Hope's War- Blog Assignment #1

About the Author

I am currently in the middle of the book “Hope’s War” by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. Including this book, so far, she has published a total of eleven books, written from 1996-2009. Many of her books, including “Hopes War,” are based around, and take place during, or shortly after World War I and II. Her books have been nominated for many awards.

Interesting Fact: She also lives in Brantford!

Story Plot Line

Kat is starting new again, in her grade 10 year at Cawthra School for the Arts, after her less than successful past year at the local Catholic highschool. Art has always been her strongest and favourite subject and she’s excited to be around like minded people at her new school, where she reaches out to a fellow classmate, Ian.

One day after school she comes home to find the RCMP questioning her grandfather, Danylo. She later discovers that he is has been accused of being a policeman for the Nazis in World War II Ukraine. This is as far as I have read so far.

Time, Place & Atmosphere

This story takes place about 40 years after World War II. I know this because Kat is curious why her grandfather is being bothered about incidents that happened 40 years ago while he was in the war. The story takes place in both Canada and Ukraine. More specifically, so far, most of the story has been held in a small neighbourhood, where Kat lives and goes to school. At the beginning of the story it was kind of a “homey” atmosphere. The characters had a very normal everyday lifestyle; however, further into the story the atmosphere becomes a bit tenser. When Kat finds a letter meant for her grandfather accusing him of murdering innocent civilians in the war, the reader becomes more curious and worried for the characters.

Kat in a Nut Shell

The protagonist, and also the character that I chose, is Kat. Kat is very artistic and creative and isn’t afraid to show her ideas to people. For her religion class at her old school, she created a sculpture that showed Mary as the cross that Jesus was nailed to. She must have had some idea that this would have started a controversy, but she did it to show something about herself. Kat is also very protective of her close family and friends. When she finds the letter about her grandfather in the war, she becomes very worried and tries to find out what really happened. Another example of this trait is that she’s always looking out for them, and is always trying to help. When her friend Ian needs a set backdrop painted for his concert she’s right on board with it.

Final Thoughts

Most of the books I read would be classified as fantasy, because I like reading about impossible people, doing impossible things. However, this book isn't actually based on a true story, but the events in it could actually happen to someone. I’ve only ever read one other book about war. I’ve never really liked history, so I don’t enjoy having a history lesson during silent reading period. I get easily confused on the events that are happening because I don’t have a lot of prior knowledge on World War II. Other then that, the books pretty enjoyable, but I still probably wouldn’t read another book by this author unless it was recommended to me.