Those of you who have known me forever, already know that I've been wanting to publish this book for YEARS, I just never had the opportunity (or money) to do so. Well, I figured if I can't get this one going, I can write a poem and have THAT get published, which it did, 2 years ago. Then I wrote an article about Miep Gies' life story that was published in World War II magazine back in January 1999, as a labor of love for her because she's like my very own grandmother and I wanted her story to be told, because without her, there would BE no Diary of Anne Frank.
So, I've been writing all my life, since 5th grade, when I won the Young Author's Award for a book I wrote, and I still have it, sitting dusty on my shelf. I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. I've kept journals all my life, I have about 7 boxes full of 'em, which I'm frankly getting sick of lugging around every time I move somewhere...but oh well, my whole life is in those boxes, literally.
When I worked at the Museum in DC, I was immersed in everything Holocaust-related. I attended First Person Survivor Stories, listening to them tell of their experiences first-hand. I attended workshops, presentations, talks, documentary films, you name it, I devoured it. So one day, as I'm walking through the children's exhibition "Daniel's Story," it suddenly hit me over the head-----what an ironic thing, that this Museum wants people to remember 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust, kids who had NO voice, and NO ability to express their feelings about what was happening-----yet at the same time, they IGNORE the children of today who CAN and DO express themselves and write their thoughts down on postcards at the END of the exhibition----they pour out their GUTS on these cards----but unfortunately, those cards are just tossed in the garbage at the end of every week, without even being read by anyone there.
So, I started collecting those postcards, in a box, by my desk. I took them home with me, and they sat dusty in a dark closet for several years, I didn't know what the heck to do with them. Eventually I decided to go through them, and I picked out some of the more poignant ones, and thought, "Wow, I'll bet kids would love to read what other kids' have to say about this stuff," so I put some of them into a binder, and I gave this binder to the Director of Communications, who then took it with her to display with the Traveling Exhibition of Daniel's Story. I got a high-five, and a thanks, but that's pretty much all I got for my efforts while working there. The binder was returned to me afterwards, and it sat, again, dusty on a shelf for many years.
Now that box of postcards that kids wrote are going to become a book. In fact, when I talked with the Chief of Staff at the 2007 Holiday Party, he told me the Museum was $2.5 million dollars in the hole at that point, and they were having a difficult time with fundraising ever since the events of 9/11/01.
I used to work in the fundraising department there, so I told him I would try to think of something to help out if I could, even though I no longer work there. Well, this book is that very idea, to help the Museum out. My thought is, I will get it published on my own, then take it to the Museum to show it to the Chief of Staff, and ask him if they might be interested in doing an annual book just like this one, with the highest donors to the Museum.
The Museum would have the Founders, high donors, & Council members' kids and grandkids write a postcard, and have it included in each volume every year, and would be given a few copies to keep, for a certain amount of donation. If the Museum throws a legal snafu at me for any reason (and I'm pretty much covered legally, I believe in CYA babyyyy, that's the #1 rule in DC ya know), then I can say, "I did it to donate some of the proceeds to your Museum, you boneheaded schmucks, so BITE ME." They could even just have it available for all people who sign up to be members of the Museum, and if they increase their annual donations, their kids could also participate. Judges would then pick the best postcards each year, just like they do with their annual Arts & Writing Contest, which I used to be a judge for every year myself.
For instance, this year, they could gather the postcards that mention President Obama, and make comparisons to the Civil Rights movement, and put those into a volume all its own. These kids write about every possible thing you can imagine, from their own family members who endured the Holocaust, or perished, to their own family members who are dealing with cancer or other diseases and have it much better than anyone did in the camps, etc....I mean, some of these cards made me cry when I read them, they were that emotionally charged. Kids should not be ignored by a Museum who wants to continue existing for centuries, ya know? You have to CULTIVATE the AUDIENCE, meaning, grab the kids when they are young and keep them interested in the subject matter, so that THEY will grow up and be donors to the Museum too. If you ignore them, you're basically putting yourself out of business, and that's just stupid.
Well, so what I did was gathered some postcards, put them together with some commentary, along with public domain photos of the exhibition that they are viewing, and I included the narration text of the character of "Daniel," (who is a composite made-up character of many real children of the Holocaust), and that's pretty much all I did. It flows very well, I think, because at the part when Daniel says, "They shaved my head, and when I saw myself reflected in a puddle, I didn't even recognize myself at all..." there are postcards that kids' drew, of a young boy without any hair, looking into a puddle, or into a mirror, etc., wearing a striped uniform.
Here's an example of an actual postcard: "Daniel, Remember, a catapiller crawls through the mud before blooming into a butterfly and flying to freedom. Your bravery opened eyes and taught others to LOVE---No more fear, no more tears." Or how about this one: "Daniel, I'm so sorry for what happened to you and your family. It made me appreciate my family more. Ethel."
Anyway, so I spent a year or so going through all these postcards, and I have thousands of them. I also got permission to gather MORE recent postcards, and included some of them in the book. I scanned each one in, I took out the surnames of each kid if they wrote it, (to protect their privacy), and added some commentary, some exhibition photos and some narration text, pertaining to the subject matter of the postcard. It's all in chronological order, just as if you're going through the exhibition with these kids, and seeing how they react to it as they go.
I sent this first draft in for a publisher to take a look at it for me. I figured if I got a rejection letter, at least SOMEBODY read it somewhere. But, to my surprise, I got a packet in the mail the other day that said they want to publish it, they want to put an electronic version of it onto Amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble.com, and have me do book signings at local bookstores, etc., which totally blows my mind!! I want to include some kind of "gimmick" in the book too, like a Medal of Bravery, (which Daniel is given his father's WWI medal as a gift one year for his birthday and ends up losing in the camp), to say to kids, "Look, your voice is important, and you're brave for speaking out about things that are important like this, so you deserve a medal too." I can foresee doing a rewrite with some definitions, a glossary of terms, and more historical stuff added in, like actual photographs of kids caught up in the Holocaust.
So it's still a work in progress, but it's getting closer to actual publication!! I'll be sure to let you know how it's going as things continue. And yes, I'll send you a copy of it when it's done!!
Love, Becky
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