Silver Threads [Hardcover]

 

 

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Recipient of an Ontario Library Association Best Bet and nominated for the Amelia Frances-Howard Gibbon Award, Silver Threads is a classic fable about the power of love. Ukrainian-Canadian award-winning author Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, once again, collaborates with Ukrainian-Canadian award-winning illustrator Michael Martchenko, resulting in a picture book sure to be treasured (for their previous collaboration, please see my review of Enough).

Silver Threads is complemented throughout by artistic, vibrantly colored, large illustrations depicting a Ukrainian couple from the Bukovyna region of Ukraine who immigrate to the Canadian frontier. Michael Martchenko, an illustrator of over fifty books for children, was awarded the Ruth Schwartz Award for Children's Book Illustration for Thomas' Snowsuit. The front and back large water color illustrations by Martchenko are only the icing on the cake. His illustrations enhance pages, are sometimes panoramic spanning two pages, and many times are full-page works of art. They very much enhance the story and give it a face, as children and adults get to enjoy both the illustrations and the story simultaneously.

Ms. Skrypuch's passion has always been writing stories which capture real life experiences that have been lost or suppressed--In Silver Threads, she continues that fine tradition by drawing on the experiences of her grandparents, George and Anna Forchuk, who were the inspiration for this book.

The story begins in the Bukovyna region of Ukraine. A young Ukrainian couple, Ivan and his wife, Anna, escape the hardships in Ukraine by immigrating to Canada, "a land of milk and honey." A sign posted in their Ukrainian village states that 160 acres of land are available in Canada for anyone who will homestead them. They decide to make the ocean journey to Canada's shores, and from there travel for several days by train. But, before they leave, they sprinkle, for the last time, breadcrumbs in front of the spider web which is in a corner of their house. As he does this, Ivan tells his spider "Little spider, this will be the last time I feed you, but now we will need your good luck more than ever."

Ivan and Anna remove one pane of glass from a window and take the hinges from the door--they take these to Canada. When they arrive, they build a one-room house on the Canadian frontier. The pane of glass serves as their one window; the hinges are used to open and close their new door. And, as in Ukraine, a tiny black spider nestles in a corner, "spinning its threads of silver"; and, as in Ukraine, Ivan sprinkles a few breadcrumbs in front of the spider's web.

One day, Ivan and Anna learn that Canada has gone to war--World War I has begun. Their last night together, before Ivan leaves for the warfront, is Sviat Vechir--Christmas Eve.

For the Christmas Eve Supper, called Sviata Vecheria (Holy Supper), Anna prepares the traditional twelve (symbolic of the apostles) meatless, milkless (due to fasting until Christmas) dishes, and places a kolach (Christmas bread) in the center of the table. The bread is braided into a ring--three rings are placed one on top of the other, with a candle in the center of the top one. The three rings symbolize the Holy Trinity, and the circular form represents Eternity.

A didukh (a sheaf of wheat stalks, which means grandfather; grandsire) is placed in the corner of the room. In Ukraine, the didukh is a very important Christmas tradition since the stalks of grain "symbolize all the ancestors of the family, and it is believed that their spirits reside in it during the holidays." (The illustrations by Martchenko are a wonderful accompaniment to this story.)

Before long, things take a sinister turn. Learn the ensuing story of Ivan, Anna, and their spider. And, learn how the silver threads play a pivotal part in their story.

As an aside, I'll share the legend of the Ukrainian Christmas spider web, which goes like this: A poor family couldn't afford a decorated Christmas tree, so the mother hung a few nuts and fruits on the small tree outside their door to cheer up her children. On Christmas Eve, in answer to her prayers, the spiders spun their webs all over the tree. At sunrise, as the sunrays caught the dew on the spider webs, they glittered and sparkled, turning the webs into silver and gold. And, to this day, the legend is remembered annually when spider web ornaments adorn Ukrainian Christmas trees.

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (member, Canadian Society of Children's Authors, Illustrators and Performers) has been a keynote speaker; a panelist; a Writer in Residence at St. John's Kilmarnock School, 2004-5; taught at the Maritime Writers' Workshop in July 2003; and, has been nominated for numerous awards, including: in 2006, BC Stellar Award nomination for Nobody's Child; in 2004, Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award nomination for Hope's War; in 2002, Nominated for the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize for her body of work and mentorship of other writers; in 2006, named Canadian Ukrainian Woman of Influence by the World Congress of Ukrainian Women's Organizations; and, in 2001, recipient of Resource Links `Best of the Best 2001' in picture book category for `Enough.'

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is also editor of `Kobzar's Children: A Century of Untold Ukrainian Stories (`Kobzar's Children')' and contributor of two of its stories. Please see my review of that book, as well as my review of Ms. Skrypuch's other fine children's book, Enough.

The publication of Silver Threads was sponsored by the Canada Council through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP), and the Ontario Arts Council; the project has been funded, in part, by the Government of Canada through BPIDP, and the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko. Originally published in Canada by Viking, Toronto, 1996 and Penguin Books Canada, 1996, this edition was published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside in 2004 in both Canada and in the United States.

The last page of the book lists additional resources: Online links: Teacher's Guide to Silver Threads, and information on Ukrainian internment during World War I; and, a book: In Fear of the Barbed Wire Fence: Canada's First National Internment Operations and the Ukrainian Canadians, 1914-1920 by Lubomyr Y. Luciuk and Ron Sorobey, translated by Marco Carynnyk and Marta Carynnyk.

Albeit a folk fable about the power of love, the subject matter, nonetheless, concerns a true chapter from the pages of Canada's history. Silver Threads introduces the child very aptly to "an all-but-forgotten indignity in Canadian history." At the end of the story is a page entitled, Historical Note, which narrates the real-life occurrence from those pages.

Canadian school children should learn of the over twenty internment camps that were set up across Canada during World War I. "Thousands of innocent Ukrainians (up to 5,000) and other Europeans were imprisoned as `enemy aliens.' These were men, women and children who had done no wrong, but were hated because of where they had come from. They were forced to do heavy labor, and their personal belongings were taken." It wasn't until two years after World War I ended that the government of Canada shut down these internment camps. The author's grandfather, George Forchuk, was interned at Jasper in 1914--and, together with his wife, Anna, he was an inspiration for this story.

Update: August 12, 1995, a plaque and monument were unveiled at Castle Mountain Internment Camp; and on June 1, 1996, Parks Canada placed three trilingual plaques at Cave & Basin, Banff National Park. On October 12, 1996, a plaque and monument were unveiled at Jasper National Park. Photos and more information are available on the website of InfoUkes.

Heartily recommended for all--not just children, and not just Canadians--a hearty five stars plus for Silver Threads--it's a wonderfully told story with beautiful illustrations, and a fine addition to every library.

Addendum: Readers, you're invited to visit each of my reviews--most of them have photos that I took in Ukraine (over 600)--you'll learn lots about Ukraine and Ukrainians, the country from which the characters in Silver Threads emigrated. Many more photos and reviews are posted on Amazon.com. The image gallery shows smaller photos, which are out of sequence. The preferable way is to see each review through my profile page since photos that are germane to that particular book/CD/DVD are posted there with notes and are in sequential order.

To visit my reviews: click on my pseudonym, Mandrivnyk, to get to my profile page; click on the tab called review; scroll to the bottom of the section, and click on see all reviews; click on each title, and on the left-hand side, click on see all images. The thumbnail images at the top of the page show whether photos have notes; roll your mouse over the image to find notes posted.

Marsha Skrypuch weaves a wonderful tale combining history, tradition and folklore. A sprinkling of crumbs in front of a spider's web is the reoccuring theme tying this beautiful story together. Skrypuch reveals a darker side of Canadian history in a way suitable for young audiences, but powerful enough to give them food for thought. I choked back tears reading it and my 8-year-old commented, "Did this really happen?"

Ms. Skrypuch was written a touching tale about a little-known chapter in Canadian history. The internment of thousands of Ukrainians during the First World War is a sad legacy of Canada's war effort, yet Silver Threads belies no bitterness ... just hope. I've been reading it to my four-year daughter.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful account of a little known injustice
This is a powerful tale, fictional yet true, the account of a young Ukrainian immigrant couple trying to find a better life for themselves as homesteaders in western Canada, only... Read more

Published on Nov 11 2004

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