My own author copies of Stolen Child in Ukrainian!

It’s a dream come true to finally have one of my novels translated into Ukrainian and published in Ukraine. The translator is the brilliant Yulia Lyubka and the publisher is Books XXI. Stolen Child (Stolen Girl) holds a special place in my heart because it was written at the urging of my late mother-in-law, Lidia Skrypuch, who was a kid during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine and half of her classmates were victims of the Lebensborn program. That this translation is coming out now is sadly appropriate because the new Nazis, aka Putin’s Z army, are doing Lebensborn all over again: kidnapping Ukrainian kids, brainwashing them and placing them in Russian homes. My mother-in-law used to say that there was little difference between the Nazis and the Moskali: both were genocidal killers and thieves, but the Nazis had better boots.

This is a photo of my mother in law as a baby, before anyone in their family had an inkling of what the future would hold.

Core artists for KidsFleeWar

Over the past months, educators from across the continent have been facilitating artwork with kids who have fled war in Ukraine, not only as a way for kids to express their emotions, but also as a way to share those feelings with others. As time went on, a core group of artists from St. Sophia School in Mississauga became the primary contributors. I was so moved by their insight and wowed by their art that I wanted to meet them in person. To honour each of them and to thank them.
As a token of thanks, I brought them each a couple of books: Adrift at Sea, which I wrote with Tuan Ho, phenomenal artwork by Brian Deines, about a Vietnamese boy who fled war, and also my novel Making Bombs for Hitler. Here’s a photo of that core group of artists.
Ola Holyk, teacher-librarian extraordinaire, and the engine behind the artists at St. Sophia.
I had brought some books for the library as well, but Rostyslav had his eye on Last Airlift. He was fascinated with the book and kept on asking about it. How can an author resist such enthusiasm? I gave it to him, and its sequel, One Step at a Time. He was very excited. Since I basically gave him the copy that I was donating to the school, I’ll be sending copies to the school as well.
the whole class
artists with educators
The whole class with Ms Holyk, teacher-librarian extraordinaire.
One of our very gifted artists.

Stolen Girl now available in Ukrainian

Books XXI in Chernivtsi, Ukraine is publishing this beautiful edition of Stolen Child (Stolen Girl). Titled The Kidnapped Girl for this edition, the translation was done by the talented Yuliya Lyubka. More information can be found here. In Canada it will be available from Koota Ooma and other Ukrainian bookstores.