonder if she herself is going crazy. But then Ariel beginsacting stranger than ever and Miranda gets a horrible feeling... what if there''s more than one clone? And if so, can she find out what''s going on and give Ariel back the life she''s built before it''s too late?