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When Mama Goes to Work — nice review from the Midwest Review

When Mama Goes to Work
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, author
Jessica Phillips, illustrator
Fitzhenry & Whiteside
311 Washington Street, Brighton, MA 02135
9781554553143, $18.95, www.fitzhenry.ca

 

“When Mama Goes to Work” is a cheerful descriptive book for preschool and up children about daily routines of both parent and child when Mama goes to work. Filled with beautiful color illustrations of families with skin tones of black, brown, white, and tan, “When Mama Goes to Work” presents a positive, upbeat attitude towards the experience of separate schedules of mother and child during the day. Both mother and child have prepared for their busy days by wearing appropriate clothes, and packing a lunch in a special bag. Sometimes there is a pleasant surprise in the lunch bag left by mother or child (like a spider toy or a valentine note)! Both mother and child are busy all day long, work with different tools, and get things done. Both smile (this is important). Both think of each other during their day and also miss each other. But the child knows that Mama will be back. The end of the day brings reunion, coming home, changing clothes, cooking, eating, books and reading, and bedtime. The child dreams of growing up and working with tools, being busy all day long, and smiles. One nice touch in “When Mama Goes to Work” is the pictured occupations for the mother, which include doctor, construction worker, and astronaut. Cheery text and happy faces in the illustrations help teach the young child that Mama going to work is a good thing, and an adult goal to aspire to.

Author completes Second World War trilogy

by Michelle Ruby, Brantford Expositor.

The release of the third book in a Second World War trilogy by city author Marsha Skrypuch couldn’t be more timely.

The young readers’ novel, Underground Soldier, tells the story of the terrorization, enslavement and killing of Ukrainians by both the Soviets and the Nazis.

The underground army formed by Ukrainians included people of many nationalities and ages with one thing in common — the desire to live in a democratic country.

“This parallels the Euromaidan conflict where regular people of all ages and nationalities took to the streets and proclaimed they would rather die than take the corruption anymore,” said Skrypuch. “It just goes to show how timely history can be.”

Underground Soldier is the story of 14-year-old Luka, who works as an Ostarbeiter in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, alongside Lida from Making Bombs for Hitler, the second book in the trilogy, which began with Stolen Child.

Desperate to escape the brutal conditions of a Nazi slave camp, Luka manages to break free by hiding in a truck under a pile of dead bodies and joins a group of Ukrainian resistance fighters.

Caught between advancing Nazis in the west and Soviet troops in the east, they mount guerrilla raids, help POW escapees and do all they can to make life hard for the Nazis and Soviets. After the war, Luka must decide whether to follow Lida to Canada or stay in Europe and search for his long-lost mother.

“They were 10 years in the making,” said Skrypuch of the trilogy. “Finishing it feels like a relief but there is also a sadness. The characters were in my head for so long.”

Underground Soldier is the prolific, award-winning city author’s 18th published book.

Skrypuch will be in Toronto on Wednesday as one of five nominees for the $25,000 Kobzar Literary Award for Making Bombs for Hitler. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to Canadian literary arts by an author who develops a Ukrainian Canadian theme with literary merit in one of several genres, including literary non-fiction, fiction, poetry, young readers’ literature, plays, screenplays and musicals.

Although Skrypuch said she has written more on Ukraine than anyone else in Canada, this is her first nomination for the biennial Kobzar.

Most of Skrypuch’s works are fiction but she bases all of her stories on detailed research. Of great help on Underground Soldier, she said, was Peter J. Potichnyj, professor emeritus at McMaster University who was a teen soldier in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and has written extensively about it.

Skrypuch said she is closely following the ongoing demonstrations and revolution in Ukraine.

“I’m so proud of the people. It’s a very civil revolution. All they want is freedom. It’s a wave of democracy. In the long run, it’s the most beautiful thing that could possibly have happened to Ukraine.”

In the meantime, acclaim for Skrypuch’s books continues. The non-fiction One Step at a Time, which is based on Brantford resident Tuyet Yurczyszyn, is shortlisted for the Silver Birch award with winners to be announced in May.

She also has a new young adult novel scheduled for release in August to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. Dance of the Banished is partly set in Brantford.

michelle.ruby@sunmedia.ca

 

lovely review for The Best Gifts from Midwest Review

“The Best Gifts” is a lovely book about precious gifts of love and life from loving parents to each other and to their child. Filled with golden-tinted, faintly exotic portraits of a loving family and friends, “The Best Gifts” begins with the birth of a special baby girl, Sara, who receives many gifts to celebrate her birth. But the best gift comes after everyone leaves, having been thanked for their thoughtfulness, and the new family cuddles quietly together while the baby feeds at her mother’s breast, surrounded by swirls of fragrant sandalwood scent and love. The story continues with the little girl growing up, leaving and beginning a loved family of her own. The besbestgiftst gift her parents give her to celebrate the birth of her son, Sam, is a love-worn story book filled with precious memories of the best times of her childhood. Again the young family retires after putting all the thoughtful gifts away thankfully, and cuddle while baby Sam drinks his mother’s milk and falls into a happy sleep, surrounded by a light scent of sandalwood. “And Sara knew, as she always had … that the best gifts can never be bought.” “The Best Gifts” is a lovely book that celebrates life and love and supports a precious beginning of life nurturing through breastfeeding.

Source Citation   (MLA 7th Edition)

“The Best Gifts.” Children’s Bookwatch Jan. 2014. General OneFile. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.

Best moment of the OLA superconference

The very best moment of the OLA Superconference? It came after the Thursday morning Forest of Reading winners’ panel discussion.

I had spoken of my Ukrainian mother-in-law, who lived through WWII, surviving both the Nazis and the Soviets. Just before she died, asked me to write about her experiences in WWII, because she had never seen them in a book. We usually only see the Nazis as the enemy, not realizing that for Eastern Europeans, there were two genocidal dictators targeting them — not just Hitler, but Stalin as well. She was my inspiration for Stolen Child, which led to Making Bombs and Underground Soldier.

After the talk, many people came up and hugged me, openly weeping. Three sisters, whose late Latvian mother was also subjected to Nazi and Soviet oppression. Thursday was her birthday. They’ve been able to amass much documentation about her life and her community. I want them to write her story. A Bulgarian librarian friend, whose history is similar. Ekaterina, please write your family’s story! My books are their stories as well. We get such a sanitized version of WWII history in the western world, largely because we allied ourselves with Stalin.

And of course, what’s happening in Ukraine now — deja vu all over again. Putin is holding off until after the Olympics. I dread what will happen then.

OLA Superconference

 

It was a fun and busy time at the OLA Superconference. It started bright and early with the Forest of Reading breakfast on Thursday, and then the winners from last year gave a panel discussion on what their win meant to them. The photo below, taken by Joanne Levy, shows me at the far left, Wesley King (Red Maple Fiction winner), Martin Springett (Blue Spruce winner), Brit Trogen and Kari Trogen (Silver Birch Express winners). Not visible is Jeyn Roberts (White Pine Winner) Bill Swan (Red Maple non-fiction winner) and Rob Laidlaw, (Silver Birch non-fiction winner). Helen Kubiw, Forest of Reading co-chair can be seen in green behind the panel. Angela Thompson, her co-chair, is not visible.

I did four separate signings, two on Thursday and two on Friday. The  photo below is of Christie Harkin and myself at the Fitzhenry & Whiteside booth on Friday. I was signing The Best Gifts and When Mama Goes to Work. Christie was my editor for both books.

 

I also signed at the OLA bookstore on Thursday. I was signing Making Bombs for Hitler, as it was the Silver Birch winner last year, plus One Step at a Time, as it’s a Silver Birch nominee this year. I also signed Underground Soldier at the booth since it was brand new and a companion novel to Making Bombs for Hitler.  The store ran out of Underground Soldier!

I also signed at the Goodminds.com booth. They had all three books in my WWII trilogy available, plus One Step At A Time and When Mama Goes to Work. They sold out of Underground Soldier too!

My fourth signing was at the OBPO booth with Pajama Press, signing One Step at a Time. Richard Jones, president of Pajama Press, gave a great prep talk to everyone waiting in line for their book. It was really great the way he gave background info on One Step, as well as Last Airlift, the companion book.

Fab review of When Mama Goes To Work from CM

________________ CM . . . . Volume XX Number 20. . . .January 24, 2014

 

cover When Mama Goes to Work.

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Illustrated by Jessica Phillips.
Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013.
32 pp., hardcover, $18.95.
ISBN 978-1-55455-314-3.

Subject Headings:
Mother and child-Fiction-Juvenile literature.
Working mothers-Fiction-Juvenile literature.

Preschool / Ages 1-4.

Review by Rhiannon Jones.

***½ /4

 

excerpt:

When Mama goes to work,
she’s busy all day long.
She works with tools
and gets things done.

Mama smiles.

 

When Mama Goes to Work, written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch and illustrated by Jessica Phillips, is a sweet book for young children, one that introduces them to the idea of a working mother. The story features a diverse collection of mothers and their children as they go through a typical working day, from getting ready for the day, to reading stories at bedtime. Since children sometimes suffer from separation anxiety once a mother goes back to work after being home for a while, it is important that a book about working mothers keeps the topic upbeat for children. Forchuk Skrypuch and Phillips do a great job keeping the topic light for a young child.

internal art     Since this is a book that would appeal to younger children, the focus is not on a sequential plot, but rather a repetition that seems designed to calm a child. The repetition is particularly strong because young children can begin to see patterns between their day at daycare or school and what their mother does at work. The wording emphasises how much a mother loves and thinks of her child during the day and is very happy and positive. The repetition of “Mama smiles” and “I smile” is a fantastic way to reinforce the idea of a cheerful separation.

     The illustrations are especially striking in this book The colours are vibrant with clear lines and varied scenes. This makes When Mama Goes to Work a great language learning tool for really young children. Parents or caregivers can read this book to a young child and point out common items in order to form connections with the child and to increase vocabulary skills. With slightly older children, the illustrations can be used to create personalized stories to which children can connect. Jessica Phillips does a wonderful job of creating cheery images that help keep the book positive since many children suffer from separation anxiety when a mother goes/returns to work.

     Another strong feature about this story is the diversity that is featured in both the illustrations and the language. Diversity is expressed through ethnicity and occupations. This book expresses the various occupations available to a woman from doctor and business woman to construction worker. Even the front cover displays this variety well.

     Overall, When Mama Goes to Work is a well-written, well-illustrated book for young children. School-aged children may not appreciate this book as they have probably already experienced the issues that young children with working mothers may face. As a working mother with young children myself, I found this to be a great book to share. It opened up a dialogue with my son about what I do when I work and how much I miss him. This book would make a great addition to any children’s collection and could work well in a group story-time session with related activities and discussion for toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Highly Recommended.

Rhiannon Jones is a health librarian at the University of Calgary. In her spare time, she reads and re-reads books to her three children who teach her that something new can be gleaned from multiple tellings.

 

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364 		Hosted by the University of Manitoba.

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