![]() As an older child of 8 with a leg weakened by polio, Tuyet is convinced she’s been brought only to help care for the younger children as long as she remains useful, perhaps she will not be sent back to the orphanage. She is one of 57 children on what will turn out to be the last Canadian airlift operation to save orphans from a war-torn Saigon on the verge of collapse. ![]() On April 11, 1975, Tuyet is frantically packed into the back of a van with babies and toddlers strapped into makeshift boxes headed to the airport. Her only memory of “outside” are occasional visits of a woman with a young boy, who may or may not have been her mother and brother. Tuyet can’t remember life before she came to live in the Saigon orphanage with all the children, babies, and nuns. Airlift is Skrypuch’s first narrative nonfiction, the true story of Son Thi Anh Tuyet and her last days in her native Vietnam and her first days with her Canadian family. She’s best known for her historical novels for younger readers about what must be one of the most difficult subjects ever – children and war. Her latest, which debuted far north last fall, hits U.S. Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is one of those mega-award-winning Canadian authors (with more than a dozen titles) who hasn’t crossed over our shared border (just yet!) with the same success. ![]()
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