A heartbreaking and inspirational story of one child's fierce determination to uncover her past against incredible odds

Marsha Skrypuch’s Making Bombs for Hitler tells the story of Lida, who is abducted from Reichskommissariat, Ukraine in 1943 and forced to work for the Nazis in Germany as an Eastern Worker, or Ostarbeiter. The Ostarbeiters are subcontracted as slave labourers for both private industry and the military. They receive nominal payment, but heavy deductions are made for the starvation diet they are given and the prison-like accommodations in which they are forced to live.

Based on the true stories of surviving Ukrainian Ostarbeiters, it has only been in the last few decades that Ostarbeiters have felt comfortable enough to share their wartime experiences, as they initially feared extradition to the Soviet Union and imprisonment there after the war.

Praise for Marsha Skrypuch’s Stolen Child:

Shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Choice 2011 Diamond Willow Award
An Ontario Library Association’s (OLA) 2010 Best Bets for Children selection
Shortlisted for the 2011 CLA Book of the Year for Children Award
A Resource Links’s 2010 Year's Best selection
Shortlisted for the 2011 OLA Golden Oak Award
A finalist for the 2011 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award

“Skrypuch succeeds in making some of the more horrific and lesser-known events of the Second World War accessible and engaging for younger readers … historical vivacity, coupled with endnotes on the facts behind the story” —Quill & Quire

Genre/Category: Middle grade fiction
Setting: Europe
Period: World War II
Publication date: Spring 2012

Canadian (English, French) rights, Scholastic Canada
US (French) rights, Scholastic Canada

For all other rights contact The Cooke Agency.

Marsha Skrypuch’s books have been nominated for many awards, including ALA Best Book for Teens 2009, CLA Children’s Book of the Year 2006, OLA Best Bets, and many provincial readers’ choice awards including Red Maple, Silver Birch and White Pine. In 2008 she was bestowed with the Order of Princess Olha by President Yushchenko of Ukraine for her writings about the Holodomor (Ukrainian Famine). She lives in Brantford, Ontario. Marsha Skrypuch’s website can be found at www.calla.com