Category: News stories

Visiting Stratford & District Christian School

Such a nice day today at Stratford Christian school! The four students in the photo below were my helpers for the day. They showed me around, got me water and a table. All four also happen to be avid readers of my books, so I wanted to get a pic! I wasn’t sure if they needed their faces covered, so we took them both ways. Please note, in addition to my books, I’m holding a copy of the heart-pounding adventure, Swimming With Spies, by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger. There was a Scholastic Book Fair in the library, so I pointed out Chrystyna’s book because not only is it an excellent read, but in many ways, it’s a prequel to Under Attack.

I did presentations with the younger students with Silver Threads. The copy I read from was the second edition and some of the students pointed out that it looked different from the one they were familiar with, which turned out to be the first edition, published in 1996! There is now a third edition and it looks different again!

This was an all-Ukrainian-themed day today, as SDCS has paired with a Christian school in Ukraine.

Lots of good listening and great questions from students. There was also one request, that I name one of my characters Edwin in an upcoming book. I told Edwin that he’d have to wait until at least 2027 because my next two books are already written, but I love the name Edwin, so as long as it fits the story, I’ll do it! Other students asked if I could include their names as well, but I said one per school.

First in-person presentation for Under Attack

It was such a pleasure to speak with grade 4/5 students from Paris Central students at the Brant County Library in Paris. These students were well-read and had great questions. My favourite? Did you write this book on a typewriter? I didn’t, but I do have a really old typewriter in the basement — it’s from 1915!

Romanian author copies have arrived!

Isn’t this a stunningly beautiful book? It is the Booklet Fiction Romanian-English bilingual edition, which is available in Romania and Moldova. The inside is equally beautiful, with each page spread in English on one side and Romanian on the other, and perfectly aligned to the letter. Thank you, Maral Maclagan and Scholastic Canada, for all your international rights brilliance!

First open-to-the-public event for Under Attack

It was such a pleasure to introduce my book to a friendly group of avid readers at Riverside Bookshop in Paris Ontario. Proprietor, Alison Fishburn, really knows how to pamper an author, as you can see here, I even got a throne!

Thank you, also, to the Brant County Health System Foundation and their READBCHS.ca initiative.

I am also very impressed with the energy and talent behind the new Brantblog.ca. Sergio had written a lovely article a few days ago about my upcoming launch, but then also came to the launch and covered it as well. Here’s that article:

https://brantblog.ca/2025/01/17/author-marsha-skrypuch-launches-new-book-under-attack-in-paris/

This review made my day

Thank you, Becky, for this wonderful review of Under Attack.

I am particularly gratified with this paragraph:

My thoughts: What a novel!!!! Truly I cannot do the book justice. It’s an incredible read from cover to cover. I am not surprised–I’d expect nothing less from Skrypuch. She excels at everything–writing, plotting, characterization. But it is the characterization that particularly wows me every time. Because though it shouldn’t be rare, it mostly is. The depth of characterization is outstanding. It isn’t just that there’s depth and substance of the main character, but it is how expansive the characterization is. There’s no shortcuts, no character too small to not get treated as important. It makes it impossible not to get invested and thoroughly absorbed in the story.

awesome review of Under Attack by