January 15, 2007
For immediate release
Contact: D. Dina Friedman
dina@ddinafriedman.com
(413) 584-3490

     Escaping Into the Night (Simon and Schuster, 2006), by D. Dina Friedman was recently named an Association of Jewish Libraries Notable Book for Older Readers. The designation, given each year by the Sydney Taylor Book Awards Committee, honors books of high literary standards that authentically portray the Jewish experience. AJL Notable Books are strongly recommended for both Jewish and non-Jewish readers.

     Based on historical events, Escaping Into the Night, the story of a 13 year old girl who escapes the ghetto and lives in one of the forest communities that saved over a thousand people from the Nazis, sheds light on a little-known aspect of the Holocaust. "Teenage Halina will be instantly recognizable to teen readers through the literary devices of dialogue, suspense, romance, and mother/daughter tiffs," claims Marcia Posner of Jewish Book World Magazine. The story "also rings true as a danger-filled Holocaust account of one girl's strength in the face of destruction."

     Escaping Into the Night has also been nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. The final list will be determined at the group's annual meeting later this month.

     Friedman's newest book, Playing Dad's Song (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2006) tells the story of a boy who loses his father on September 11, 2001 and manages to find healing from his grief through music, and through his relationship with his oboe teacher, a Holocaust survivor.

     Friedman teaches writing at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She lives in Hadley, Massachusetts, with her husband, Shel Horowitz, and their two children.

     More information about both books is available at www.ddinafriedman.com .