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Excerpt:<\/span><\/p>\n Chapter One<\/strong><\/p>\n 1950 \u2013 Coming to Canada<\/p>\n The woman who said she was my mother was so ill on the ship from Europe that she wore a sickness bag around her neck almost the whole time. The man I called father had come over a year before us. He had worked in different places in Canada, looking for one that could be our home. He wrote to us that he\u2019d settled on Brantford, Ontario, because of the trees and the two Ukrainian churches. And a foundry that gave him a job \u2013 which meant that we could eat.<\/p>\n Because Marusia was so sick on the ship, she spent most of her time down below. I do not like to feel closed in, so I let her sleep in peace. I was left with lots of time on my own, and I didn\u2019t mind. I would run up the stairs to the top deck and lean over the railing, watching the water churn far far below me. Once, I climbed over the railing and sat on the edge, dangling my legs over the open water and relishing the cool clean air. I was there less than a minute when a deckhand snatched me by the waist and lifted me to safety. He yelled at me in a language that wasn\u2019t Ukrainian or Yiddish or German or Russian. It wasn\u2019t English either. I suppose he told me that I was crazy to be doing such a thing. It didn\u2019t feel crazy. I was finally alone and out in the open, if only for a moment. It felt like freedom.<\/p>\n When the ship landed at the Port of Halifax, I followed Marusia down the gangplank. I had gotten so used to the rolling of the sea that when my feet touched Canadian soil, I thought it was moving. I had to hold onto a post to stop from falling. Marusia was unsteady on her feet too. She was carrying the suitcase and couldn\u2019t reach the post, so I grabbed her hand and steadied her, then we walked to the end of the long snaking line of immigrants.<\/p>\n At the front of the line stood men in uniform, who interviewed every newcomer. That scared me speechless. What would they ask me about? What could I say?<\/p>\n Marusia squeezed my hand reassuringly. \u201cRemember to call me Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n When it was our turn, the officer looked at our documents, then bent down until he was eye level with me. His craggy face was kind, but the uniform terrified me. He said in Ukrainian, \u201cWelcome to Canada, Nadia. Are you glad to be here?\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t like to lie, so I didn\u2019t answer, but just stared at him through my tears. I was glad to finally be out of that terrible Displaced Persons\u2019 camp we had been in for five years. In some ways, I was glad to be in Canada because it was so far away from my other life. But there were things about my earlier life that I still yearned for.<\/p>\n The immigration officer tugged on one of my pigtails and then stood up. I listened as he asked Marusia questions about where we came from before the war, and what we did during it. I always noticed how easily Marusia lied. \u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reviews:<\/span>on Best Books for Kids and Teens<\/span>:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n * Starred Review: Stolen Child<\/p>\n Nadia? Gretchen? Larissa? Who is she really? A young girl arrives in Canada after the end of World War II, having spent five years in a Displaced Persons\u2019 camp. As she tries to adapt to another new life, she begins to remember a time before becoming Gretchen. Will Nadia be able to uncover her true identity\u2013the one that was stolen from her by the Nazis?<\/p>\n Thematic Links: World War II\u2013Lebensborn\u2013Ukraine\u20131950s\u2013Nazis<\/p>\n A star (*) and a title appearing in red text signify titles of exceptional calibre<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Christina Minaki<\/span> on Canadian Children’s Book News<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n With Making Bombs For Hitler, author Marsha Skrypuch continues the story of two sisters, Lida and Larissa, that she began with Stolen Child.<\/p>\n Making Bombs for Hitler is Lida\u2019s story. Lida\u2019s morther had said it was possible to find beauty anywhere, but she \u2014 like Lida\u2019s father and grandmother \u2014 was killed before her daughters were captured by the Germans. Beauty is almost impossible to find in a brutal Nazi slave labour camp. But Lida\u2019s strongest motivation to survive is her quest to find her beloved sister, Larissa.<\/p>\n Lida knows she needs to remain useful in the camp if she is to survive \u2014 and death can happen at any time. Doctors and nurses will kill those deemed \u201cunfit\u201d to be a part of the Nazis \u201cmachine.\u201d Guards can barely wait for an excuse to berate, brutalize or kill their prisoners. There is the gnaw of hunger and the reality of misery and torture everywhere. Then Lida and some of her friends are given a new work assignment: making bombs \u2014 a task they have no choice but to undertake. It is a blessing that by now she knows there is beauty, even in the camp \u2014 in a shared song or story, a loving memory, a selfless act of resistance.<\/p>\n These gifts sustain her, both as a prisoner, and later, in a refugee camp, where she is finally safe. All she has to do is somehow find dear Larissa and a way back home. But finding Larissa will take nothing short of a miracle. And if the rumours about Ukraine are true, going home may never happen.<\/p>\n Making Bombs for Hitler is an achingly sad and intensely hopeful novel \u2014 honest about suffering, but also about resilience. It is gripping in its plot and its striking characters, and full of historical accuracy.<\/p>\n In Stolen Child, it takes Larissa almost the entire novel to remember her real name and her past. She spent five years in a Displaced Persons camp with the loving couple who have brought her to Brantford, Ontario. She knows that she must refer to Marusia and Ivan as her mother and father or they will risk losing their place in Canada. She must also go by the name Nadia. But disturbing, disjointed flashbacks and nightmares are raising troubling questions.<\/p>\n Why are her happy memories infused with the colour and scent of lilacs? Why are her horrible memories tied to blood and flames and desperate cries? Who are her real mother and sister? And why is she almost certain the boys who call her a Nazi are right?<\/p>\n Stolen Child brilliantly and deftly deals with the horrifying issues of post-traumatic stress disorder and the Lebensborn program (the Nazis stole blond, blue-eyes Polish and Ukrainian children and brainwashed them before placing them with their \u2018rightful\u2019 Nazi families). Larissa became one such child, and the road back to the truth is terrifying. She must have courage if she is ever to have peace or find Lida.<\/p>\n When, at the end of Making Bombs For Hitler, Lida is finally given a letter from Larissa, a beautiful link is made between Making Bombs for Hitler and Stolen Child. These two novels are a perfect fit, covering not only war, prejudice, injustice and loss, but also love, healing and new beginnings.<\/p>\n Enrolled in the Humber College Creative Writing Program, Christina Minaki is working on her second novel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Shannon Ozirny<\/span> on Quill & Quire<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSkrypuch succeeds in making some of the more horrific and lesser-known events of the Second World War accessible and engaging for younger readers\u2026historical vivacity, coupled with endnotes on the facts behind the story\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Library of Clean Reads<\/span> on Laura Fabiani<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n I LOVED this book. And it made my heart ache so much for all the injustices the Nazis committed, especially toward children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dr. Andrea Deakin<\/span> on Deakin Newsletter<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n It is a valuable addition to school libraries, giving background to the Nazi era and World War II, a story which is as moving as any from that period. We have stories which acknowledge and express the terrible suffering of the Jews, and rightly so, but we must never forget that there were so many others whose suffered terribly too during the Nazi era. This is a thoughtful and moving novel that looks at just one of the injustices of the period: many of the \u201cleftover\u201d members of the original families ended up in prison camps.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jean Mills<\/span> on Guelph Mercury<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch skilfully evokes the pain and fear of young Nadia, who immigrates to Brantford at the end of the Second World War. Nadia can\u2019t separate the nightmare from the reality: why does she remember a father in Nazi uniform and, at the same time, the fear and starvation of the displaced persons\u2019 camp?<\/p>\n Skrypuch, who has solid reputation for writing first-rate historical fiction for young adults, uses the backdrop of Nazi Germany\u2019s Lebensborn program to tell Nadia\u2019s gripping story.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n N Manning<\/span> on Back to Books<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This is a bittersweet story that brings to life an aspect of the Nazi regime that is perhaps not so well known. While not as physically horrifying as other acts the Nazis perpetrated , it is an awful \u201cexperiment\u201d that tore families apart, and ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. The book is a compelling read, and coupled with its shortness is a fast read. The book\u2019s brevity does not however affect the power of emotion contained within its pages nor the development of Nadia\u2019s character. The reader connects with Nadia as a person and feels great anguish with her as she also learns who she is and what has happened to her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Barbra Hesson<\/span> on Calgary Herald<\/span> wrote:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n At the end of the Second World War, 12-year-old Nadia arrives in Canada with her parents. Hidden memories, however, soon make her doubt who she is and where she came from. This story uncovers one of the lesser known of Hitler\u2019s horrors, the Lebensborn. A great addition to any school curriculum, and an insightful read for ages nine and up. Barbra Hesson, Calgary Herald, March 4, 2012<\/p><\/blockquote>\n