TOBY BELFER LEARNS ABOUT HEROES AND MARTYRS by Mel Tarman

• Publication Season/Year: Spring, 2009
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing Company
• Release Date: March 15, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 9781589806474
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

More than six million European Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. While this tragedy was taking place, thousands of Christian men and women sacrificed their safety and even their lives to provide much-needed help to the Jews. When Toby Belfer and her friend Donna visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum, they learn about the incredibly selfless acts of these Righteous Gentiles.

From Janis Lipke, a man who saved hundreds of Jews by smuggling them out of the ghetto in Riga, Latvia, to Irena Sendler, who saved the lives of at least twenty-five hundred Jewish children in Poland, each hero Toby learns about represents the best of humanity in the face of one of the worst travesties in history.

When Toby returns home to Louisiana, she is surprised to learn about the Righteous Gentiles of Whitwell, Tennessee. These American schoolchildren started an amazing tribute to Holocaust victims, known as the Paper Clip Project.

Accompanied by striking pen-and-ink illustrations, the accounts of courageous men and women from many countries throughout Europe and the world provide important and inspiring lessons in history that will enrich children of any faith.

• Publication Season/Year: Summer 2009
• Publisher: Philomel Books
• Release Date: June 11, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-399-25189-4
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

“When the railroad’s in your blood, it draws you like a pump draws water from the ground.”

Meet a town and a train and a time and a boy – Jimmy Cannon.  And meet his father – as strong as a Mallet locomotive – whom Jimmy simply cannot figure out!  But who, in a dramatic and breathtaking twist, turns out to be so much more than Jimmy ever knew.

In a book that goes to the core of boyhood – its Halloween mischief, its hunting day mystery, its championship game surprise, and nighttime adventures – Fran Cannon Slayton brings her readers to the exhilarating crossroads of an unforgettable West Virginia railroad town and adulthood itself.

Early Praise for When the Whistle Blows:

“When the Whistle Blows is reminiscent of classic tales by Jack London, William Golding and Robert Louis Stevenson, yet carries the remarkable, fresh voice of its author. Fran Cannon Slayton should be extremely proud of this, her debut novel.” —Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank and Identical and National Book Award finalist

“With wit and warmth Fran Cannon Slayton recounts a steam-driven coming of age story in the last of the real railroad days.” —Richard Peck, author of A Year Down Yonder

“I loved When the Whistle Blows.” —Barbara Keifer, Charlotte S. Huck Professor of Children’s Literature at Ohio State University

“A highly engaging, well-written, really good read.” —Dr. Joel Taxel, University of Georgia, Department of Language and Literary Education

“From its whip-smart opening to its look at the complexity of father/son relationships, Slayton’s loving novel takes a long hard look at the death of people and that intangible idea of ‘home’ . . . ‘When the Whistle Blows’ stopped me in my tracks.” —Elizabeth Bird, A Fuse #8 Production (School Library Journal)

When the Whistle Blows is now available for pre-order at Borders, Amazon, and Your Local Indie Store online!