Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan\u2019s Rescue from War
\nwritten by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
\nPajama Press, 2011
\n9978-0-9869495-4-8 (hc) $17.95
\n978-0-9869495-1-7 (pb) $12.95
\nfor Grades 4 and up<\/p>\n
Non-fiction \/ Vietnam 1975 \/ Operation \u201cBabylift\u201d History \/ Orphans \/ Adoption \/ Disability \/ Courage<\/p>\n
Thought-provoking, heartrending and inspirational, author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch\u2019s first non-fiction book chronicles one woman\u2019s account of a little-known piece of Canadian history: the Ontario government-sponsored Operation \u201cBabylift.\u201d<\/p>\n
In April 1975, South Vietnamese orphans were airlifted from Saigon and flown to Ontario where they were adopted by Canadian families. This military maneuver saved interracial babies (with American blood) and disabled children from being killed by the Viet Cong. Written from the perspective of eight-year-old Tuyet, who is crippled from polio, the book gives the reader vivid insight into life in a Saigon orphanage where children never see the sky and subsist amidst a soundtrack of warfare. Tuyet\u2019s story reveals not only the privations and misplacement caused by war but the assumptions made by well-meaning people about the desirability of Western customs and middle-class values. Plentiful food, her own room and her first family initially cause Tuyet mistrust, discomfort and even terror.<\/p>\n
This simply written but masterfully perceptive story of human resilience and courage belongs on every school and public library shelf. Although it could be read aloud to Grade 3 students and independently by Grades 4 to 8 students (e.g., for social studies or language units), the narrative easily captures an adult. Forchuk Skrypuch, who has received numerous awards for her historical novels, enriches this slender book with photos and official documents. Historical and author\u2019s notes, detailing relevant background to Tuyet\u2019s plight and the author\u2019s research methods, make engaging additions alongside a list of further resources and an index.<\/p>\n
Aliki Tryphonopoulos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan\u2019s Rescue from War written by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch Pajama Press, 2011 9978-0-9869495-4-8 (hc) $17.95 978-0-9869495-1-7 (pb) $12.95 for Grades 4 and up Non-fiction \/ Vietnam 1975 \/ Operation \u201cBabylift\u201d History \/ Orphans \/ Adoption \/ Disability \/ Courage Thought-provoking, heartrending and inspirational, author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch\u2019s first non-fiction book chronicles … Continue reading “Children’s Book News awesome review of Last Airlift!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.calla.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}