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Tag: Ukrainian
Traitors Among Us
Originally from Ukraine, Maria and her older sister Krystia have made it through separate ordeals during World War II and are now back together again. They cannot believe their luck: Hitler is dead, and the war has ended.
And yet, they are not as safe as they thought. As the sisters settle into their shared bunk with other exhausted refugees in the Displaced Persons camp, a familiar girl steps through the door, claiming to be Bianka, a Polish forced laborer who worked on a farm with Maria during the war.
Maria is outraged. This girl is not Bianka, but Sophie Huber, an enthusiastic member of the League of German Girls. She’s a Hitler Girl.
Before Maria can turn her in, Sophie claims that Krystia and Maria are Nazis, and the Soviet soldiers don’t seem to be terribly particular about whom they’re taking. The girls are taken away, now in a danger they never imagined. Will they be able to prove their innocence?
Reviews
★ “This is ultimately a story of the strength of the human spirit. Krystia and Maria are survivors, and they never give up, drawing strength from remembering their parents’ belief in them as they struggle to stay alive. Gripping, harsh, and superbly written.” – KIRKUS, starred review
“The Ukrainian-Canadian author has based her story on family members who gave their lives to free Ukraine from tyrannies of the right and left in the 1940s. Told from the alternating points of view of Krystia and Maria, this novel for older middle grade is well-paced, with an economy of description that conveys setting without slowing down the action.” – HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY
“A sophisticated approach to storytelling … Nuanced … Morality and the intricacies of geo-politics are among the themes in this fast-moving suspense novel which will have young readers racing through it to find out if, with all odds against them, the sisters can escape their captors. The novel is a good example of what some people call ‘edu-tainment,’ teaching important lessons and at the same time entertaining restless young readers.” – SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD
“Powerful, heart-wrenching historical fiction that takes place right after WWII. Heart-pounding action as the sisters learn that they need to rely on each other in order to survive being held by Soviet troops. A very satisfying addition to other Scholastic books in the Making Bombs for Hitler trilogy.” – YOUNG ADULT BOOKS CENTRAL
“Skrypuch has a talent for middle-grade writing. Her ability to set a scene and create tension is admirable, and it makes for exciting reading. Traitors Among Us is a high-stakes look at the ‘after’ part of World War II … Traitors Among Us is a fast-paced read that will appeal to a wide cross section of readers.” – CRACKING THE COVER
“A fascinating read … A harrowing tale of the often overlooked war refugees that were stuck in Soviet areas … A must-read for children who wish to learn more about the people who were focused on putting their lives back together post-WWII.” – THIS BLISS LIFE
From The Children’s War review: I started Traitors Among Us one evening and sat up until about 3:30 AM reading to the end, because I couldn’t put it down and needed to know what Krystia and Maria’s fate was going to be.
From CanlitforlittleCanadians, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch [is] a master storyteller … [who] takes us to those war-torn countries to travel with the girls as they walk dusty roads with thousands of refugees, toil on farms, hide from dangerous people, and find and offer support, even as they endure hunger, cold, fear and uncertainty. Every atmospheric scene is one of edge-of-your-seat nerves, worry that the next ally they make may not be one, shock at executions witnessed, and solace from a sisterly bond and fleeting memories of home.
“Traitors Among Us” is exciting and easy to read. The moral decisions the girls face are interesting enough that adults can also enjoy the book. This excellent novel is a great choice for parent/child discussion groups. Off the Shelf, Rabbi Rachel Esserman
Interview with Renata Duma and Soulscapes
Thanks, Renata, for this wide-ranging interview about Trapped in Hitler’s Web, and why I write what I write.
Making Bombs for Hitler (new)
Lida thought she was safe. Her neighbors wearing the yellow star were all taken away, but Lida is not Jewish. She will be fine, won’t she?
But she cannot escape the horrors of World War II.
Lida’s parents are ripped away from her and she is separated from her beloved sister, Larissa. The Nazis take Lida to a brutal work camp, where she and other Ukrainian children are forced into backbreaking labor. Starving and terrified, Lida bonds with her fellow prisoners, but none of them know if they’ll live to see tomorrow.
When Lida and her friends are assigned to make bombs for the German army, Lida cannot stand the thought of helping the enemy. Then she has an idea. What if she sabotaged the bombs… and the Nazis? Can she do so without getting caught?
And if she’s freed, will she ever find her sister again?
This pulse-pounding novel of survival, courage, and hope shows us a lesser-known piece of history — and is sure to keep readers captivated until the last page.
Pysanky
A Deep Family Secret
Shared with Toronto’s Great War Attic.
As a child, curious by nature, Marsh Forchuk would often ask his father George why he had left good farm land in southern Alberta to move north to Lake Eliza, a harsh place to establish their family farm. When old friends would come by for a visit, they would suddenly speak in whispers. But years later, after hearing of a news story about Canada’s internment of enemy aliens during the First World War, Marsh began to get his answers.
At the encouragement of the Canadian government, George Forchuk, a Ukrainian farmer from Werechenko, Austria, arrived in 1913 to settle and farm in southern Alberta. When war started he registered as an “enemy alien” and reported regularly as required by the War Measures Act in 1914. Despite this, he was arrested and forced into hard labour, eventually ending up in an internment camp in Jasper Alberta, which opened in February 1916. He laboured through dire conditions and escaped as “bullets whizzed by his ears” that same year. He moved around, hiding and working where he could. In 1918, Forchuk was spotted by police through the window of a restaurant in Calgary.
At the time, people were required to wear face masks in public to prevent the spread of the deadly Spanish flu pandemic. George thought he was being arrested as an escaped internee, but to his relief, he was informed that it was because he had lowered his mask to speak more clearly to the other person at his table. He also found out that the internment camp had closed in August 1916, shortly after he had escaped.
His farm was not returned to him, and so he had no choice but to purchase land where he could. The repercussions of the war continued. By the 1940s, ill health made it impossible for George to farm. Marsh dropped out of school at the age of 12 to take over. Marsh did not want to be a farmer, eventually selling the land his father gave to him, and moving east to make his own way. George Forchuk’s pride in being a staunch Canadian made the shame of his internment all the more difficult to bear. Right up until his death in 1967, he spoke of the injustices suffered for crimes he did not commit.
Unbound: Canadian Ukrainian Writing Home
What does it mean to be Ukrainian in contemporary Canada? The Ukrainian Canadian writers in Unbound challenge the conventions of genre – memoir, fiction, poetry, biography, essay – and the boundaries that separate ethnic and authorial identities and fictional and non-fictional narratives. These intersections become the sites of new, thought-provoking and poignant creative writing by some of Canada’s best-known Ukrainian Canadian authors.
To complement the creative writing, editors Lisa Grekul and Lindy Ledohowski offer an overview of the history of Ukrainian settlement in Canada and an extensive bibliography of Ukrainian Canadian literature in English. Unbound is the first such exploration of Ukrainian Canadian literature and a book that should be on the shelves of Canadian literature fans and those interested in the study of ethnic, postcolonial, and diasporic literature.
A Christmas to Remember
A Christmas To Remember is a wonderful seasonal anthology for Dear Canada readers, both old and new! A real treat for fans of this series, and all lovers of historical fiction!
Eleven stories that each revisit a favourite character from books in the Dear Canada series are included in this special collection. These are completely original tales that stand alone as heartwarming Christmas stories, but also serve as a lovely “next chapter” to their original books. Each story is written by one of Canada’s top award-winning writers for children, including Marsha Skrypuch, Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas and more. This collection is a lovely companion to A Season of Miracles, and will be treasured year after year at holiday time!
Kobzar’s Children
This unique anthology introduces new voices and a century of hidden stories.
The kobzars were the blind minstrels of Ukraine, who memorized the epic poems and stories of 100 generations. Traveling around the country, they stopped in towns and villages along the way, where they told their tales and were welcomed by all. Under Stalin’s regime, the kobzars were murdered. As the storytellers of Ukraine died, so too did their stories.
Kobzar’s Children is an anthology of short historical fiction, memoirs, and poems written about the Ukrainian immigrant experience. The stories span a century of history; and they contain stories of internment, homesteading, famine, displacement, concentration camps, and this new century’s Orange Revolution. Edited by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Kobzar’s Children is more than a collection; it is a moving social document that honors the tradition of the kobzars and revives memories once deliberately forgotten.
Continue reading “Kobzar’s Children”
Enough
This story, set during the Famine of the 1930s, tells of a young girl’s attempts to save her village from starvation. Marusia’s ingenuity gives her the opportunity to go on a magical journey to the North American Prairies to find more food for her village. Generosity triumphs over greed in this spirited Ukrainian folktale.
Continue reading “Enough”