Stolen SecretsAuthor: L.B. Schulman
Release Date: September 19, 2017
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
Description:
After an abrupt move across the country to San Francisco, sixteen-year-old Livvy discovers a grandmother who she believed was dead. Suffering from Alzheimer’s, Adelle shouts out startling details, mistakes her own name, and seems to relive moments that may have taken place in a concentration camp. When Livvy and her new friend Franklin D. find journal entries from the Holocaust in Adelle’s home, Livvy begins to suspect that her grandmother may have a shocking link to a notable figure Anne Frank.
Praise for STOLEN SECRETS:
“Stolen Secrets is a solid mystery with family drama and teen angst. Livvy is a likable character who is smart and perceptive at times, yet, like most teens, naive and clueless at others. The novel is easy to read and would be a good companion read for students reading Anne Frank’s diary. Stolen Secrets will need some hand-selling to teens, but once they pick it up they will not be disappointed.” ―VOYA
“This is a well-written book that sympathetically examines the roles of Holocaust survivors on both sides of the war as well as guilt and forgiveness. The main and supporting characters are funny and engaging…a good addition to those who want to read more books with a Holocaust theme. Recommended.” ―School Library Connection
“A…contemporary story with a Holocaust secret at its core….a jam-packed narrative with a full complement of tropes and topical elements: new girl; friend issues; alcoholism; family secrets, neo-Nazis; predatory elder care; armed robbery—and a romance. The grandmother’s mysterious past intrigues…” ―Kirkus Reviews
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Top 10 Things About Stolen Secrets You Might Not Know
1. I had the idea for this book 22 years ago and didn’t write it until five years ago, because I felt like the idea was too challenging for my writing abilities.
2. While I was writing a scene involving Anne Frank’s favorite chestnut tree, I was invited to a planting of a sapling from that same tree in a memorial Holocaust grove at a local college.
3. I interviewed a Holocaust survivor who has since died. He had no children. The interview is amazing. Maybe I should put it up on my website.
4. The United States Holocaust Museum liked the book so much that they are selling it in their store. A few others have joined them.
5. Livvy, my protagonist, has a photographic memory. This is the opposite of me. I have a terrible memory. I was actually jealous of my own character more than once as I wrote the book.
6. I wrote a large part of the first draft during NANOWRIMO.
7. The book is oddly prescient on many levels. There’s a part at the end that I considered not writing because it didn’t feel “real” but has since happened in the USA several times.
8. Mysteries were much harder to write than I expected. Sprinkling in the right clues at the right time without giving away too much was a huge challenge.
9. I’m so tired of the sexy, mysterious, misunderstood love interests that I made mine 100 percent the opposite.
10. Few teen books deal with Alzheimer’s and yet teens often have to deal with dementia in older relatives. I’m proud of the way I handled it.
STOLEN SECRETS is L.B. Schulman’s second
young adult novel. Her debut, LEAGUE OF STRAYS, was published in 2012.
She grew up in Maryland and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with
her husband, two daughters, and a pair of loveable mutts. When she
isn’t writing, she’s visiting genealogy sites, trying to find famous
people she’s related to. You can visit her online at LBSchulman.com.
(1) Winner will receive a STOLEN SECRETS Swag (Signed Copy, Bookmark, Pen & More) by L.B. Schulman.
Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter
It would be in the roaring 20's - I love the dresses.
ReplyDeleteI would live in the Golden Age of Hollywood so I could see the original cut of The Magnificent Ambersons.
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