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Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

Author, Librarian, Performer

 

Member profile details

First Name
Marsha Forchuk
Last Name
Skrypuch
Province or Territory
Ontario
Craft
  • Author
  • Librarian
  • Performer
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Website
www.calla.com
Google +
Marsha Skrypuch
Facebook
Marsha J. Skrypuch
Instagram
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LinkedIn
Marsha Skrypuch
YouTube
MarshaSkrypuch
 

Professional information

Bio
Marsha Skrypuch is the author of 20+ books for young people. "I write about people who must give up everything that is dear to them and travel to a new country. To me, these people are heroic."

Marsha tricked her teachers into thinking she knew how to read until it all caught up with her in grade 4 when she failed the provincial reading exam. Adding insult to injury, they made her repeat the year. As the tallest and oldest kid in the class, she didn't want to be seen learning to read with little skinny books and she was too proud to ask for help, so she taught herself how to read by taking out the fattest book in the children's section of the Brantford Public Library -- Oliver Twist. She kept on renewing it for a whole year. Reading that book was a turning point in her life. She decided that she loved reading, and wanted to write too.

Marsha loves speaking with students of all ages, especially those who are struggling academically or who feel "different".
Available For
Writing workshops for adults or children
School and library presentations
Keynotes
Professional development workshops
Conferences
School Visits
Virtual visits: $300 + HST

In person visits:

$400 plus HST for 1 session, $650 for 2, $900 for 3 and $1100 for 4, + travel (50 cents per kilometer, round-trip for SW ON).

Marsha is an experienced and passionate presenter who tailors each presentation to the group in front of her. She can do up to four presentations in the same school or area in a day. As the author of picture books, middle grade novels, narrative non-fiction and YA novels, she routinely presents to an entire school over the course of a day. She also loves speaking to adult groups, family literacy events and she loves loves loves giving writing workshops.

Presentations by grade

Marsha is an extremely flexible presenter. No two groups are ever the same and no two of her presentations are ever the same. She likes to have a conversation with the audience rather than stand up there like a talking head. For most presentations, she works in why she thought kids’ books were evil 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.

Here is an example of her themes by grade:
JK to 2: two 30 minute storytelling sessions for the price of one full session ($400+HST) using When Mama Goes To Work.

2 to 4: 45 to 60 minutes: Storytelling session plus Q&A on Adrift at Sea and Too Young to Escape, the true stories of a 6 year old brother and a 4 year old sister. He escaped Vietnam with his mom, but she was too young, and had to stay behind for years before being reunited with her parents and siblings. This session is excellent in developing empathy and in giving young people a deeper understanding of the refugee crisis.

2-5: Aram’s Choice and Call Me Aram: A presentation on Marsha’s two chapter books about 50 orphaned Armenian boys who were rescued from the Armenian Genocide and brought to Canada on July 1, 1923 and raised on a farm in Georgetown Ontario. This was Canada’s first international relief effort.

4 to 8: The majority of Marsha’s books are for this age group. 45 to 60 minutes. Includes how she transformed herself from a non-reader into a writer, how she does research, historical background on the books of your choice. Writing tips and Q&A are worked in.

Don't Tell the Enemy/
Stolen Child/Making Bombs For Hitler/Underground Soldier: bullying, World War II, immigration, coming to Canada, slavery, racism, Holocaust. Living in the 1940s and 1950s.
WWI, WWI internment operations in Canada, immigration, bullying, racism, living in 1914. Marsha has written three books on WWI internment and can speak to all age groups on the topic. For more info, go here:
http://www.calla.com/wordpress/invite-marsha-canada/
Publications
Middle Grade
Winterkill
Scholastic, 2022

Traitors Among Us
Scholastic, 2021

Trapped in Hitler's Web
Scholastic, 2020

Sky of Bombs, Sky of Stars
Pajama Press, 2020

Too Young to Escape
Pajama Press 2018

Don't Tell the Enemy
Scholastic 2018

Underground Soldier
Scholastic, Jan 2014

Making Bombs For Hitler
Scholastic, Feb 2012

Stolen Child
Scholastic, 2010

One Step At A Time: A Vietnamese Child Finds Her Way. Pajama Press, September 2012.

Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue from War. Pajama Press, Nov 2011

Prisoners in the Promised Land: The Ukrainian Internment Diary of Anya Soloniuk (Dear Canada)
Scholastic, 2007

Picture books and illustrated chapter books

Adrift At Sea
Pajama Press
2016

When Mama Goes to Work
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013
illustrated by Jessica Phillips

The Best Gifts
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2013 (1st ed 1998)
illustrated by Elly MacKay

Call Me Aram
Fitzhenry & Whiteside , 2009
Muriel Wood, illlustrator

Aram's Choice
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006
Muriel Wood, illlustrator

Silver Threads
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2004 (1st ed Penguin 1996)
Michael Martchenko, illustrator

Enough
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2000
Michael Martchenko, illustrator

YA

Dance of the Banished,
Pajama Press, August 2014

Daughter of War
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2008

Nobody's Child
Dundurn, 2003

Hope's War
Dundurn, 2001

The Hunger
Dundurn, 1999

Kobzar's Children: A Century of Untold Ukrainian Stories
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006
Awards
Abridged due to length:

Career Excellence Award 2019, Brantford Writers’ Circle

Too Young to Escape:
Winner: Yellow Cedar Award 2020
Winner: Red Cedar Information Book Award 2020
Kids' Forest Committee Silver Birch selection 2019
2019-2020 Hackmatack Award nominee.
2019 Information Book Award nominee, Children’s Literature Roundtables of Canada
2019 ILA Notable Book for a Global Society
2019 USSBY Outstanding International Book
Honorable Mention, Freeman Award 2018
CBC Best Book for Kids, 2018.
Starred Review, Quill & Quire, Nov 2018
Junior Library Guild Selection, 2018

Don’t Tell the Enemy
2019 Geoffrey Bilson nominee
2020 MYRCA Northern Lights nominee
Red Maple Fiction shortlist, 2019
Starred review, CCBC Best Books for Kids, 2018
Kids’ Forest Committee Summer Reading Selection

Making Bombs for Hitler,
Winner: Iowa Teen Award, 2018-2019, Grades 6-9
Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice WINNER, 2014
Silver Birch fiction WINNER, 2013
Starred Selection, CCBC Best Books for Kids, 2012
OLA Best Bet, top ten middle grade for 2012
Resource Links Best Book for 2012
Starred selection: ABC CLIO

Adrift At Sea:
Golden Oak Award WINNER, 2018
2017 Cybils Finalist for MG non-fiction.
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice nominee, 2019
Selected for Pope Francis exhibit, Bologna Italy, 2018
2017 Canadian Children’s Literature Roundtables Information Book Award, Honour Book
2017 Red Cedar Information Book Award nominee
Resource Links Best Book for 2016
Starred selection: ABC CLIO
Starred selection: CCBC Best Books for Kids, 2017
New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council’s Hot Titles selection, 2016
School Library Journal “Collaborating on High-Interest Topics | The Refugee Experience” selection, 2018
The Booklist Reader “The Refugee Experience for Children and Young Adults” selection, 2018

Dance of the Banished
2015 Geoffrey Bilson Winner
Junior Library Guild Selection

One Step at a Time
Silver Birch non fiction winner, 2014
Other Memberships
The Writers' Union of Canada
SCBWI
Authors' Booking Service
CCBC
 

Member photo albums (1 Album)

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