For Nadia, it is all so overwhelming. Nadia remembers almost nothing about her past. As she settles into life in Brantford and becomes accustomed to living in a city without bombed-out buildings, Nadia begins experiencing troubling nightmares and flashbacks. These fragmented memories are often triggered by familiar sensations such as smells, tastes and even visual reminders.
When Nadia starts attending classes at Central School in Brantford, she is taunted by classmates who call her "Hitler Girl" and believe she is a Nazi. As a result, Nadia experiences shame and guilt because her memories are incomplete and seem to suggest a past that includes Nazi rallies, Hitler, black limousine's with swastikas flags and a family she doesn't really know. This causes Nadia to begin to question who she really is and to try to remember her past. Who is she? Will she ever remember?
Discussion
The reader gradually learns the answers to these questions along with Nadia through flashbacks which appear as italicized text in Stolen Child. The flashbacks are done so realistically that they often lead to more questions.
Skrypuch has written a touching novel about a very unusual and not well-known aspect of Nazi Germany - the Lebensborn program. Meaning "Fount of Life", the Lebensborn program initially focused on having German people produce Aryan children but was eventually expanded to include the poaching - kidnapping of blond, blue-eyed children from other ethnic groups, especially Poland and Ukraine. It is estimated that at least two hundred fifty thousand children from these two countries alone were stolen. These children underwent a rigorous physical assessment and if they passed they were placed with German families to be raised as Germans.
What makes Stolen Child so effective is that it tells two stories; that of "Nadia" in 1950 trying to adapt to life as a new immigrant and that of "Nadia" the child struggling to survive the destruction of her family in war-torn Europe. Skrypuch accurately portrays the trauma Nadia has experienced: it's obvious to the modern reader that this child is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Marsha Skrypuch succeeds in educating young readers about one aspect of the Nazi eugenics program, while telling an engaging story.
The reader gradually learns the answers to these questions along with Nadia through flashbacks which appear as italicized text in Stolen Child. The flashbacks are done so realistically that they often lead to more questions.
Skrypuch has written a touching novel about a very unusual and not well-known aspect of Nazi Germany - the Lebensborn program. Meaning "Fount of Life", the Lebensborn program initially focused on having German people produce Aryan children but was eventually expanded to include the poaching - kidnapping of blond, blue-eyed children from other ethnic groups, especially Poland and Ukraine. It is estimated that at least two hundred fifty thousand children from these two countries alone were stolen. These children underwent a rigorous physical assessment and if they passed they were placed with German families to be raised as Germans.
What makes Stolen Child so effective is that it tells two stories; that of "Nadia" in 1950 trying to adapt to life as a new immigrant and that of "Nadia" the child struggling to survive the destruction of her family in war-torn Europe. Skrypuch accurately portrays the trauma Nadia has experienced: it's obvious to the modern reader that this child is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Marsha Skrypuch succeeds in educating young readers about one aspect of the Nazi eugenics program, while telling an engaging story.
Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is an exceptional children's author. Based out of Brantford Ontario, she has written numerous historical fiction books focusing on situations involving people marginalized by society as well those relating to the Ukraine.
Book Details:
Stolen Child by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
Toronto: Scholastic Canada Ltd 2011
150 pp.
3 comments:
Thank you for the wonderful review!
I recently finished writing the companion novel to Stolen Child, which is about Nadia's older sister, who was an Ostarbeiter during WWII. Like the Lebensborn program, this is another aspect of WWII that is not generally known.
That novel, which is called Making Bombs For Hitler, will be published in the spring of 2012.
Fabulous Marsha!
I can't wait to read the companion novel!
Would you be willing to send me an ARC to review?
Absolutely! There should be ARCs by December or January. Email me with your contact info and I'll make sure you get one.
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