When Historical Fiction Meets Present-Day War: Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s Kidnapped from Ukraine Series and the Russia–Ukraine War

This essay analyzes narrative strategy and ideology in children’s historical fiction, focusing on how Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, a Ukrainian Canadian author of Anglophone historical literature, portrays the Russia–Ukraine war in the first two volumes of her Kidnapped from Ukraine series. Writing for North American readers who may be unfamiliar with the region’s complex history, Skrypuch draws on conflicting Russian and Ukrainian cultural memories of the Second World War to illustrate their ideological resonance in the present-day conflict. Through historical fiction tropes, Under Attack and Standoff explore the roles of young people – both Ukrainian and Russian – while exposing the contradictions of Russian propaganda and the enduring impact of disinformation. Drawing on the theoretical work of John Stephens and Jason Stanley, this essay argues that Skrypuch’s novels position readers to adopt a pro-Ukrainian, anti-war perspective while complicating simplistic binaries of heroism and villainy. Although Skrypuch's Ukrainian characters appear largely immune to propaganda, her Russian characters struggle to see beyond state narratives; therefore, she offers a nuanced yet ideologically charged depiction of the conflict.