Most Popular Books by Carol Matas

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 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.

After her father''s sudden death, fourteen-year-old Rose Rives finds that sixteenth-century France is a dangerous place for women, when some greedy, vindictive men charge her mother and others with being witches.

Suddenly transported against their will, the Princess Lenora and her fianc , Prince Coren, find themselves in a strange place - bone-chilling cold and snow outside, garish marketplaces and angry people inside. The inhabitants call it the city of Winnipeg. Lenora and Coren, however, have no idea where it is or why they are there. They can''t return home because, yet again, their imaginative powers have deserted them. The Winnipeggers refuse to believe Lenora and Coren are who they say they are. Strangely enough, though, they have read about Lenora and Coren in a series of fantasy novels by the authors Carol M. and Perry N. But just who created whom, Lenora and Coren wonder. And how will they ever manage to escape this frightening city, worse than their worst nightmare, so that their long-awaited wedding can finally take place?

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.

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

Miranda has it all: beauty, brains, talent, perfect health. Then when day her vision gets a little blurry - and the doctor tells her it''s the first symptom of a fatal disease. Her parents are prepared to fight for her life with everything they have: wealth, connections, determination. Miranda won''t lose her life, or her sight. Instead, she''ll begin to see things about her parents - about her life - that surprise her. Shock her. Scare her. Save her.

About to be married in Coren''s homeland of Andilla, Coren and Leonora discover that before the wedding can proceed they must find out why the Andillan people have lost their special powers and why Leonora is having nightmares about the evil Hevak.

Follows the adventures of two royal teenaagers who possess extraordinary mental powers.

Originally published: New York: Scholastic Inc., 1996.

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.

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

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?

The Telling chronicles one dramatic summer in the lives of three sisters - aged 12, 14 and 17 - as recounted by them in late night tell-alls. (1998)

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.

This account of resistance fighter Jesper''s activities fighting the Nazis after Lisa escapes to Sweden finds him in a German prison, having been tortured and destined to die.

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.

After leading a group of Jewish refugees to Israel after World War II, sixteen-year-old Ruth joins the Haganah, the Jewish Army, and helps her people fight to keep the land granted to them by the United Nations.

History comes alive in this accurate, moving novel, which explores betrayal, faith, and forgiveness as two Russian Jewish boys who are sworn enemies join forces to flee the Czar''s army.