When we began writing our fourth (released April 4) kids’ book a few years ago, Russia had not yet invaded Ukraine.
At the time, we chose to make Michael’s surrogate grandmother from Ukraine, Vera, a main character. (You can see her in the photo above with Michael. They are both wearing Ukrainian-made shirts.)
In real life, Vera is opinionated, smart, funny, a do-gooder and has shown incredible resilience in the face of adversity. In short, she’s a strong female character whose opinions, goodness and leadership skills will inspire our readers, we hope.
Now that war is raging in Ukraine, we want the book–Bash and Lucy Say, “Love, Love, Bark!”— to teach kids about Ukraine’s history and people, through Vera’s character.
In the book, Vera is Bash’s Ukrainian grandmother and the assistant mayor of the town of Woof-Woof Nation.
Along with Mayor Ally, Vera is trying to teach people to work together and get along better.
Bash and another boy from his school visit town hall and discover that Vera’s portrait–along with a story about her life–are hanging in town hall in an exhibit about local immigrants.
Readers learn that Vera grew up in Soviet-occupied Ukraine, the second largest country in Europe. At the time, the Soviets from the Soviet Union had control of everything Vera was allowed to do, and weren’t very nice to her. Vera and her family members were always hungry. To help keep her children fed, Vera’s mother planted a special kind of edible grass, as well as sugar beets. Later, Vera also worked hard to keep her children fed, working two jobs and sewing clothes at night and selling them.
Read the story Lisa wrote about Vera here:
Vera is always looking to help others. Right now, she collects money babysitting and selling her home-made food, then sends the proceeds to help out the people of Ukraine in the midst of the horrible war.
Vera’s daughter, Tatiana, follows in her mother’s footsteps as a do-gooder. While Tatiana is not a character in the book, you can learn more about the war in Ukraine and Tatiana’s role in the Portland community as a leader by reading Lisa’s story here:
Fighting back tears at a rally she organized a few days after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tatiana Terdal still managed to draw laughs from the 300or so people who had gathered at Portland’s Salmon Street Springs Fountain on a cold, rainy afternoon.
“I promise you, we will have a great festival when Putin’s troops are out of Ukraine. We will sing and dance and maybe there will be free borscht the way there was free borscht when Stalin died, and everyone will be invited,” she said.
Read the entire story here:
Portland Ukrainians’ Plea: Do Something
Vera was a voice-over artist in our last book. You can listen here:
Bash and Lucy Fetch Team Vera and the Dream Beasts audiobook
Don’t forget to watch Michael (wearing his Ukrainian shirt) dedicate our third book to Vera:
Questions? Feel free to email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com