Jennifer Voigt Kaplan Wins Christopher Award for Kid's Book

Chatham, NJ-based author Jennifer Voigt Kaplan received a Christopher Award for Crushing the Red Flowers (IG Publishing). Written for children ages 10 and up, it is one of 11 books for adults and young people by 16 authors and illustrators honored as the Awards mark their 71st year. They join the creators of nine winning TV/Cable and feature films also being honored.

The Christophers' motto, “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness,” is particularly apt in 2020 said Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications. The celebrated authors, illustrators, writers, producers, and directors whose works exemplify this Chinese proverb also “affirm the highest values of the human spirit,” he said.

Crushing the Red Flowers is the story of Emil Rosen and Friedrich Weber, two boys who cope under the extraordinary circumstances of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. They have little in common, but in the summer of 1938, they must both deal with changes steamrolling through Hannover, Germany.

Friedrich struggles with a cruel new Jungvolk leader and an uncle in jail. The Junkgvolk was a section for 10 to 14 year old boys in the Hitler Youth organization.

Meanwhile Emil does his best to avoid the anti-Semitic fog that’s seeped into every cranny of his life. Friedrich seeks order and logic and Emil can’t keep from getting into one mishap after another, so when they meet at the river by chance, things don’t go well. Then in the late hours of November 9th, on the advent of Kristallnacht, the world unravels and nightmares leak onto the streets. They each must push past the person they thought they were because neither is certain they’ll survive what comes next.

An award-winning author of children’s fiction, this is Kaplan's debut novel. It was recognized in six literary contests before its publication, including earning a Letter of Merit from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators [SCBWI] Work-in-Progress Grant and the middle-grade category of Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize for Fiction.

Born in Germany, Kaplan was raised in Philadelphia and now lives in New Jersey. She holds a degree in marketing from the Wharton School of business and in social psychology from the London School of Economics.

Kaplan founded The Public Arts Council, her town’s first organization dedicated to public arts. In addition to writing, she paints murals on underpasses and says she wishes she had more time to watch sci-fi movies.

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness”— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information about The Christophers is available at www.christophers.org.