Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

    (2021). ISBN: 978-1-985021730 Carola Schmidt, a pediatric oncology pharmacist and author of several children’s books, including others on cancer, brings hope and passion to all of her works. She has been on the front lines and has used both her expertise in the field (she also writes nonfiction for the scientific mega-publisher Springer) and her big heart to craft stories that inspire confidence and positive action. Bald is Beautiful: A Letter for a Fabulous Girl reinforces the positive feedback and support that everyone needs—most especially youth battling cancer. Since the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, power and identity have been associated with hair. And, as we know from personal experience and film/TV, cancer treatment often leads to hair loss. When the heroine of the story is faced with losing her hair, it is an opportunity, not to mourn loss, but to have a Hat and Scarf Shower to celebrate creativity and self-expression. Many of us have hat and scarf ...

  (2021). ISBN: 979-8723574601 It is a joy when two authors you admire for their positive messaging and high level of craft join forces—especially for a cause as worthwhile as childhood cancer. Carola Schmidt is a pediatric oncology pharmacist and author of several children’s books, two of which are about her Ukrainian grandmother and her experiences leaving Ukraine and coming to American to escape the atrocities being committed by the Russian army, and then returning to Ukraine decades later. She is also the author of Bald is Beautiful , which is a letter to a young person with cancer. When a Brave Bear Fights Cancer is filled with photographs by Mark O’Dwyer, the author of the Mawson the Bear children’s series. Mawson—sort of a Winnie the Pooh, especially when considered through the lens of books like The Tao of Pooh —is a dreamer and seeker who is a big fan of naps and working with his equally inquisitive friends to explore just what it is that drives and fulfills us. T...

  Illustrated by Vinicius Melo. (2019; Facebook: @MyLovelyBabushka). ISBN: 9798603382616. Babushka is Homesick is the sequel to Tell Me a Story, Babushka , which I recently reviewed (and loved!). Babushka, in the first book, tells her granddaughter Karina about how she came to America after escaping a camp in Siberia following the invasion and seizure of grain in Ukraine by the Russians. In the sequel, Babushka decides to return to Ukraine—for the first time since she was taken from her home by the soldiers—on a trip sponsored by the Ukrainian Church. While the first book centered solely on Babushka (which means “little grandmother”) and Karina, Babushka is Homesick reveals a house full of energetic grandchildren from a broad array of ethnicities and four of Babushka’s friends, who are all very unique in appearance and wonderfully, whimsically illustrated by Vinicius Melo. Speaking of Melo’s illustrations, you will want to take your time with them, especially the opening on...

   Illustrated by Vinicius Melo. (2019; Facebook: @MyLovelyBabushka). ISBN: 9788592062729. Beautifully illustrated, with a strong sense of culture and family, Carola Schmidt’s wonderful children’s book gives us a glimpse into life for those in pre-independence Russia under the soviet communist party (the author chooses not to capitalize the scp, and I shall honor her choice). A few things to know. Babushka is Ukrainian for “little Baba” and “Baba” means Grandmother. Like many Europeans (my family’s from Sicily and southern Italy), I have experienced the primary role of grandmothers in the family. Both of my grandmothers were very strong women who dealt with countless adversities—immigrating to America, helping their families with their businesses in New Jersey, suffering losses during World War II and Vietnam, raising children, taking care of their parents, and often managing the money and, of course, cooking enough delicious food for three times the amount of people pres...