I loved Erin Litteken’s multi-generational novel The Lost Daughters of Ukraine because it dared to explore the complicated Ukrainian story during the Second World War.
Having unraveled a bit of my own Ukrainian-born mother’s experiences, I appreciate the effort and research behind Litteken’s work. Fictionalizing family trauma is never without risk and I commend Litteken’s skill in exploring this minefield of emotion and memory.
The brand new historical novel from Erin Litteken, bestselling author of The Memory Keeper of Kyiv, based on her family's heart-wrenching escape from war-torn Europe.
A story of the strength of the human spirit, the personal cost of conflict and how love can be found even in the darkest times.
Summer 1941. War rages in Europe. The Germans march towards Ukraine. Halya, Liliya and Vika are no strangers to sorrow. They lost family during the Holodomor, loved ones in Stalin's purges, and war looms once more on the horizon.
Vika lives in fear for her children. She and her sister…
I loved Marsha Skrypuch’s book, Winterkill, because Marsha's plot-driven, middle-grade historical novels explore tough topics.
This one—about the Holodomor (intentional famine directed by Stalin in 1931/2 Ukraine)—is uncomfortably current even though it's set 90 years ago. My own mother, left Ukraine a year earlier, while my kulak grandfather stayed behind and somehow survived the famine… hiding out in barns to escape arrest. Millions were not so lucky.
Told from 12-year-old Nyl's point of view, the novel has a fascinating Canadian connection through Alice, her father, and Canadian-built tractors. The story of Ukraine's suffering is part of my own family's story and I appreciate Marsha's well-researched efforts to keep it alive.
From acclaimed author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, this incredibly gripping and timely story set during the Holodomor in 1930s Ukraine introduces young readers to a pivotal moment in history-- and how it relates to the events of today.
Nyl is just trying to stay alive. Ever since the Soviet dictator, Stalin, started to take control of farms like the one Nyl's family lives on, there is less and less food to go around. On top of bad harvests and a harsh winter, conditions worsen until it's clear the lack of food is not just chance... but a murderous plan leading all…
This non-fiction textbook gives a broad overview of the kind of novels for young people that I like to write and to read.
In one slim volume (about 200 pages), the author shares the vision that so many of us historical fiction authors are trying to share. With this text I can explore other novels in my field of interest… 20th century East European history. It also connects immigrants to their family histories. A wonderful resource that I will return to again and again.
This is the first book monograph devoted to Anglophone Ukrainian Canadian children's historical fiction published between 1991 and 2021. It consists of five chapters offering cross-sectional and interdisciplinary readings of 41 books - novels, novellas, picturebooks, short stories, and a graphic novel. The first three chapters focus on texts about the complex process of becoming Ukrainian Canadian, showcasing the experiences of the first two waves of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, including encounters with Indigenous Peoples and the First World War Internment. The last two chapters are devoted to the significance of the cultural memory of the Holodomor, the Great Famine…
It is January 1945, the last winter of the Second World War,
and East Prussian civilians flee as the feared Red Army invades Germany in the
wake of the impending Nazi defeat. Katya and her two sisters join thousands of
others trudging to the Baltic Sea in the hope of escaping imprisonment.
But in a raid on a night-time hiding place, Katya is
separated from her sisters and forced to take a long and shameful journey back
into the Soviet Union. Captured and imprisoned by the Russians, she's forced to endure
hunger, back-breaking work, and filthy conditions labouring in a mine deep in
the Ural Mountains. But Crow Stone is also a story of friendship and the small
acts of mercy that help Katya survive her ordeal.
