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Fair Lawn Author One of Three Local Children's Authors To Speak at the Teaneck Library

Award-winning local children's authors Elka Weber, Anna Olswanger, and Ann Malaspina will present "Did It Really Happen?"  a program for kids and families at the Teaneck Public Library at 7 PM on July 24, 2013.

The authors will talk about writing stories based on true events and people.  Did a talking horse really save the Passover wine in St. Louis in 1919? Did a Confederate family really host a Yankee soldier for the Passover seder? Did Susan B. Anthony really break the law to stand up for her beliefs? As they explore these and other questions, they will show that truth is as surprising as fiction. 

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The authors' books are inspired by American history, family history, and biography, and written as fiction, nonfiction, and folktale.  They will talk about how they do their research, unusual challenges they've faced, and their writing processes. They will also share primary materials used to create their stories. A fun activity will give the audience a taste of writing about true events and people.

The Authors

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Elka Weber lived in Teaneck for eighteen years and now lives in Israel. Her book THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER (Tricycle Press, 2007) tells the story of a Jewish Union Soldier at the end of the Civil War. THE YANKEE AT THE SEDER, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book, was just featured as part of the Yeshiva University Museum exhibit Passages through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War, open through August 11, 2013. Elka is also the author of ONE LITTLE CHICKEN (Tricycle Press, 2011) a retold Talmudic tale. 

Anna Olswanger lives in Fair Lawn. She based her first children's book SHLEMIEL CROOKS (NewSouth Books, 2005, 2009) on a Yiddish newspaper article she uncovered about the attempted robbery of her great-grandfather’s kosher liquor store in St. Louis in 1919. SHLEMIEL CROOKS is a Sydney Taylor Honor Book and PJ Library Book. Anna grew up in Memphis and has made "The Home of the Blues" the backdrop to many of her stories, including "Chicken Bone Man," which won the F. Scott Fitzgerald Short Story Contest. In 2011 the Kaufman Center in New York adapted "Chicken Bone Man" and SHLEMIEL CROOKS into a musical for children, which premiered at Merkin Concert Hall. Anna's latest book for young readers, GREENHORN (NewSouth Books, 2012) is an illustrated children’s novel inspired by the true story of a young Holocaust survivor, who arrived at a New York yeshiva in 1946 with a small box, his only possession, that he never let out of his sight. 

Ann Malaspina lives in Ridgewood. Her latest picture book HEART ON FIRE: SUSAN B. ANTHONY VOTES FOR PRESIDENT (Albert Whitman & Co., 2012), was named to the top ten list of the Amelia Bloomer Project of the American Library Association. She is also the author of TOUCH THE SKY: ALICE COACHMAN, OLYMPIC HIGH JUMPER (Albert Whitman & Co., 2012), the true story of the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold, as well as many other books for children and teens.

The Teaneck Public Library is at 840 Teaneck Road in Teaneck, NJ.  Website: http://www.teaneck.org/  Telephone:  (201) 837-4171

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