Dear Librarians and Educators,
I am the author of THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING: DEVORAH'S STORY (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2006, Bloomsbury, UK, 2007 and 2008)
A benefactor has generously offered to purchase sets of books for classes (best for 5th-7th grade) or bookclub participants (story has been well received at adult bookgroups). Please note that they cannot be re-sold.
Email me at lpwulf@ix.netcom.com with your street address (no P.O. Boxes), the number of books you would like, and what you will be using them for.
I am sometimes available to read and talk to groups. I do not charge an honorarium. Cost include airfare from Oakland, California, hotel, meals only. References available upon request.
More information about the book is below.
Best wishes,
Linda Press Wulf
lpwulf@ix.netcom.com
THE NIGHT OF THE BURNING: DEVORAH'S STORY by Linda Press Wulf
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006; Bloomsbury, London, 2007 and 2008).
A Polish girl and her little sister endure the ravages of the First World War, a pogrom in her Jewish village, and the loss of her parents. Then a kindly philanthropist called Isaac Ochberg
transports them, in a group of 200 orphans, to safety in South Africa -- and separation. This novel was inspired by the childhood of the author's mother-in-law.
Awards
- Sydney Taylor Honor Award
- Booksense.com Winter Children's Pick
- Sydney Taylor Manuscript Award
- A California Writers Club First Prize for children's fiction manuscript
- New York Public Library ("100 Titles for Reading and Sharing")
- Cooperative Children's Book Center ("CCBC Choices 2007")
- Children's Book Committee at Bank Street College of Education
- "Forward"
"An insightful exploration of the effects of traumatic experiences, and an ultimately hopeful portrait of a young girl. ... [A] masterful job of showing the complexity of relationships among religious and ethnic groups in [South Africa and Poland]. ... The relationships between the protagonist, her adoptive parents, and their domestic worker are particularly well realized. However, the light that shines through this book is the carefully imagined and described process of painful but ultimatley positive personal growth that Devorah experiences." --School Library Journal
[T]he story is gripping . . .." —Hazel Rochman, Booklist
"Heartbreaking & poignant with a positive conclusion . . . A haunting work of historical fiction" —Kirkus Reviews
"Devorah's narration alternates between flashbacks to life in the sisters' Polish village of Domachevo and their later experiences as orphans, and both tales are equally touching and engrossing; her observations of the way black South Africans are accorded underclass
status within their own country leads to provocative comparisons with her own sudden class reversal as a member of a relatively privileged white community." —Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"With bittersweet overtones, it reminds the reader of human savagery yet also shows the caring strength of one man and the power of sisterly ties." —selected and reviewed by Lesley Agnew, leading independent bookseller, for "Teenage Previews for March-June," The Bookseller, U.K.
"A simply written, but extremely powerful, novel . . . Wulf displays great skill in her poignant handling of one of the darkest periods of 20th century history. [The sisters] are drawn with remarkable sympathy and understanding . . . [A] very impressive achievement . . . conveying to young readers some notion of the depths of evil to which humanity can sink, but at the same time demonstrating to them the strengths of resilience, tolerance & love."—Robert Dunbar, The Irish Times
Find more information about the story at www.LindaPressWulf.com.
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