Family has always been a focus of Claudette's work and writing. When her son was 3, she created a newsletter for parents in her hometown of Santa Fe, New Mexico, to provide an information source about services and activities for children. That newsletter has grown into an award-winning quarterly newspaper that has been expanded its scope and contribution to the local community for 20 years. That interest in children and families morphed naturally into "Farewell, Aleppo," a loving tribute to the odyssey of her father and family from the ancient—now vanished—Jewish community of Aleppo, Syria, to America. With skill and passion, combining thorough research with multiple interviews and first-hand knowledge, Claudette tells both her own father’s unique story and the captivating larger tale of how a people once battered by history have in the end survived and thrived.