I’m amazed after perusing my archive of stories and columns, I discovered the last time I wrote about author Rosanne Tolin and her latest cover-to-cover project was nearly five years ago. In 176 pages, she’d captured the incredible life and career of late author Michael Bond, that amazingly creative mind who wrote “A Bear Called Paddington” in 1958.
Tolin, who lives in Chesterton with her family, dedicated pre-pandemic years to releasing that delightful hardcover book dedicated to Bond, titled “More than Marmalade: Michael Bond and the Story of Paddington Bear” (2020 Chicago Review Press $18.99), written in a breezy, conversational tone, and with an appeal to all ages.
That Bond and bear project was a three-year investment for Tolin “from idea to finished book,” and all while sharing her other duties of that last decade as managing editor for “Guideposts for Kids” magazine and the “Guideposts for Kids” website.
Early next month, Tolin will be beaming with the release of her new “middle-grade book,” this time hot off the presses in a publishing partnership with Reycraft Books/ Benchmark Education.
Titled “Freedom’s Game,” it is 248 pages with an Oct. 8 release date and is priced at $17.95 for the hardcover and $10.95 for the paperback. It’s a historical fiction novel narrated in dual point-of-views from the perspectives of two 12-year-old protagonists, Jewish refugees hiding in southern France during the Holocaust.
I’m told by Tolin the book relays actual events inspired by Georges Loinger, a little-known Jewish French Resistance hero whom she explains saved hundreds of Jewish children (in often ingenious ways) from deportation and death.
“The manuscript won a PJ Our Way author incentive award, and the PJ Library book committee is considering it for selection in their program,” Tolin explained.
“The lead characters Ziggy and Elka have fled Nazi Germany and are hiding with other Jewish children in an orphanage in the French village of Annemasse. Some villagers are friendly, others part of the Nazi-allied Vichy regime. The trick lies in knowing whom to trust since a mistake could be deadly. Ziggy is not sure about the mysterious, blond-haired Georges Loinger. Is he a friend, who will lead them to safety in nearby Switzerland? Or a foe who is luring them in, only to give them up to the Nazis?”
Tolin said this new book is set in 1942, just as the Nazis have taken northern France, and the Annemasse Orphanage was supposed to be a secret haven for Jewish children separated from their families. Tolin said her new book “tells a courageous story of friendship, sacrifice and the resilience of hope.”
While billed as directed to readers ages 10-13 years and grade levels 4-6, the book is engaging and immersive for any age.
Having grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, with her four siblings, Tolin said she was named after two of her great-grandmothers, Rose and Anne. After graduating from Indiana University, she moved to Chicago for law school. Today, her home nestled in Chesterton near the Indiana Dunes National Park is her favorite writing landscape and inspiration.
“I remember reading Maurice Sendak’s ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ when I was a little girl and thinking it was brilliant,” she said.
“I was mesmerized by Max’s narrow escape from a mysterious island of wild, gnashing creatures, and indignant when he was sent to bed with no supper. The Paddington Bear series pulled me in, too; he’s such a bumbling, lovable character. When a fable I wrote about a narcissistic flower was selected for a read-aloud by my third-grade teacher, my fate was sealed to be a writer. Later, it was Judy Blume’s books that had the most profound impact on my middle-grade years, and I found my niche penning novels for that age group.”
For upcoming signing events and author talks, visit www.rosannetolin.com.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
