Kathryn Lasky's Blog, page 12

Polar Bears are Coming

And they live in the world of Ga'Hoole

Three years ago my husband and I were on our way to Manitoba to observe polar bears. In four months, February of 2018, the first book in my new series Bears of the Ice will be published. Moral of the story: it takes a lot of research to do a fantasy book. Stay tuned.

An audiobook of Night Witches has been released

Here is a nice review of it

NIGHT WITCHESA Novel of World War II

by Kathryn Lasky | Read by Ilyana Kadushin

Young Adult  Ages 14+ • 6.25 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2017

Narrator Ilyana Kadushin portrays 16-year-old Valya, who joins a Soviet regiment of women who serve as pilots during WWII. With a passionate voice, Kadushin establishes a Russian accent to reflect the backgrounds of these brave characters who fight in harsh conditions to defend their country from the German army. After her mother is killed by Germans, Valya faces danger in risky air raids, and when her older sister, Tatyana, goes missing, she must stay hopeful that they'll be reunited. Listeners will be intrigued by this fictional depiction of some of the forgotten heroines of WWII. M.D. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2017]

I’ve just done a new interview about Night Witches

There are some really good questions in this one

Newton’s Rainbow is published

It is already a Junior Library Guild selection

A Tale of Three Books

I never set out to write a trilogy

This week my new book Night Witches came out. Set in Russia, it's the story of Valya a teenager who became a pilot in the only all women air combat regiment during World War II. This was my third book about World War II. The first was Ashes told from the view of a young girl in Berlin in 1932, and the third was The Extra that focused on a gypsy girl who was taken from an internment camp to be a stunt double for Hitler’s favorite filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl.

I never set out to write a trilogy but one book led to another. It seems that while I was researching I would find some small bit completely unrelated to the subject that was my focus at the time and yet another thread in the tapestry of World War II. I could not resist tugging on that thread and instead of unraveling the fabric completely it only added to the complexity and demanded ‘equal time’. The only way I could provide ‘equal time’ was to give the story I was discovering an entire book of its own.

Is Night Witches the end? I’m not sure. Unfortunately war is often endless.

Newton’s Rainbow is already a winner

It's a Junior Library Guild Selection

"In keeping with our goal of providing extaordinary reading experience for children and young adults, Newton's Rainbow: The Revolutionary Discoveries of a Young Scientist has been awarded the designation of a A Junior Library Guild Selection."

COMING APRIL 17

A New Review of Night Witches and an Interview with Me

I enjoyed reading this

I like this review because unlike the style of PW, Booklist or Kirkus she doesn’t just summarize the story. She touches on a lot of different aspects.

The interview gave me a chance to talk about the characters in Night Witches

A video introduction to Night Witches

Here is my editor talking about the book: Scroll down and click the Video Intro link.

You can read an excerpt from Night Witches right now!

The book will be released March 28

Click on the link below to read

http://ireadyabooks.tumblr.com/post/156724644718/night-witches-excerpt

Surprise coming in April

Who could this young scientist be?