APPLY TO HOST MARSHA SKRYPUCH (IN PERSON)
BIOGRAPHY
Marsha Skrypuch’s books span a century of wars from a kid's view, concentrating on those stories that have been erased by oppressive regimes. Her best-known book is Making Bombs for Hitler. Her most recent is the Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy. She has received death threats and honours for her writing.
Home Location: Brantford, Ontario
Creator Type: Author
Genres: Picture books, early chapter books, middle-grade fiction, teen fiction, narrativenon-fiction
Website: calla.com
Tour Region: British Columbia (North Vancouver and Sea to Sky Region)
Target Audience: Grades 1 - 8
Cost: For one 60-minute presentation: $300 plus 5% GST
NOTE: The fee of $300 (plus tax) will be paid to The Canadian Children's Book Centre (CCBC) upon receipt of an invoice from the CCBC. After Book Week, the CCBC will pay the author their presentation fee of $250 (plus taxes, if applicable).
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Kidnapped from Ukraine Trilogy: Writing About a War as it Happens (45-60 minutes)
Target Audience: Grades 5-8
Preferred group size: Group size is not an issue, as long as the audience is no more than a two-grade spread. For example, Grades 5+6 together, Grades 7+8 together.
Maximum group size: no limit, grade range limit of two, ie, Grades 5+6 together, Grades 7+8 together.
Marsha is an extremely flexible presenter. No two groups are ever the same and no two of her presentations are ever the same.
Target audience: Grades 1-3 when she was a kid herself, and how she finally learned to read. Marsha talks about why she writes on topics that have been ignored by others and why she considers herself a librarian/detective.
In this presentation, Marsha talks about how she set aside a novel-in-progress in order to fulfill an urgent request from Scholastic, to write a trilogy about Russia’s current war on Ukraine.
Marsha talks about the war, the books, how she did her research, and the challenges she encountered. She also talks about happens when you’re banned for life by Russia (she is the only children’s author in North America thus targeted). This is a very open-ended discussion, with lots of room for Q&A, where students are encouraged to ask anything.
Required equipment: A microphone if room acoustics require it. A table to spread my things out on. Nothing else.
Required materials: none
World War II Through the Eyes of Lida (Making Bombs for Hitler) and Krystia (Don’t Tell the Nazis) (45-60 minutes)
Target Audience: Grades 4-8
Preferred group size: no limit, but audience must have no more than a two-grade spread.
Maximum group size: no limit, no more than a two-grade spread.
Marsha has written two hugely popular trilogies set during WWII in Ukraine. Using either Making Bombs for Hitler or Don’t Tell the Nazis as a starting point, Marsha discusses the real people and the research challenges that went into writing these six novels, and how each novel tells a unique aspect of WWII that hadn’t been written in literature before. Lots of time for Q&A
Required equipment: A microphone if room acoustics require it. A table to spread my things out on. Nothing else.
Required materials: none
Winterkill: The Holodomor (45-60 minutes)
Target Audience: Grades 4-8
Preferred group size: no limit, but audience must have no more than a two-grade spread.
Maximum group size: no limit, no more than a two-grade spread.
Marsha’s 2022 novel, Winterkill, is set during the 1930s Holodomor, when Stalin tried to erase the Ukrainian nation and culture by stealing Ukrainians’ food, sealing the borders, and shooting anyone who tried to escape. In this presentation, Marsha talks about the real people and history behind her book and how it relates to the current war.
Required equipment: A microphone if room acoustics require it. A table to spread my things out on. Nothing else.
Required materials: none
Finding Refuge in Canada: Refugee Presentation (Customized to your preference and grade level)
Target Audience: Grades 1-6, but with primaries, one grade at a time.
Preferred group size: 30 or fewer
Maximum group size: 50
Students need tools to develop empathy for those among us who have fled war, terror and prejudice. Marsha has two non-fiction books from the perspective of a real child escaping their homeland after war. Interviewing the real people behind these books had a profound effect on Marsha herself. Using her books Adrift at Sea and Too Young to Escape, Marsha can speak to students in an age-appropriate way about this urgent issue. Sample grade ranges that work well for these presentations: Grades 1 - 2, Grades 3 - 4,Grades 6 and up.
Required equipment: A chair and table
Required materials: none
How a Kid Who Hated Books Became an Author (and a Princess!) (45-60 minutes)
Target Audience: Grades 3-6
Preferred group size: Grade 3: 50; Grades 4-6: 100
Maximum group size: no limit, but with Grade 3s, 50 is best, and just Grade 3s
In this funny, self-deprecating session, Marsha talks about her own challenging childhood and how her early failures helped her develop empathy and compassion for others who struggle and how it became her life’s work to showcase quiet heroes in her books. This session includes an overview of the books she’s written, rather than concentrating on one era or theme.
This session helps students reframe their own challenges as a pathway instead of a barrier to future success. Plenty of time for Q&A.
Required equipment: A microphone if room acoustics require it. A table to spread my things out on. Nothing else.
Required materials: none
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kidnapped from Ukraine trilogy:
Book 1, Under Attack. Jan 2025
Book 2, Standoff. Oct 2025
Book 3, Still Alive. April 2026
Winterkill, 2022
Silver Threads, 1996, 2004, 2022
Sky of Bombs, Sky of Stars, 2020
Traitors Among Us, 2021
Trapped in Hitler's Web, 2020
Don't Tell the Nazis, 2019
Too Young to Escape, 2020
Adrift At Sea, 2016
Dance of the Banished, 2014
Underground Soldier, 2014 / The War Below, 2019
Stolen Child 2010 / Stolen Girl 2019
Making Bombs for Hitler, 2012/2018
One Step At A Time, 2012
Last Airlift, 2011
Call Me Aram, 2008
Aram's Choice, 2006
The Best Gifts, 1998/2013
When Mama Goes to Work, 2013
Kobzar's Children, 2006
Prisoners in the Promised Land (Dear Canada) 2006
Daughter of War, 2008
Nobody's Child, 2004
The Hunger 1999
Enough, 2001