The 2008 Willow Awards
Shining Willow Nominee
A Sack Full of Feathers
Yankel, a boy who spreads stories, learns a lesson from the rabbi who instructs him to leave a feather on the doorstep of every house in the village. When the rabbi asks Yankel to collect them again, the wind has blown all the feathers away. Much like the gossip Yankel spread in his stories, no one knows where they ended up.
About the Author
Debby Waldman's first picture book, A Sack Full of Feathers, was published by Orca in 2006. She is also the author of WOW: World's Outstanding Women Athletes (Sports Illustrated for Kids Books).
A journalist, book reviewer, and humorist, she calls herself a jack-of-all trades writer. Her articles and reviews have appeared in a variety of publications including People, Parents, Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Publishers Weekly, American Baby, Chatelaine, and The Washington Post. She writes a bi-weekly family column for The Edmonton Journal.
Debby is married and has two children. Her 10-year-old daughter, who is hard-of-hearing, inspired her to co-write Your Child's Hearing Loss: What Parents Need to Know (Perigee, 2005) with audiology professor Dr. Jackson Roush. Debby has a journalism degree from Syracuse University and an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University. She is available for readings and to conduct writing workshops with students of all ages.
She has taught journalism, composition, creative writing, and magazine writing at Cornell University, Ithaca College, St. Lawrence University,and Grant MacEwan Community College. For the past five years she has taught Judaism and ethics to grade three and four students at her synagogue's Hebrew school.
Debby lives in Edmonton, AB. When not working on one of her many writing projects, she enjoys reading, cycling, baking, attempting to make nutritionally balanced meals for her family, and ferrying her children to music lessons and sports activities.
Until she succeeds in figuring out how to design a web site of her own,you can reach her at childshearing@shaw.ca.
About the Illustrator
Cindy Revell planned on becoming an artist ever since her first taste of wax crayons during her childhood in Carrot River, Saskatchewan. After some very uncreative forays into the working world Cindy realized that she needed to get back to art and went to college receiving her diploma in Environmental Graphic Design. She worked as a designer and illustrator for several years before eventually going on to become an oil painter and award winning freelance illustrator whose work has been extensively published all over North America. Her illustration has been used on billboards, wine bottles, books, magazines, calendars, furniture, packaging, and numerous children's books. Cindy's oil paintings are in collections all over Canada and the US and in a traveling museum show.
In addition to several illustration awards Cindy was nominated for a Governor General's award for children's book illustration, the Amelia Frances Howard-Gibbon Illustrator's Award and the Ontario Library Association's Blue Spruce award. Some clients are: L.A. Times, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Better Homes and Gardens, Cornell University, Penguin Putnam, Scholastic, Annick Press and Orca Book Publishers.
Cindy loves the work of the Old Masters in particular the Flemish oil painters, and is inspired by folk, medieval,and eastern art. Vivid colour and pattern are always a part of her illustration.
Cindy is represented by illustration agent Deborah Wolfe Ltd. of Philadelphia and the Candler Art Gallery in Camrose. She is a member of the Oil Painters of America, Federation of Canadian Artists, International Guild of Realism and the Alberta Society of Artists.
Book Reviews
Suggested Activities
- Look for other versions of this folk tale at your public or school library. Create a Venn diagram to show what is the same and what is different about each retelling.
- Collect feathers from outdoors or find some at a craft store. Use feathers to paint a picture or use the feathers to create a collage.
- Spreading rumours and gossip are hurtful. Here are some other books that help us understand why we shouldn't gossip or spread rumours: The Rumor by Jan Thornhill; Help! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller; The Bully From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thayer
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