Awards

Crumstadt, Germany My mother's cousin, Elisa Levi, recently sent this email after reading, Is It Night or Day?. When Elisa was a child, she and her family fled Crumstadt, Germany for Uruguay. My mother and Elisa have corresponded and visited each other since 1938, the year my mother left Germany. Dear Edith: I finished reading Fern's book. It made me relive all the sorrows and fears I experienced in Germany ...

My new web site showcasing my school presentations has gone live at AIVS (Authors and Illustrators who Visit Schools). Please visit: http://www.authorsillustrators.com/schumer_chapman/schumer_chapman.htm

In a dream last night, I stumbled upon an interesting image of my work. Each book I write is a footstep, marking where I am at that moment in my life. As American lawyer, orator, and memoirist Rufus Choate once said, "A book is the only immortality." Books are my way of announcing, "I was here." SLOW LOVE by Dominique Browning I suspect I came to this dream/thought because yesterday ...

The Sunday New York Times Book Review reports that, according to surveys by the Codex Group, a consultant to the publishing industry, 47 percent of 18- to 24- year-old w0men and 24 percent of same-aged men say most of the books they buy are classified as young adult. The percentage of female Y.A. fans between the ages of 25 and 44 has nearly doubled in the past four years. Today ...

French President Jacques Chirac Fifteen years ago, in July, 1995, French President Jacques Chirac gave a speech finally acknowledging the French role in the July 16, 1942 "Velodrome d'Hiver roundup." Here are his words: July 16 and 17, 1942, Paris, France "These black hours will stain our history forever and are an injury to our past and our traditions. Yes, the criminal madness of the occupant was supported by the ...

Profile of FSC (second from left) from Make It Better/North Shore Magazine It’s impossible for us to know who we truly are without knowing something of our mothers. That’s why Fern Schumer Chapman, a former reporter for the Chicago Tribune and Forbes, has spent years unraveling the enigma that is her mother, who was orphaned by the Holocaust. Fern’s first book, “Motherland: Beyond the Holocaust: A Mother-Daughter Journey to Reclaim ...

Family Stories workshops (All ages) The purpose of this session is to help children learn about their parents' histories. I work with families in groups as children learn how to ask questions about their parent's early life experiences and parents share some of their stories. Great opportunity for families to bond. Parent Book Clubs (Adults or Parent/Child groups) My books have been popular with adult and parent child book clubs. ...

WGTD's Greg Berg Greg Berg interviews author Fern Schumer Chapman on Monday, July 12th, 'The Morning Show,'' 91.5 WGTD. Here is the link: http://media.gtc.edu/morningshow/871210.mp3

JLG selected Is It Night or Day? as its June book for Advanced Readers. Here are some comments from the JLG reviewers about the book: * World War II and Holocaust stories like Edith's are scarce in children's literature; unlike many European Jews, she manages to flee her homeland and become an American immigrant. Readers will be intrigued by Edith's unique perspective. * A powerful and moving story. It is ...

1938- my grandmother, my mother, my grandfather. This is the last picture of my mother's family, taken just before she was sent to America. Neurobiologist Eric Kandel wrote in his work, In Search of Memory, that people have the desire to destroy people outside the group to which they belong. "There may be an innate response," he writes, "that is capable of being aroused in almost any cohesive group." In ...