Category: News stories

Adrift At Sea wins the Golden Oak Award!

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Such a thrill that Adrift At Sea has won the Golden Oak Award. The nominated books are read and judged by adult literacy learners, and for me this is so very special. I am dyslexic and didn’t learn to read until I was nine years old. I have an inkling of the challenges adult learners confront and am in awe of their courage. All of the shortlisted books were fantastic. Not in a million years did Tuan and I expect to win. We had actually placed our bets on Fight to Learn: The Struggle to go to School as the winner. I had been taking pics and tweeting them throughout the ceremony and was all set to take a pic of the winner, but then we were called up! So I don’t have a pic of Tuan and I receiving the award. Maybe someone will send me one? The pic above was taken in mid-May when we spoke at Downsview Library to Golden Oak participants.

The pic below is Tuan and I with Marlene Shuan, who passionately presented our book to the audience. See the bottom pic of Marlene in action. All of the shortlisted books were presented by adult literacy learners — such bravery to get up there in front of your peers and present like that!

Marsha the extrovert

People who meet me tend not to realize that I am an extreme introvert. I am good at building characters though, and one that has proven very useful is Marsha the extrovert. I have been mostly hunkered down at home writing, writing, writing, but I crunched together 7 presentations over the last three days and so got a chance to air out Marsha the extrovert.

Monday morning’s presentation was at the Palmerston branch of the Toronto Public Library, organized by Rachelle Gooden who is a TPL Adult Literacy Senior Services Specialist. I spoke about Adrift at Sea, which was shortlisted for the Golden Oak Award. It was an awesome event!

Me with Rachelle Gooden

On Tuesday afternoon, I drove back to the GTA, this time to the ARS Armenian School in North York.

hunger

First I had the honour of speaking to the grade 8 students about my very first novel, The Hunger, published in 1999. An interesting experience, considering these students weren’t even born yet. It was so neat to answer their superb questions and to realize how well this novel has stood the test of time.

 

 

Next I spoke to the grade threes about Aram’s Choice and Call Me Aram. So neat!!

On Tuesday night, I spoke to another Golden Oak group, this time at Downsview Library. And this time, Tuan came too. Such a moving experience.

On Wednesday, I spent most of the day at Birchmount CI, with the wonderful Julia Zwaan and grade 10 history students. My presentation was about the real people behind my books.

So now Marsha the Extrovert retires for a bit and the real Marsha, the introvert hunkering down and writing yet another book, takes over.

book reveal! Too Young to Escape

One day they will send for her, but how long must Van Ho wait for her family to find a way to get her out of South Vietnam?

During the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Van wakes up one morning to find that her mother, two sisters, Loan and Lan, and brother, Tuan, are gone. They have escaped the new communist regime that has taken over Ho Chi Minh City for freedom in the West. Four-year-old Van is too young—and her grandmother is too old—for such a dangerous journey by boat, so the two have been left behind. Once settled in North America, her parents will eventually be able to sponsor them, and Van and her grandmother will fly away to safety. But in the meantime, Van is forced to work hard to satisfy her aunt and uncle, who treat her like an unwelcome servant. And at school she must learn that calling attention to herself is a mistake, especially when the bully who has been tormenting her turns out to be the son of a military policeman.

Told with the help of award-winning author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Van Ho‘s true story strikes at the heart and will resonate with so many families affected by war, where so many children are forced to live under or escape from repressive regimes.

 

Grade 5 students of Josyf Cardinal Slipyj school sing the Kolysanka from Making Bombs for Hitler

When I visited Josyf Cardinal Slipyj school in February, it was a dream experience in so many ways.

The Grade 5 students had prepared a wonderful surprise. Their music teacher had taught them the Kolysanka (lullaby) from the sheet music that I had posted on my website last September.

I was so moved by their performance that I asked if they could record it so I could post it here. Just today, I got an email from Iwona Daciuk, the library technician, with this early Ukrainian Easter gift.

You can listen to the grade 5 students singing here:

Here are the notes:

And the English translation:
Little cradle, little cradle
Rock our little baby,
So she’ll sleep and not cry
So she’ll grow and nothing hurt her –
Not her head nor her whole body.

Thank you, Cornelia Bilinsky, who found the music and translated the lullaby!

Oh, and here is a letter written by the grade 7 students. Did I mention that this was a dream visit? A very memorable school visit!