Cynthia Polansky

Cynthia Polansky

About

Cynthia Polansky challenges her inner rebel by writing across genres.  She is the author of paranormal women's novel, Remote Control; historical novel Far Above Rubies; and four dog-breed reference books. Her weekly blog, Crossing Polansky,"the blog about everything," is a nod to Seinfeld, "the show about nothing."  Writing nonfiction as Cynthia P. Gallagher, her credits include various magazine and newspaper articles, educational video scripts, and published anthologies.  During the academic year, Polansky is an adjunct tutor for the U.S. Naval Academy's Writing Center, waging war on bad grammar, one midshipman at a time.

Polansky is a frequent speaker at writers conferences, organizational meetings, and book clubs.  She is hard at work on her newest project, a popular reference book titled WHIFF: Human Aroma Throught the Ages.  For more on this author, follow her on Twitter, Facebook, GoodReads, JacketFlap and most online networks. 

Other useful links to her work include:
FreeExcerpts.com
Fictionwise
Publishers Marketplace
Library Thing
Echelon Press Publishing
Book Tour
TFH Publications
Kennel Club Books

Peter and the Whimper Whineys Coloring Book

Peter and the Whimper Whineys Coloring Book

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Description

<p><span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;">This coloring book version of the best-selling “whine-stopper” children’s story was designed for kids to enjoy reading the rhyming, as well as being able to illustrate their own version of Peter’s nocturnal adventure into the woods.</span><br style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;" /><br style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;" /><span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;">Peter’s mother warns him that if he doesn’t stop whining and crying, he’ll have to go live with the Whimper-Whineys. His adventure continues as he later hops into the woods and finds lots of frightening Whimper-Whineymen! He discovers that the Whimper-Whineys are very ill-mannered and rude, and that everything is sour in Whimper-Whineland. He decides his mother was right. If only he can get back home!</span><br style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;" /><br style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;" /><span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:Merriweather, Georgia, serif;font-size:14px;">According to a recent critique, “I cannot imagine any parent or guardian not wanting to read this book to their child! ... Parents everywhere applaud you!”</span></p>

Story Behind The Book

While volunteering with Facing History and Ourselves, an organization dedicated to eradicating hate and prejudice through education, I became a docent to guide tours through the traveling photo exhibit "Anne Frank in the World." Each tour culminated in a brief lecture by a Holocaust survivor or adult child of a survivor. After hearing my friend Mieneke tell the story of her aunt in Holland who refused to let her stepdaughters be taken to a concentration camp alone, I realized this story needed to be heard beyond the scope of the exhibit. With Mieneke's blessing, I wrote a novel based on her aunt's experiences before, during, and after WWII. Though FAR ABOVE RUBIES is technically fiction, it tells the true story of one woman's incredible courage and spirit.

Reviews

<table border="0" cellpadding="5" width="722"><tbody><tr><td width="718" align="left"> <p><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><em>Far Above Rubies&quot;</em> by Cynthia Polansky a brilliant literary historical fiction narrative. Polansky has given tribute to...a selfless woman of incredible strength. The novel is based on the woman known by her niece as &quot;Tante Soof.&quot; Sofie was a [Dutch] Jew who married a man with six wonderful girls. Although not their biological [mother], she became their mother... So much so that when her six girls were summoned to report for resettlement, Sofie decided she could not let them go alone. Sophie made a mother’s sacrifice to her six stepdaughters, [selflessly] and with love. She willingly accepted deportation and yet had to persuade the SS to take her. The horrors of Auschwitz told through the eyes of Sophie are real. This unflinching woman who faced up to the SS, survived the atrocities of this death camp even though at times she jeopardized her own life to help her daughters and other prisoners. Tante Soof lived life with dignity and an ability to inspire hope in hundreds who would not live another day. You will feel an inspirational uplift unmatched when you read this moving memoir [<em>sic</em>] who Polansky quotes from Proverbs, “A woman of valor who can find? For her price is far above rubies.”<br /><br />I couldn’t put this book down as I read in awe about this exceptional woman, so plan on a late night.&quot;</span><strong><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><br />                                                               -- Donna Edwards for <a href="http://bookwormsdinner.blogspot.com/">A Bookworm's Dinner</a></span></strong><br /> </p> <hr /><p><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><strong>    </strong></span></p> <p><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">&quot;I hope this book will eventually become as well-known as <em>The Hiding Place</em> and <em>The Diary of Anne Frank</em>...A woman more compassionate and loving would indeed be very difficult to find -- a woman willing to give up her life for that of her stepdaughters, leaving behind the love of her life, in order to take care of his daughters to give him the peace of mind that at least the seven of them are together...[a] Powerful story with a powerful telling.<br />                                                      </span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">-- Maria Elmvang for <a href="http://www.armchairinterviews.com/reviews/categories/fiction/far_above_rubies.php">Armchair Interviews</a></span><br /> </p> <hr /><p><strong><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">&quot;Polansky has written a good and important story here...at times it felt as if Polansky herself was there. The writing is very good...very vivid and well-done...it struck a lot of authentic emotional notes...great job! &quot;</span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">                         -- Writer's Digest<br /> </span></strong></p> <hr /><div> <p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><span class="text"><font size="3"><font color="#800080"><span style="line-height:17px;"><span style="font-style:italic;">&quot;</span>When the Rijnfeld women are sent on to Auschwitz, Sofie reaches deeper for the resilience to keep her daughters and herself alive in the face of atrocities carried out at the Reich’s foremost killing center.  Although the book is fiction, Polansky bases it on fact. Sofie did exist and she did accompany her stepdaughters all the way to Auschwitz.  Polansky tells Sofie’s story of self-sacrifice filling in fictionally how those years may have unfolded.  Reading the frightening truth about the Holocaust is never easy, but the triumph of this woman who survives despite great loss is inspiring.&quot;</span></font></font></span><span style="line-height:17px;font-style:italic;font-weight:400;"><br />                                                               </span><span style="line-height:17px;">-- Kim Peterson for<span style="font-style:italic;font-weight:400;"></span><span style="font-weight:400;"><a href="http://www.readerviews.com/ReviewPolanskyFarAboveRubies.html">Reader Views</a></span></span></span><br />  </p> <hr /><p align="left"><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><em><font color="#800080" size="3">&quot;</font></em></span><font color="#800080" size="3">Few books leave me thinking of it days after finishing it.  Even fewer can make me cry.  <em>Far Above Rubies</em> touched me like so few others can ... [it] is a gripping novel ... while one can read it quickly, to do so would almost be a shame, as this is a tale of courage and survival worth digesting one word at a time.  Polansky has taken the life of a strong woman and put a spotlight on it, showing us just how so many others like Sofie persevered during such horrific times.  This is the story of more than one woman -- it is the story of terrible times, all those who were lost, and how life still went on.  And it is a story worth your time.&quot;<br />                                                   </font><strong><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"> -- Angela Giles Klocke </span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">for Klocke<em></em>Publishing<br /> </span></strong> </p> <hr /></div></td></tr><tr><td height="30" align="left"><strong><font color="#000000" face="Segoe UI"></font></strong><div><font color="#800080"><em style="font-style:normal;">&quot; ... Cynthia Polansky skillfully depicts the courage of heart that cannot be broken by man's cruelties.  </em><em>Far Above Rubies</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> incorporates, within Sofie's story, the story of all who suffered at Nazi's hands ...</em> <em>Rubies</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> begins with the end, offering a whole picture of life renewed from the ashes of destruction.  Polansky tackles this incomprehensible subject with integrity and honesty.  Keep a box of Kleenex nearby while reading [it]</em>.&quot;</font><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><br />                                                            -- Dena Kosche for </span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">Women on Writing</span> <hr /></div><font color="#000080" face="Segoe UI"></font><div>  <font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana"></font><div> <div><font color="#000000" face="Segoe UI"></font><div><font color="#800080">&quot;... <em style="font-style:normal;">the novel appears to be the result of tedious research, documenting this terrible era in detail ... Despite the subject matter, the book is an easy read, full of the lives of the people who survived or perished in the labor camps.  The author creates characters who are real and imperfect </em></font><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><em style="font-style:normal;">and just happen to be Jewish, sealing their destiny for no other reason.  Everyone should know about this time in our history and</em><em></em><em>Far Above Rubies</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> provides an intriguing glimpse into those years we should never forget.&quot;</em> </span></div><span style="font-family:'Trebuchet MS';"></span></div><font color="#000080" face="Segoe UI"></font><div><font color="#000080">              </font>                                      -- Conny Bryceland for <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><a href="http://www.scribesworld.com"><font color="#800080">ScribesWorld.com</font></a></span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"> <br /> </span> <hr /></div><font color="#000000"></font><div><font color="#800080"><em style="font-style:normal;"><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">&quot;.</span></em></font><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">.. this is a largely true story, recounted by the niece of the woman it concerns.  Polansky has used her intuition and imagination to unravel [Mieneke's] aunt's life story, and has <em style="font-style:normal;">handled this difficult tale with honesty and wisdom.  This is an uncompromising text, stark, often intensely distressing -- I have wept several times whilst reading it ... the writing style is powerful and needs no further comment ... to venture, even in the imagination into the dark places Sofie saw, takes courage.  Polansky has done something very special in creating this personal history.&quot;</em></span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';">                      -- Bryn Colvin for<span style="text-decoration:underline;"> <a href="http://www.EbookReviews.net"><font color="#800080">EbookReviews.net</font></a></span></span><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"> <br /> </span><font color="#800080" size="2" face="Tahoma"></font></div><span style="font-family:'Trebuchet MS';"></span></div><font color="#000000" size="3" face="Trebuchet MS"></font><div> <p><span style="font-family:'Segoe UI';"><font color="#800080"><em style="font-style:normal;"><font size="3">&quot;... Polansky presents in this novel a gorgeous and haunting story of self-sacrifice and love.  Based on a real-life character whose life experiences she overheard at a Holocaust memorial, </font></em></font></span><font size="3"><em>Far Above Rubies</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> details the effect of the Holocaust on Dutch Jews, particularly those from Amsterdam ... Polansky synthesizes historical fact here with well-drawn, memorable characters in recreating scenes from Amsterdam and the camps ... Polansky's work is written with painstaking attention to grisly historical facts; this is what makes it most compelling.  Readers of other Holocaust [books] such as </em><em>The Diary of Anne Frank</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> or the work of Corrie ten Boom, will find </em><em>Far Above Rubies</em><em style="font-style:normal;"> a valuable addition to the range of voices that have been lifted before.  The title, incidentally, is from Proverbs, a story about a loving and true wife:  &quot;Her price/Is far above rubies.&quot;  Polansky's work itself is priceless.</em></font><font color="#800080" size="3">&quot; </font><font color="#000080" size="3"><br />                                                           -- Julie Sandland for <span style="text-decoration:underline;"><a href="http://www.KnowBetter.com"><font color="#800080">KnowBetter.com</font></a></span></font><font size="3"><br /> </font></p></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>