Aram's Choice (New Beginnings) by Marsha Skrypuch Date of Publication: 2006 ISBN: 155041352X Number of Pages: 72

REQUIRED READING ABILITY:
GENRES:Historical Fiction/Adventure
THEMES: Sacrifice and Redemption – Family - Prejudice - Coming of Age - Isolation

SUMMARY:
Aram is like all the boys exiled in Greece in 1923, though he is luckier than some. At least he still has a family member, his beloved grandmother, with whom he escaped from the Turks. Once he and his grandmother made it safely to Greece, she put him in an orphanage because it was the only way she knew he would have food. Now he is the one who sneaks her scraps from the orphanage table.

One day Aram learns that he will be one of fifty boys who will start a new life in a country called Canada. He knows nothing about this strange place, except that there is snow, lots to eat, and no war. He doesn't want to go and be separated from his grandmother, but she insists. When Aram hears that the trees in Canada are covered in gold, he decides he will go, because he'll be able to pluck that gold and buy a ticket for his grandmother to join him. First, however, he must get there.

Traveling by skiff and cargo boat and train, steamship and electric railway, Aram embarks on a journey that challenges his ideas about home, family and friendships.

WHO WOULD LOVE THIS BOOK? A kid who...
- has newly arrived in Canada or is feeling like a "new kid"
- likes stories based on true events
- likes stories about people from other cultures and the way they lived
- is interested in Canadian history
- needs to overcome fears and self-doubt
- is Greek or Armenian
- likes or needs stories told with pictures

WHAT ELSE?
This is another of the New Beginnings series, geared to transitional readers in the junior grades, and focused on the experiences of immigrants to Canada (in this case Armenian boys who survived the Armenian Genocide by the Turks and were removed from Greece to Canada in the 1920's.) It's nominated for a Silver Birch Express Award in 2006.

Aram mentions the fate of his parents in the book, but in such general terms that most children will understand but not be traumatized by it. The book was a culmination of years of interviews and research about this event, and is based on real accounts. There is a glossary at the back, as well as additional information about the Georgetown Boys, as the refugees were called.

RELATED LINK: Information about it and its author, Marsha Skrypuch, can be found at www.calla.com/aram.html .