TITLES
- Is It Night or Day? (FSG, March 2010)
Download the Teacher's Guide for Is It Night or Day?. - Motherland (Viking/Penguin April 2000)
Download the Teacher's Guide for Motherland.
AWARDS
Is It Night or Day? has received several honors:
- Junior Library Guild selection, spring 2010
- Booklist Top Ten Historic Fiction title for Youth 2010
- Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) Best Fiction Nominee for Young Adults 2010
- Booklist starred review
- Education.com 5th grade Summer Reading List 2010
- Chicago Public Library "Best of the Best" 2010
- Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance teaching tool
- Sydney Taylor Notable Book 2010
- Maine State Student Book Award Title List
- Bank Street College's "Best Children's Books of the Year" list
- Selection for One Book/One Community program in Waseca, MN and Libertyville/Vernon Hills, IL
Motherland has received the following honors:
- Named a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award 2000
- Named an Illinois State Library's Read-For-A-Lifetime 2007-2008 title
- Named a Barnes & Noble Discover New Great Writers title
- Selected as a featured title for "Quad Cities Reads" and "Racine Reads" (One book/one community book groups)
- Selected as a BookSense 76 pick
- Named to Booklist's list of "Holocaust Literature: Best of the Year" (2000)
- Featured on The Oprah Show
- Published in German and Dutch (The book is read in German classrooms to teach tolerance.)
- Selection for One Book/One Community programs at Libertyville/Vernon Hills, IL; Racine, WI; and the Quad Cities, IL, IA
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 Book Reviews |
 Is it Night or Day? is a Junior Library Guild selection. |
The Illinois Association of the Teachers of English (IATE) selected Ms. Chapman as its 2004 Illinois Author of the Year.
Some of the schools that have used Is It Night or Day? in their classrooms include:
- Madison Junior High School, Naperville, IL
- Waseca Middle School, Waseca, MN
- Norton Hunior High School, Norton, MA
- Elm School Place, Highland Park, IL
- College of Lake County Community College (CLC), Grayslake, IL
Some of the schools that have used Motherland in their classrooms include:
- Valencia Community College, Orlando, Florida
- Woodlands Academy, Lake Forest, Illinois
- Radnor High School, Radnor, Pennsylvania
- Evanston Township High School, Evanston, Illinois
- Newark Junior High School, Newark, California
- Lebanon High School, Lebanon, New Hampshire
- Deerfield High School, Deerfield, Illinois
- The Haverford School for Boys, Haverford, Pennsylvania
GRADES
- 3rd and up — A Child's Immigration Story Assembly
- 4th and up — The Legacy of the Holocaust Assembly
- 3rd and up — Writers Workshop Assembly
- 3rd and up — Family Stories Workshop
LENGTH OF PROGRAMS
Depending upon grade and type of presentation, from thirty to sixty minutes.
AUDIENCE SIZEMs. Chapman will tailor her program to the grade and size of your audience. No limits on attendance for assemblies on A Child's Immigration Story or The Legacy of the Holocaust. Family Stories Workshop and Writers Workshops work best with groups fewer than 50.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
A Child's Immigration Story: (Grades 3-12)
What if your parents told you they are sending you all by yourself to live in a foreign country? Ms. Chapman takes students on her mother's frightening immigration journey from Nazi Germany to America. (Powerpoint)
The Legacy of the Holocaust: (Grades 4-12)
Ms. Chapman explains how trauma is transmitted in families. This fulfills state requirements to teach the Holocaust.
Family Stories Workshop: (Grades 3-12)
The purpose of this session is to help children learn about their parents' histories. Ms. Chapman works with families in groups as children learn how to ask questions about their parents' early life experiences and parents share some of their stories. Great opportunity for families to bond.
Writers Workshop: (Grades 3-12)
Ms. Chapman teaches the craft of writing, inspiring students to develop their own sense of identity through story.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS
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 Book Reviews |
Adult and Parent/Child Book Clubs:
Ms. Chapman's books have been popular with adult and parent child book clubs. She gives evening presentations to these groups.
Writers Workshop for Families:
Ms. Chapman teaches the craft of writing, inspiring parents and children to develop their own sense of identity through story.
Teacher In-service:
Ms. Chapman shares with teachers some of the many effective exercises she uses when teaching students how to write. She also conducts discussions with educators on teaching moral choices in the classroom.
A companion iPad app focusing on moral education is available. This program enhances the book, Is It Night or Day?, and provides classroom activities.
A WORD FROM FERN SCHUMER CHAPMAN
"When I was a child, I always sensed something was missing; my understanding of my family's history and my own identity were limited by my mother's inability to speak of her past. My mother, a Holocaust refugee, coped with the losses of her family, language, and homeland by divorcing herself from her childhood and identity. As far as I could see, she had no family, no traditions, no stories, no childhood friends.
"'Identity is derived from self, family, place, and past,' I wrote in Motherland. 'For me, most of those elements have been unknowable and my mother has been in many ways unreachable.' Consequently, I was inspired to write two books in my quest to understand my mother and myself.
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 1938 – This was the last photograph taken of Edith (the author's mother) and her parents. |
"In my Child Immigration Assembly, I tell the story of my mother's child immigration through a Powerpoint presentation that captures images of the One Thousand Children project. Through her story, children identify with one young immigrant's difficulties of trying to assimilate in America. I challenge students to think about how they welcome new students into their schools and communities.
"In addition, in my presentations to upper grades, I give children a sense of what forms identity. I illustrate how the way our families and peers treat us define us. In turn, I show how those experiences can be transmitted to the next generation."
FEES
Fern travels nationally; expenses negotiable, depending upon the number of events in one location and the travel distance. $895 for first 2 sessions. $350 for each additional session. SKYPE visits @ $275.
SET-UP AND EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS
For any of Ms. Chapman's assemblies:
- A LCD projector
- A large screen
- A microphone
- A podium or small table
- A glass of water
AUTOGRAPHING INFORMATION
Ms. Chapman offers information to schools on how to order books at a discount. She supplies a Book Order Form that lists books and prices. Ms. Chapman asks schools to send the book order forms home to families before her visit. She will happily sign books.
LEARN MORE ABOUT FERN SCHUMER CHAPMAN
Fern Schumer Chapman
P.O. Box 14
Lake Bluff, Illinois 60044
Tel: 847-636-2550
Fax: 847-735-1914
Email: fernschumer@aim.com
Website: www.fernschumerchapman.com
