Enough - Hardcover

Skrypuch, Marsha Forchuk

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1550415093 ISBN 13: 9781550415094

Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd, 2000

Synopsis

This heart-warming Ukrainian folktale, set during the Great Famine of the 1930s, tells of a young girl's attempts to save her village from starvation.
When soldiers take the village's wheat, Marusia hides just enough to survive. She and her father share with the other villagers over the winter, then plant the few remaining grains in the spring. A gigantic stalk of magical wheat grows attracting the attention of an equally large and magical stork. The stork flies with Marusia on a magical journey to the prairies, where farmers give Marusia enough wheat for her village.
Word of the magical journey reaches a greedy officer, who tricks the stork into retracing the magical journey. But the officer does not understand the meaning of "enough" and his greed leads to his doom. Back in the village, Marusia and her father know they must devise a clever plan to protect their wheat from other greedy soldiers . . . and perhaps from the dictator himself!

About this title

About the Author

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the author of many books for children and young adults, including Call Me Aram, Aram's Choice, Silver Threads, Enough, The Hunger, and Hope's War. Her novel about the Armenian genocide, Nobody's Child, was nominated for the Red Maple Award, the Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award, and the B.C. Stellar Award; it was also listed by Resource Links as a "Best Book." An English scholar and former librarian, Marsha lives in Brantford, Ontario, with her husband and son.

Although Micheal Martchenko began his career as a commercial artist, he was later approached by Robert Munsch and Annick Press representatives to consider a career in children's book illustrating after they saw his work at a graphic arts exhibition. His first Munsch book was 1980's The Paper Bag Princess after his six-year-old daughter read the story; he is now the go-to illustrator for Munsch books. It was not until 1990 that he first authored and illustrated his own book, Birdfeeder Banquet. His second self-authored and illustrated book, Ma, I?m a Farmer, was published in 2003.

Aside from his passion for illustrating children's books, Martchenko also has an interest in aviation and military art and history.

From the Inside Flap

This heartwarming Ukrainian folktale, set during the Famine of the 1920s, tells of a young girl's attempts to save her village from starvation. Marusia's ingenuity gives her the opportunity to go on a magical journey to the North American Prairies to find more food for her village.

Generosity triumphs over greed in this spiritedUkrainian folktale.

Reviews

K-Gr 3-Marusia and her father barely survive on what they grow on their little farm in Zhitya, so, when the Dictator's soldiers claim all of their crops, the family is destitute. Luckily, resourceful Marusia has hidden a bag of grain and feeds her father and friends a thin porridge throughout the winter. When they plant the last of the wheat, one magical stalk attracts a stork that takes the child across the ocean where fellow Ukrainians give her some grain. After she plants it, soldiers take this harvest, and an officer steals seeds from the magic stalk. In the end, his greed gets the best of him. Marusia is then able to come up with a plan to foil the Dictator and assure a peaceful life in Zhitya. As appealing and universal as the theme is, the book is flawed by gaps in its internal logic. When Marusia arrives in "a new world," the expatriates say, "Times are hard, but we are happy to share," but the illustrations show them surrounded by piles of grain. When the stork approaches the officer, the man remembers what happened to Marusia-but how would he know? Martchenko's pastoral illustrations are lovely, but the faces of the characters are cartoonlike and don't suit the mood of the story. Marusia sometimes looks like a distant cousin to Tintin, and this spunky heroine deserves better.-Jeanne Clancy Watkins, Chester County Library, Exton, PA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

This wordy fairy tale by the creators of Silver Threads is rooted in history; according to an introductory note, the setting is "during the Famine instigated by Stalin in 1930's Ukraine." But the volume suffers from the tall-tale quality of the narrative and the exaggerated characterizations. After one of "the Dictator's soldiers" appears on the farm where Marusia lives with her father, he announces, "Your wheat and your farm now belong to the People." He and his compatriots confiscate the crops of every farmer in the village. But Marusia hides one sack of grain that keeps them all alive during the hard winter, and plants seeds from which a magic stalk grows, attracting a large stork. The bird carries her on its back to a land of plenty so she can restock her village's supplies. In a predictable turn of events, another of the Dictator's soldiers makes a similar journey on the stork's back, but hordes so much grain that he and his sacks tumble off into the ocean. Unfortunately, the prose is often overblown when coupled with the oafish characters depicted (e.g., it is "the Dictator's wish that this land be filled with graves"). The villainsAand even the victimized UkrainiansAappear as caricatures in the artwork, which does little to vitalize this heavy-handed narrative. Ages 6-8. (Apr.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Marusia lived with her father on their farm near the village of Zhitya.

Because their farm was small, even in the best years they had barely enough food to survive.

Then one harvest, the crop was very good.

Marusia and her tato planned a party as they gathered their wheat. But just as they were finishing, a soldier arrived. "We have the Dictator now," he said, "so your wheat and your farm now belong to the People."

We are the People'" said Marusia. "And this wheat is enough to feed the two of us all this winder and maybe the next."

"We'll see about that," said the solder.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1550415093
• ISBN 13: 9781550415094
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Martchenko Michael
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32