AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT
Jacqueline
by Jackie Minniti
When ten-year-old Jacqueline Falna hears her mother’s scream, she is unaware that the axis of her world is about to tilt. Her father’s plane has been shot down by German ghters. In the midst of poverty, food shortages, air raids, and the grinding hardship of daily life under Nazi rule, she forms an unlikely alliance with David Bergier, a twelve- year-old Jewish neighbor who poses as her cousin a er his family is “relocated” by the Nazis. When Rennes is liberated, Jacqueline meets an American soldier and becomes
convinced that he has been sent to reunite her with her father.
Based on a true story, “Jacqueline” is a tale of family, faith, unusual friendships, and the resiliency of the human spirit set against the backdrop of occupied Rennes in 1944. With the drama of ction and the authenticity of personal history, “Jacqueline” is both a story about family and a family’s story.
“A warm and charming story about friendship, love and loss in a dark time in the world’s history, Jacqueline shows
the quiet strength of faith in God and how even when He seems not to care...He does.”
award-winning author of Guns Up.
“In Jackie Minniti’s book, Jacqueline, Minniti takes her readers to war-torn France during World War II as it tries to free itself from the grips of Hitler’s army. Young readers will gain not only an insight into the historical accounts of one of the most signi cant wars in history, but also a strong connection to the emotional realities of adolescents trying to survive the horri c events of war and the premature loss of their youth, while forging relationships that will last a lifetime. Today’s adolescent readers will see sharp connections to content in their studies in school, mak- ing this novel a remarkable cross-curricular component for teaching and learning. Teachers will nd this high-in- terest novel a welcomed addition to their classrooms as students identify closely with the characters while learning about a signi cant event in the history of humankind.”
– Christopher Mazzino Supervisor of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction Penn-Delco School District Aston, PA
Bio
Jackie Minniti was born and raised in the heart of New Jersey where she spent 25 years as a classroom teacher and was an education writer for the Courier Post. A er retiring from teaching, she moved to Florida and turned to writing full-time. She is currently a columnist for e Island Reporter in St. Petersburg. Her rst novel, Project June Bug, the story of a young teacher’s e orts to help a student with ADHD, won several awards, including Premier Book Awards “Book of the Year.” A number of her stories have been included in Chicken Soup for the Soul collections.
Jackie lives on Treasure Island with her husband and two rather noisy macaws, but she frequently travels back to New Jersey to visit her three children and six grandkids.
Website: http://www.jackieminniti.com/
Blog: http://www.fabulous oridawriters.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackie-Minniti-writer/125991605555
– Johnny Clark
Press Release Anaiah Press announces release of Jacqueline by Jackie Minniti
Eden Plantz, Executive Editor of Anaiah Press, announces the release of Jacqueline, a middle grade historical c- tion by Jackie Minniti, on July 21, 2015. e book is available in paperback and digital formats from most major online and eBook retailers.
St. Petersburg, FL, July 21st, 2015
“Jackie Minniti’s book brings the realities of life during the holocaust to middle grade readers from the perspective
About the Book
– Eden Plantz, Executive Editor, Anaiah Press LLC
Jackie Minniti takes readers on a ride that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Based on a true story, Jacqueline is a tale of family, faith, unusual friendships, and the resiliency of the human spirit set against the backdrop of occupied Rennes in 1944. With the drama of ction and the authenticity of personal history, Jacqueline is both a story about family and a family’s story.
Important Links
Barnes & Noble—http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jacqueline-jackie-minniti/1122339883 iBooks—https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/jacqueline/id1020468419
Kindle— http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011SCVPJS Kobo—https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/jacqueline-12 Smashworks—https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/560774
About Jackie Minniti
Jackie Minniti was born and raised in the heart of New Jersey where she spent 25 years as a classroom teacher and was an education writer for the Courier Post. A er retiring from teaching, she moved to Florida and turned to writing full-time. She is currently a columnist for e Island Reporter in St. Petersburg. Her rst novel, Project June Bug, the story of a young teacher’s e orts to help a student with ADHD, won several awards, including Premier Book Awards “Book of the Year.” A number of her stories have been included in Chicken Soup for the Soul collections.
Website: http://www.jackieminniti.com/
Blog: http://www.fabulous oridawriters.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jackie-Minniti-writer/125991605555
About Anaiah Press
Anaiah Press, based out of Saint Petersburg, Florida, is a Christian publishing house dedicated to presenting quality, faith-based ction and non ction books to the public. eir goal is to provide authors with the close-knit, hands-on experience of working with a small press, while ensuring they don’t have to sacri ce quality editing, cover art, and marketing. To learn more about Anaiah Press, visit www.anaiahpress.com.
For interivews, quotes, or general information, contact: Melinda Dozier
Marketing Director
Anaiah Press, LLC Melinda.Dozier@Anaiahpress.com 7780 49th Street North, #129 Pinellas Park, FL 33781
OUR VANISHING WARRIORS
A Guest Post by Jackie Minniti
My father, now 99 years old, is a veteran of WWII. As a Baby Boomer, just one generation removed from that war, I thought I knew a lot about it. I was aware of the players - the Axis and the Allies; I was familiar with the names of the famous and infamous; I’d learned about Pearl Harbor, the Normandy invasion, and the Battle of the Bulge; I’d read about the Holocaust and had a sense of its horrors. But it wasn’t until I decided to write a book about a little French girl named Jacqueline that I truly understood the amazing contribution made by our Greatest Generation.
In 1944, four years before my birth, my dad was a handsome soldier with the 127th General Hospital. Shortly after D-Day, his unit arrived in Rennes, France to set up a military hospital. There he met Jacqueline, an inquisitive 10-year-old who took a liking to him. She began following him from the barracks to the hospital and back again. While neither understood the other’s language, they learned to communicate by teaching one another a few words and phrases punctuated with exaggerated gestures. Soon, a beautiful friendship blossomed, and the tale of that friendship was the only war story my father was willing to share. He told it so often, sometimes with misty eyes, that it became a part of our family lore.
After I wrote my first book, Dad began “hinting” that I write one about Jacqueline. I explained to him that it wouldn’t have a large enough audience, and there wasn’t sufficient material for a book. A few years later, someone suggested that I write it as a middle grade novel because his 6th grade daughter knew nothing about WWII. I still don’t know why it never occurred to me to write the story for young readers, especially since I spent years teaching reading in middle school, but once I started looking at the story from that perspective, all my doubts disappeared.
Never having written historical fiction, I realized that I needed to learn a lot more about WWII. I plunged into the research, and the more I learned, the more I realized how little I actually knew. I learned about the grinding oppression imposed on the French by their Nazi occupiers. I read about the horrors visited upon the Jewish population of France. I was moved by the bravery of clergy members and everyday citizens who risked their lives to save their Jewish neighbors. But most of all, I was awed by the incredible bravery, selflessness and sacrifice of the American GIs.
Looking back at these young men and women from the perspective of a sixty-seven year old, I was struck by their youth, many away from home for the very first time. I was humbled by their willingness to risk their lives for the country and values they held dear. I was by astounded by the humility and fortitude with which they endured hardships only their fellow GIs could truly understand. And I was blown away by their determination to stare evil in the face and vanquish it at any cost.
I became committed to ensuring that young readers understand the price that was paid for their freedom. We lose hundreds of our WWII veterans each day, and their stories are disappearing with them. It’s essential to preserve these stories for future generations so kids will appreciate the sacrifices made by our military and realize how blessed they are to live in the Land of the Free. Today’s students lack a thorough understanding of American history, and what they don’t learn from history, they’re doomed to repeat. Jacqueline is my personal effort to keep that from happening, and I sincerely hope it will inspire young readers to appreciate what their great-grandparents did for them. We owe these disappearing warriors (and all our veterans) a debt we can never repay.
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https://anaiahpress.wordpress.com/2015/11/01/follow-the-jacqueline-blog-tour/
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