The Manitoba Young Readers Choice Award (M.Y.R.C.A.) aims to promote reading and Canadian literature by giving young people the opportunity to vote for their favorite Canadian book from an annual preselected list. The books are nominated based on their quality and reader appeal.

Congratulations to the MYRCA 2012 winner, Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom by Susin Nielsen!

We would also like to congratulate the authors of the MYRCA 2012 Honor Books: Half Brother by Kenneth Oppel, and Stolen Child by Marsha F. Skrypuch.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre is holding its Annual General Meeting, featuring special guest speaker Marsha Skrypuch, on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 at 6:00 p.m.

Location:
Room 200, Northern District Library
40 Orchard View Blvd.
(Yonge & Eglinton)
Toronto, Ontario M4R 1B9

Reception to follow at the Canadian Children’s Book Centre
Suites 217 & 222, Northern District Library

Please RSVP by June 12 to Shannon Howe Barnes at 416.975.0010 ext. 227 or rsvp@bookcentre.ca.

To view the formal invitation, go here.

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan’s 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 “Babylift” History / Orphans / Adoption / Disability / Courage

Thought-provoking, heartrending and inspirational, author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s first non-fiction book chronicles one woman’s account of a little-known piece of Canadian history: the Ontario government-sponsored Operation “Babylift.”

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’s 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.

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’s notes, detailing relevant background to Tuyet’s plight and the author’s research methods, make engaging additions alongside a list of further resources and an index.

Aliki Tryphonopoulos

My Brantford book launch for Making Bombs For Hitler is taking place on April 16th. Michelle Ruby of the Brantford Expositor did a lovely story about the novel. You can read it here.

Brian Thompson, photographer extraordinaire, came over the day before to take a photo of me and the book. I asked if we could do something different and he said sure, so I took him downstairs and showed him my tread desk. Go to the link above for the article, then click on the photo. He even captured the movement of my legs! Pretty nifty!

The World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations and the Ukrainian Women’s Organization of Canada, Toronto Branch, invite you to the launch of

Making Bombs For Hitler

by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

When: Wednesday March 7, 2012 @7:30pm

Where: UNF Toronto Community Centre, 145 Evans Ave, Etobicoke ON

The author will give a brief talk, followed by Q&A. Books available for sale and autograph. Light refreshments.