“This spirited Ukrainian folktale is set at the time of the famine which was instigated by Stalin in 1930s Ukraine. Marusia and her father live on a small farm and try to eke out a living for themselves from it. It is following a particularly good harvest that a soldier arrives to remind them that the dictator claims their farm and their wheat as his own. Marusia cleverly hides a sack of the grain before the dictator’s forces come and claim all grain for their leader.

Faced with starvation, Marusia is befriended by a stork who carries her to a far-off land (the North American prairies) where there is plenty to eat and where Ukrainian cousins are willing to share the goodness of their lives. Marusia arrives back home with seed enough for everyone to plant. Once again, the dictator’s men arrive just as the wheat is to be harvested. Filled with greed, they stock bulging silos with more wheat, until it lays rotting in storage. Still, they do not have ‘enough.’

A quick-thinking young woman and a hardworking group of villagers are able to outwit the dictator and his soldiers in an interesting turn of events.  When all is said and done, the villages will have “enough” to sustain themselves and no one will be the wiser for it.

Martchenko’s art will be familiar to Robert Munsch fans. His expressive characters and detailed settings are complementary to the text. His cultural knowledge is evident in the dress of his characters and he adds gentle warmth and humour to a well-told tale.”

- Sally Bender, The Brandon Sun, Brandon, Manitoba

 “ . . . a fascinating story that conveys a simple but meaningful message which, thanks to some marvellous illustrations by Michael Martchenko, can be absorbed on several different levels. . . Enough then is a book that is a delight, both in the message that it conveys and the manner in which it delivers it. And it is also a book which adults will enjoy reading to their children or which children will readily tackle on their own.”

- The Expositor, Brantford, Ontario

  “Michael Martchenko’s illustrations play nicely into this picture book set in a village in Ukraine as the Soviets come into power. Even in the best of times, Marusia and her father eke a meagre living from their farm, but with the “Dictator” in power, their farm and their grain are expropriated. Plucky Marusia takes matters into her own hands and, helped by a stork, flies across the sea to a verdant land, gathering enough grain to feed the village. That grain is also expropriated, leaving Marusia no choice but to devise a wickedly simple ruse to foil the oppressor.”

- The Globe and Mail

I do not normally read, or even glance, at what's to be found in the children's book section of any bookstore that I patronize. Probably most of you don't either. Why bother? There's far too much in those other areas that I linger over - Politics, History, Geography, Travel - to capture my eye and imagination for me to spend any time thinking about what kids might be reading. And I say that even if I am the proud father of a ten year old myself, a little girl who certainly loves to read, and for whom I love to buy books that she or others tell me she would like.

I should know better, of course, for, especially in recent years, books have started appearing, in English and Ukrainian, that have a lot to offer not only my daughter but anyone in North America of Ukrainian heritage. And the credit for that has everything to do with the remarkable creativity, and productivity, of Canadian Ukrainian author, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch.  Just a few years ago she crafted Silver Threads, a wonderful tale about Pioneer settlers in western Canada and their struggle to overcome not only the hardships of homesteading but the injustice of the internment operations of the First World War, when Ukrainians and other Europeans were needlessly imprisoned as "enemy aliens." My daughter, and, in fact, her grandmother, both loved that story. So did I. Now, Ms Skrypuch has come out with an even more compelling story, at least in my humble opinion (although I admit to already having had debates over this very point with supporters of Silver Threads). Her most recent book, available in English and in Ukrainian, is simply titled Enough. It describes how a young girl, a heroine, rescues her village from starvation and the predations of the great Dictator who has tried to extort all of their food. The child's faith and goodness triumph in the face of Evil. While this may not be historically accurate, for few villages in Soviet Ukraine were spared the genocidal fury of Stalinism during the politically engineered Great Famine of 1932-33 , what better way to introduce our children and grandchildren, and those of our neighbours, to the unparalleled catastrophe that befell Ukrainians in the 20th century than by means of this subtle yet evocative folk tale? That it is available in both English and Ukrainian, allowing for anyone in our community, from recent arrival to 4th generation Ukrainian Canadian or Ukrainian American, to read and learn and remember, is all the more exciting, for few will walk away from reading this story, or from pondering the book's marvelous illustrations by Michael Martchenko, without a shudder or a sigh. This book makes it very easy for anyone to appreciate why Ukrainians in the emigration, or in Ukraine, must never forget what befell them or their ancestors, and who was responsible.

I have been fortunate in my life to have met many Ukrainians who fought for Ukraine's independence, who struggled to survive under Nazi and Soviet tyranny, who endured this terrible man-made famine, who never gave up hope even when all around them everything they believed in looked to be lost. I have, in my own scholarly works and writings, tried to capture and pass along some of the insights and memories that I have heard for posterity.

While what small body of work that I have completed is considered important by some I publicly bow my head to Marsha Skrypuch for reminding me, and I hope all of us, that the future lies with our children and grandchildren and those of today's Ukraine. They are the ones who must not only inherit the memories of what Ukraine's freedom cost but remember those truths and pass them along to their own children. I can think of no better way of reaching them now than through the children's books that Ms Skrypuch has laid before us. Enough is a book that needs to be bought and read to their children by every Ukrainian parent, then read again out loud by every grandparent, and not only in North America but throughout our diaspora and, perhaps even more importantly, in Ukraine. If you can I urge you to buy not just one copy of this book, but two. Then send the second copy to a family or library in Ukraine. That is where they have even more need of remembering what once happened and of reading a story that will shore up their will to act today to ensure that such tragedies never befall them ever again.

- Professor Lubomyr Luciuk teaches at The Royal Military College of Canada and is author of the recently published book, Searching For Place: Ukrainian Displaced Persons, Canada, and the Migration of Memory (University of Toronto Press, 2000), which has just been reprinted. 

“Picture books aren’t necessarily baby books or even easy books. Some tell very mature stories. One of my children refused to listen to chapter books long after she could comprehend them. For her, a book meant pictures and that meant colour - and not artsy black and white woodcuts either. When she finally began to read on her own, it was Disney fairy tales - brown paper wrappers were on the way - but fortunately she soon moved on to Second World War novels. Thanks to her we learned about artists such as Raymond Briggs and William Steig. Endowed with black humour and afraid of nothing, not even war, they prove picture books have little to do with age. In Enough, Canadian writer Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has stayed with the classic folk tale formula of a greedy landlord and his men who steal the harvest. This particular landlord is Josef Stalin, though he is never named. After years of hunger, a little heroine named Marusia finally masterminds a scheme to dig graves to hide the grain. News of such a large graveyard reached the dictator who came to inspect the sacrifice. “Horrified, Marusia saw a scrap of cloth, along with a few grains of wheat, sticking out of the last grave.” Luckily, the dictator assumed the peasants were too stupid to use coffins.

Skrypuch never swerves from the folk tale devices of her story. Despite her historical allusions, there is a magic stork which flies her to the Canadian Prairies for crucial seed. And Michael Martchenko’s spirited illustrations full of specific detail right from the Ukrainian shawl lining the endpapers, give the story the weight of truth. Beside the peasants’ bright clothes and rich yellow fields of grain, a graveyard overwhelmed with storm clouds shocks the reader into understanding what famine means.”

- Elizabeth MacCallum, The National Post

“A folktale worth telling . . .”

- Beverly Brenna, The StarPheonix, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

 “Enough is an excellentstorytime selection for primary students and an important study for intermediate and older students, even adults.

For young children, this is a spellbinding Ukrainian folktale complete with magic, the conflict of good and evil, and a happy ending. The story takes place during a real-life atrocity, the Famine of the 1930’s, but Marsha Skrypuch’s unresentful and talented storytelling allows this serious subject to be a perfect setting for the actions of a female hero. Michael Martchenko’s superior drawings add just the right amount of humour. The large, brightly coloured 19 x 21 cm pictures are suitable for group presentations.

In the story, the Dictator has taken all of the villagers’ wheat except a small bag that Marusia has hidden. After planting their last big of grain, an unusual stalk of wheat appears and a stork flies down to eat it. This magical bird takes Marusia over the ocean to a new land where fellow Ukrainian farmers have some wheat to share. Marusia uses her babushka to take just enough grain to plant and the stork flies her back to the village. But these fields of wheat are also taken by the Dictator’s men, except the bit that Marusia again hides. One greedy officer takes the grain from the magical stalk. The stork appears once more and takes him over the fields which are empty of everything except graves. He flies over the ocean to the land of plenty, but, instead of taking only what he needs, the officer fills bags and even his clothing full of grain. This is too much of a load for thestork, and on the return trip the officer and the wheat end up in the sea.  Wise Marusia understands that their problems are not over, for the Dictator will not rest until all the fields are filled with graves. The villagers bury their wheat in the graves, then most of them hide when the Dictator comes. With a bit of flattery, Marusia convinces the Dictator that he need not bother with their village again.

Younger children can predict and draw or write what will happen after each event in the story. They can map the stork’s journey, and find the babushka in each picture - the same beautiful one featured in the photograph inside the front and back covers. They can learn about wheat and compare methods of farming in the 1930’s and today. Some interesting information about Canadian farming and Ukrainian wheat is included at the front of the book.

Older children enjoy picture books and this one could be well used for illustrating folktale writing or for introducing multicultural, historical and Remembrance Day themes. The author includes website, film and book titles that describe the famine imposed by Stalin on the Ukrainian farmers in the 1930’s. Not only were their harvests taken from them, but also the Ukrainians were not allowed to travel to seek food. Millions of people starved to death, yet compared to other atrocities, this one is little known.

Enough is the second picture book that features the team of Marsha Skrypuch and Michael Martchenko. . . This author exposes us, in a kindly manner, to history that should not be overlooked.
Highly recommended for school and public libraries.”

- ResourceLinks

“Fairy tales, while the standard form for telling moral stories, are also used to tell stories thought too severe for the young. In that vein, issues such as famine, death and a zealous dictator are at the heart of Enough.

What sounds like a grim modern story is taken from the old fairy tale The Wishing Table, about a table which, when you knock on it, gives you what you need. Unless you happen to be a greedy-guts who wants everything - or a dictator, like the antagonist in Enough.

Astonishingly, the dictator in question is Stalin (though he’s never named) and the famine at the heart of the book is the one he drove Ukraine into during the 1930s. Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch packs a wallop by placing her fairy tale in a real place, in real and brutal times. Wit keeps the story from plunging into darkness. The smarts all belong to the little heroine, Marusia, who struggles to save grain so she and her town have enough.

There’s a bittersweet final twist that is heartening for older readers, who’ll appreciate the discrepancy between what the peasants know and what the dictator sees. Younger readers will just be glad their heroine outsmarted the dictator.

Michael Martchenko’s watercolours buoy up the story’s charms. Martchenko is an old hand at this, having created pictures for more than 40 books, including the beloved Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch.

In Enough, he takes his visual cues from history. He dresses the peasants in Ukrainian garb from the 1930s and places them in hut-like homes. . . Over all, this book is simply grand.”

- Nancy Merritt Bell, The Vancouver Sun

“A worthy lesson. Generosity triumphs over greed in Enough, a spirited Ukrainian folktale by Marsha Forchuk Skyrpuch and beautifully illustrated by Michael Martchenko. . . while Enough is presented as a children’s picture book, the story is one that reaches to a larger audience.”

- Press-Gazette, Green Bay, Wisconsin

“Enough is Marsha Skrypuch’s magnificent retelling of a classic Ukrainian folktale very ably illustrated for young readers with the artwork of Michael Martchenko’s richly colored illustrations depicting the dictator and his soldiers in the manner of historical propaganda caricatures. Set in a small Ukrainian village during the famine of the 1930s, Enough is the story of people working together to bring in their wheat crops. But the new dictator wants all the wheat for himself and marches soldiers into the village to confiscate the crop. Young Marusia hides a small sack of grain deep in her hope chest. With only this grain to sustain them, the villagers suffer a hard winter but there is just enough for planting. But the dictator must still be outwitted and Marusia is just the girl to do it -- and save the village from starvation.

 - Children’s Bookwatch

“Enough is a captivating story and heart-warming Ukrainian folktale set during the famine of the 1930s. . .  With beautiful artwork by Michael Martchenko, it’s surely a book every Ukrainian-Canadian child should read, and any other Canadian child, too.”

 - Paul Jackson, The Calgary Sun

“Brantford author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has woven together history and magic in Enough, a tale set in the famine-ravaged Ukraine of dictator Josef Stalin.  Skrypuch has chosen a horrendous historical event for her story, but she deftly focuses on the strength and ingenuity of the people and the overriding importance of hope.  The time is the 1930s, the setting the village of Zhitya, which means “life” in Ukrainian. The harvest is a good one, providing just enough food to get the villagers through the next winter.  But the dictator’s henchmen come to take the wheat away.  They believe they’ve confiscated it all, but what they don’t realize is that young Marusia is wise beyond her years.  Anticipating what would happen, she has hidden some grain deep in her hope chest, grain that barely feeds the villagers through the winter with a little left over for planting.  Marusia’s meagre crop results in a miraculously tall stalk of wheat, which attracts a huge stork. The stork transports Marusia over the ocean to Canada where she finds a settlement of Ukrainians who share their wheat, which she brings home to plant for the villagers.  The dictator’s henchmen again confiscate the harvest, and one officer took some of the special seeds for himself. He too takes the journey to Canada with the magical stork, but his greed is his undoing. Meanwhile, wise Marusia has again held back some seed, which provides a bountiful harvest for the villagers. But they must use their wits to ensure this harvest is not confiscated as the others have been. Skrypuch has taken a dark piece of history and created a story that is both uplifting and heartwarming. Martchenko, one of our favourite illustrators, adds both whimsy and drama to the story through his meticulously detailed work.”

- The Hamilton Spectator

The farmers around the small Ukrainian village of Zhitya work hard to scrape together enough to eat; when they do have a good harvest, the Dictator sends his troops to take the grain away from them. A small girl s cleverness not only saves her village, but foils the greedy ruler and his soldiers and teaches them a lesson. A charming tale, with appropriately simple illustrations that capture the spirit of the Ukrainian people.

- Napra Review

"Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch has set her latest picture book during one of the darkest periods of Ukrainian history, that of the famine instigated by Stalin in the 1930's. Most Canadians who are not of Ukrainian descent know little about this man-made catastrophe which many historians today regard as a war between the Kremlin and the Ukrainian peasants. In this unequal struggle, villagers were forced to turn over their entire supply of livestock, foodstuffs and seed grain to the Red Army and the Secret Police. The result was a horrific death toll which most authorities place at 5 million or more.

Marusia, the plucky little heroine of Enough, lives with her father on a farm near the village of Zhitya. Most years their farm produces barely enough food for the two of them, but one year the crop is good. Just as Marusia and her father are harvesting the wheat, a soldier arrives to tell them that there is a Dictator now, and that their wheat and farm belong to the People. Marusia, wise beyond her years, realizes that the Dictator's soldiers will soon be back for the whole crop and hides a sackful of grain in her hope chest. Sure enough, her fears are realized when the soldiers return and take all but the hidden grain. Next spring, as the villagers face certain starvation, Marusia gains the help of a giant stork who flies her over the ocean to the Canadian prairies where immigrant farmers generously give her a babushka full of grain to take back to their Ukrainian cousins. Alas, at the next harvest season, the villagers awake to find their fields picked clean. When a greedy officer encounters the magic stork, he shamelessly asks for help. pretending that his soldiers have nothing to eat. The stork offers his back, and they fly across the officer's once beautiful homeland, now covered with empty fields and full graveyards. On the Canadian prairie, the officer takes advantage of the farmers' generosity, loading the stork with far more than "enough." Although soldier and sacks fall into the ocean, the villagers are not out of danger, for, as Marusia points out, "The officer is only one man, and the Dictator has men like him in plenty." Indeed, the next visitor to Zhitya is the Dictator himself; however he is no match for Marusia who has devised a fiendishly clever plan to outwit him.

Enough is Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's second successful picture book collaboration with award-winning illustrator Michael Martchenko. In it, the author uses a classic folktale formula wherein the small and the good defeat the big and the evil. Martchenko's spirited watercolours are wonderfully detailed. They have a whimsical humour which gives the story a light-hearted feel despite its tragic setting. Particularly appealing are the richly illustrated end-papers which represent a Ukrainian babushka.

Young listeners will warm to the courageous protagonist and derive immense satisfaction from the outcome of her clever ruse to deceive the Dictator. For older readers, a sharing of Enough may open a chapter of history that has not been accessible to them. To help students learn more about the famine, the author has listed other resources, including a book, a film and an excellent website. Skrypuch's appealing combination of folklore and history should guarantee a wide range of readers at the elementary level.

Highly Recommended."

- CM Magazine

"...a spirited retelling of a Ukrainian folktale in which generosity triumphs over greed...Michael Martchenko's dramatic illustrations are amusing but also full of emotional depth and strength. They partner the tale perfectly. Enough is a witty warning against greed and a celebration of the human spirit. Highly recommended."

- Canadian Book Review Annual

"This Ukrainian tale, set during the 1930s, manages to depict famine without being overly graphic or sensational...The illustrations bring the story to life and remind the reader that the underlying story of any picture book can be found in the pictures."