Growing up, I was moved by the story of Anne Frank, and years later, I read the journal of Helene Berr, who lived in Paris and ultimately perished at the hands of the Nazis. There are plenty of other amazing books out there that tackle the dark days of the Holocaust, from The Book Thief to Sarah’s Key, both of which I’d wholeheartedly recommend.

Recently, though, I stumbled across something that’s been occupying far more time than it should in my day (considering that I should in fact, be working on my next novel instead of surfing the internet). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has launched an amazing new project called Remember Me? Displaced Children of the Holocaust, in which they seek to identify 1,100 photos of children who were orphaned or displaced during World War II.

It’s an incredible undertaking; take a moment to view their Updates page, and you’ll be overwhelmed. You’ll read about people such as Marcel Meicler, who was born in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Belgium, and whose father was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. Marcel survived the war moving from orphanage to orphanage and was later reunited with his mother, with whom he moved to the United States. After a career that included a stint at NASA, he’s now semi-retired and lives with his wife in Houston, Texas. Or there’s Paris-born Liliane Wajnberg, who was just 2 when her father was arrested, 3 when he was deported to Auschwitz and killed. She was just 5 when her mother suffered the same fate. Liliane was hidden, along with her sister and brother, in a small farming community in eastern Brittany. In all, 19 Jewish children ranging in age from 2 to 14, were hidden by a dozen families in the neighboring communes of Saint-Christophe-des-Bois and Val d’Izé. Today, Liliane and her brother Simon are both retired in the United States.

Told simply and powerfully, the stories on the Remember Me project’s pages will move you to tears. Thousands of photos remain unidentified. Check out the Remember Me project here, even if you just have a few moments to browse.  You’ll never look at the Holocaust in quite the same way again.

And this summer, check out my seventh novel, The Sweetness of Forgetting, coming Aug. 7 from Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. It’s the story of a Cape Cod bakery owner who sets out to discover the secrets of her French-born grandmother’s past, which are buried in the Holocaust in Paris. In a story that takes readers to Paris and back, she uncovers the tale of a long-lost love and learns some important truths about family, faith, memories and the magic of baking.

With “Water for Elephants” and the upcoming “Something Borrowed” making big waves on the big screen, and with movies such as “The Help,” “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Twilight: Breaking Dawn,” coming soon, let’s look at a handful of other stories that have started as books – and have made the leap to the big screen. These picks are perfect for book clubs; why not read the book and then get together to watch the film?

Or, with films appropriate for younger viewers, why not encourage your kids and teens to pick up the book first, then discuss it with you before you watch the movie together? It’s a great way to encourage reading – and a little family bonding.

Here are some of my favorites:

• Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Atonement by Ian McEwan
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
• Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
• The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
• The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Field of Dreams (The name of the book is “Shoeless Joe”) by W.P. Kinsella
• Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
• Forrest Gump by Winston Groom
• The General’s Daughter by Nelson DeMille
• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
• Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook
• A Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
• P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
• Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
• Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
• To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
GREAT FOR KIDS
• Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (for teens)
• Stuart Little by E.B. White
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

For a more comprehensive list from the Oxford County Library in Ontario, Canada, click here.

And to see the segment on the morning news, click here.

Kristin Harmel’s THE BLUE HOUR, in which a bakery owner discovers the truth about her grandmother’s escape from France during WWII, a journey that takes her to a synagogue and a mosque in Paris, uncovers a long-hidden family secret, and leads her to a new love of her own, to Abby Zidle at Gallery, in a pre-empt, by Holly Root at Waxman Literary Agency (NA).

It got me thinking about getting creative with leftovers. What else can you create from the ingredients you have lying around? Pasta and rice are great bases for creative, vinaigrette-based salads, as are the frozen veggies (especially peas and corn) you probably have in your freezer, and cans of beans (especially garbanzo) that you may have in your pantry. I like the combination of a base (rice, pasta or beans) with something sweet (such as dried cranberries, fresh sliced grapes, or diced strawberries), something tangy (balsamic vinegar) and something crunchy (sunflower seeds, cucumbers, almonds, celebry, red onions, etc.). Spinach, Italian parsley and cilantro or basil would make great, flavorful, colorful additions too.

Check out your fridge, freezer and pantry and see what you can throw together. I’d love to hear your ideas!

In that spirit, I thought it might be fun to share a recipe on my blog each Friday. Some will be original; others will be recipes I’ve found elsewhere and enjoyed. I’m well-aware that I’m not a food writer (although in the back of ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS, I include five original recipes!), nor am I a trained chef, but I don’t think one needs any particular training to appreciate good food. So everything I include here will be easy enough for anyone to try at home.

First up, the simple recipe I tried yesterday because I had two bananas lying on my counter: Low-Fat, Sour Cream Banana Muffins.

These took less than 4 minutes to mix up and pour, and less then 20 minutes to bake. Here’s the link. Enjoy!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/banana-muffins-i/Detail.aspx

It was funny and touching, and I pretty much want to move to movie-land and join the Quimby family. As Ramona would perhaps say, it reeled me in like a sea bass. Consider me hooked.

And you know what? The fact that Josh Duhamel (*swoon*) and John Corbett (*swoon again*) were sharing the screen wasn’t even the best part about it — although, I admit, they are very distracting. No, it was the adorable little girl who played Ramona (Joey King). What an incredible actress, and she couldn’t have been cuter!

It’s also incredibly refreshing to see a movie geared toward kids that relies on a sweetly innocent real-life storyline instead of CGI or mystic faraway worlds. I love those kinds of blockbuster movies as much as the next person, but I like to have my heartstrings tugged by the real world once in a while too. I worry that we sometimes forget the power of a well-told, simple story, and I’m glad kids are being reminded of that.

I’d HIGHLY recommend it. I saw it with my mom — perfect, since she got me started on the Ramona books years ago — but I’d see it again in a heartbeat. (Okay, maybe the second viewing would be primarily to gaze at Duhamel and Corbett. Don’t judge!)

I have to admit: I’m a little nervous. I’ve been told that people bid on the date packages more than they bid on the bachelors and bachelorettes themselves (in fact, most of the time, the winning bidders take their own friends on the included excursions instead of taking the person they’ve “bought,” which is just fine with me!). Still, there’s a little part of me that expects to stand on stage while listening to crickets chirping in the silence while no one bids on my date package.

If you’re in the Orlando area, consider coming out to the auction; you don’t have to bid on me, but hey, I’d appreciate a few shouts of encouragement — and the price of your ticket will go to a worthy cause. Here’s the info:

Tickets are $40 at the door (or $25 in advance if you buy them from me!), and proceeds benefit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America.

The Friday pass includes your choice of 12 writing workshops, lunch with a keynote address from author Adrian Fogelin, a general session with bestselling author Steve Berry, and of course admission to the wine & cheese reception, where you can meet many of the authors who will be present at the conference. I was there last year too, and it was a great time; the group is smaller and more intimate than many other writing conferences, so you really get to know the other writers and students.

Check out www.unfwritersconference.com for more information, if you’re interested. I’ll be there all weekend! Hope to see you Friday, Aug. 6!