Askwith Education Forum: Writing About Resilience and Courage

In this Children’s Author Series event, the Askwith Education Forum welcomed Mona Golabek, author of The Children of Willesden Lane. These books, written for different age groups, are stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience, centered on how Lisa Jura, Mona’s mother and a teenage refugee, held on to her dreams, survived the Holocaust, and illustrated the power of music as a form of healing. The conversation included the story behind the books — complete with piano accompaniment, the process of writing for multiple age groups, the creation of supplemental educational resources provided by The Willesden Project, and the timeless lessons the books and resources teach. This individual story has implications for courage, perseverance, and resilience across many communities. 

Host

Pamela Mason
Senior Lecturer on Education and Faculty Co-Chair, Literary and Languages Master’s Concentration, HGSE

Speakers

Mona Golabek
Author of The Children of Willesden Lane books, founder and president of the Hold On To Your Music Foundation, and concert pianist

Rebecca Keel
Project coordinator for the Willesden READS program at the USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education 

Resources:

• Mona Golabek’s foundation: Hold On To Your Music 
• Curricular resources: The Willesden Project 
• Discovery Education Teaching with Testimony, The Willesden Project, Virtual Field Trip: Making a New Life, The Courage of a Refugee
• The Conscious Kid, partnership, collaboration on Music Dreams, New Animated Film for Young Students, Explores Refugee Displacement and the Power of Music to Inspire Hope, Healing (additional curricular materials to support this can be found at The Willesden Project.