Stolen Girl by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch

You may remember Stolen Girl from last year's Spring Book Fair. (It was featured on the Scholastic promotional video, and many of us really wanted to read it!) Stolen Girl is actually part of a trilogy of WWII books written by Marsha Skrypuch. When this story begins, the war is over and the main character Nadia is moving from a Displaced Persons camp in Europe to Canada. Nadia is not her real name, and Marusia and Ivan, the Ukrainian couple who are moving with her, are only pretending to be her parents. No one knows who Nadia really is, including Nadia! The trauma she endured during the war caused her to suppress her memories. As Nadia adjusts to a new country, a new language, and a new family, her memories slowly begin to come back to her, usually in the form of nightmares. But she is determined to face her past; otherwise, she realizes she will never be able to build a new future.

One thing I like about historical fiction is that it is inspired by true events. At the end of the book, the author explains some of the facts that gave her the idea for the story. For example, the Lebensborn Program was part of the Nazi's attempt to expand the Aryan race. Their method was to steal blond, blue-eyed Eastern European children who looked Aryan. This is what happened to the character Nadia.

If you like historical fiction and want to learn facts about WWII that are not typically taught in school, you need to read Stolen Girl. The book reads like a mystery, so mystery-lovers will also be happy with this title. I recommend it for 3rd-6th graders.

Mrs. N.