Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch (author of Making Bombs for Hitler) crafts a story of ultimate compassion and sacrifice based on true events during WWII. The year is 1941. Krystia lives in a small Ukrainian village under the cruel -- sometimes violent -- occupation of the Soviets. So when the Nazis march into town to liberate them, many of Krystia's neighbors welcome the troops with celebrations, hoping for a better life. But conditions don't improve as expected. Krystia's friend Dolik and the other Jewish people in town warn that their new occupiers may only bring darker days. The worst begins to happen when the Nazis blame the Jews for murders they didn't commit. As the Nazis force Jews into a ghetto, Krystia does what she can to help Dolik and his family. But what they really need is a place to hide. Faced with unimaginable tyranny and cruelty, will Krystia risk everything to protect her friends and neighbors?

Sisters Krystia and Maria have been through the worst -- or so they think. World War II ravaged their native Ukraine, but they both survived, and are now reunited in a displaced persons camp. Then another girl accuses the sisters of being Hitler Girls -- people who collaborated with the Nazis. Nothing could be further from the truth; during the horrors of the war, both sisters resisted the Nazis and everything they stood for. But the Soviets, who are now in charge, don't listen to the sisters' protests. Krystia and Maria are taken away and interrogated for crimes they never committed. Caught in a dangerous trap, the sisters must look to each other for strength and perseverance. Can they convince their captors that they're innocent -- or escape to safety before it's too late?

From the acclaimed author of Making Bombs for Hitler, a gripping and accessible story of kids fighting to survive the Great Famine in Soviet Ukraine. It's 1930, and Nyl and his younger brother have lived their whole lives on their family farm in Kharkiv, Ukraine. But now, it won't be their family's anymore, because the Soviets are forcibly collectivizing and taking over the land. On top of bad harvests and a harsh winter, conditions continue to get worse until it becomes clear the lack of food is not just chance... but a murderous plan leading all the way to Stalin. Nyl and his neighbors try to steal back grain from the authorities, but the Soviets seem intent on slowly destroying the village. Can Nyl help save his community from starvation, or will he have to leave his home forever? Known as the Holodomor, Ukraine's Great Famine in the 1930s was deliberately caused by Stalin and the Soviets in order to oppress and erase the Ukrainian people and culture. Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch brings this historical world to life in a story about unity, perseverance, and the irrepressible hunger to survive.

Despite their political differences Nyl, a young Ukrainian farmer, and Alice, a Canadian girl whose father has come to the Soviet Union, struggle to survive the famine-genocide known as the Holodomor, when the forced collectivization of the Ukrainian farms and hard winters led to mass starvation and death.