Threads Zlata's Ukrainian Shirt by Lina Maslo

 "Red is for love, and black is for sadness ... Life has good times and hard times. Even though the Communists are making life difficult, we still have each other."

"Blue is for healing. Green for renewal. And gold - for the hope that one day, the wheat fields will again touch the sky."

Zlata is given a beautiful shirt for her birthday. Her mother has carefully stitched red flowers and black leaves - "Life has good times and hard times." The year is 1932 and just a few days after her birthday the Russian Communists arrive. They take everything of value from her home and then their neighbors betray them and the solders come back and take their hidden food, tiny amount of money and Zlata's father. Her father is gone, her beautiful new shirt is gone and Zlata and her mother are barely surviving. This is the time in history 1932-1933 called the Holodomor (famine-genocide here is some background reading for teachers).

Zlata has a good friend named Yeva but it was her father who betrayed Zlata and her parents. It is Yeva's fault her Papa has been taken away. Their friendship is over. But then the soldiers take everything from Yeva and her family and her father is also taken away. The way the friendship of these two young girls is able to be healed will warm your heart. In a familiar story trope this healing coincides with the arrival of spring. Sadly though, we do not discover the fate of her father.

You can see pages from this book on the author webpage. 

Threads: Zlata's Ukrainian Shirt is a very important book for a few reasons:

Children here in Australia will have been hearing about the war in Ukraine for over a year now. This book is a way to introduce older students to (a) the history of other dreadful conflicts in Ukraine and (b) to show the beauty of their culture via, in this case, exquisitely embroidered shirts. This is a picture book I would share with students aged 10+ because it deals with complex topics of betrayal (blood money), persecution, war, famine, injustice, starvation, communism, and fear. 

A poignant yet accessible entry into Ukraine’s ongoing suffering—and survival. Kirkus Star review

Publisher blurb:  The threads on Zlata's beautiful birthday blouse were stitched by her mother. “Red is for love, and black is for sadness,” her papa says. Mama warns her not to show it off. Ever since the Communists came from Russia to Ukraine, they prohibited the teaching of Ukrainian culture. Now, in the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of the 1930s, they've even taken the grain from Zlata's family's fields. But despite the danger, her parents refuse to give up their art, language, and beliefs. As Zlata works to help her community survive, she finds that the dream of freedom is stitched deeper into the Ukrainian spirit than she could ever imagine. Drawing from her grandparents' experience of the Famine-Genocide, Maslo weaves a thoughtful story that dares us not to forget the pain of the past as it informs the present conflict in Ukraine and inspires hope for the future.

Last week, the 15th May, was the third Thursday in May. Today a new parcel of books arrived and one of them was this one Threads: Zlata's Ukrainian Shirt and that is where I read about the Vyshuvanka which is the special embroidered shirt you can see on the cover of this book. This means I have missed Vyshyvanka Day (by just one week) but I am so happy to have found this book. Next year, 2026, the date will be 21st May. 

Vyshyvanka Day is an international celebration dedicated to the traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt. Its purpose is to preserve and promote the age-old traditions of folk art and national clothing. While it's not a public holiday, that doesn’t stop people from joyfully supporting the tradition — by wearing a vyshyvanka to work, school, at home, or at public events.

• In 2015, the holiday gained official international recognition, and vyshyvankas were worn in over 50 countries.
• In 2017, a massive banner with vyshyvanka patterns was unfurled on the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
• Between 2020–2022, Ukrainian diplomats wearing vyshyvankas posed for photos in the capitals of countries with Ukrainian embassies.
• The largest vyshyvanka in the world was created in Rivne, Ukraine, in 2011 — it measured 54 square meters.
• In 2023, vyshyvankas were even placed on statues in Central Park, New York
• In 2021, Ukrainian airline SkyUp released a crew capsule collection inspired by vyshyvankas.
• In 2015, Google featured a special vyshyvanka-themed Doodle on its homepage for Ukrainian users.
• 
  

Image source: Google Doodle

Over 250 distinct embroidery stitches can be used to form the vyshyvanka’s signature coded symbols. These typically fall into three categories: floral ornamentation, zoomorphic figures, and geometric shapes, all of which can be found in today’s Doodle artwork. No pattern comes without a detailed meaning, and Ukraine’s varied cultures and natural landscapes are reflected in the unique iconography employed within each region. (This video goes into more detail about the embroidery patterns)

The patterns vary across the country as you can see on this map:

Here are two other books by Lina Maslo:

Read more here

I have previously talked about these books by Ukrainian authors and illustrators. I also love the art of Hans Christian Andersen illustrator Kost Lavro (I do hope he is safe and has perhaps been able to leave Ukraine). And don't forget to look for versions of the folktale The Mitten. 

Stars and Poppy Seeds

Alias Anna (verse novel)

The Blackbird Girls

Brother's Keeper Julie Lee

"Let me give you some advice. You won't have much of a future as an orphan girl. Your only saving grace is your brother; at least he is a son who can carry on your family name and support you once he has grown. Take care to of him; put his needs before your own. That's how you survive in this world."

War arrives in North Korea. Sora Pak, her father Abahji and mother Omahni, baby brother Jisoo and younger brother Youngsoo live in fear of punishment or banishment by the communist regime. There are informers everywhere. The family have hidden their precious bible and they only speak against the authorities with their closest friends the Kim family. Mr and Mrs Kim tell Sora's parents they are planning to leave and take their son Myung-gai and daughter Yoomee and head to South Korea to the town of Busan.  At first the Pak family think this will be too dangerous they even try to hide Abahji in a hole in their field but then things escalate and they now have to flee. 

Sora is told to look after her brother Youngsoo. Her mother says - he is your responsibility. Sora has no idea how these words will impact her life. The family are separated early in the journey and Sora is left with just her brother and a 300 mile destination. The journey is arduous and treacherous; the siblings have no food, and survive mainly by finding kimchi hidden in abandoned farmhouses  But Sora is a very intelligent girl and she is a survivor. 

Sora must get herself and her eight-year-old brother, Youngsoo, to South Korea alone--across rivers, over mountains, around enemy soldiers and border guards, and even through Pyongyang itself, all while staving off frostbite and starvation. Can two children survive three hundred miles of war zone in winter? Julie Lee

Since this is loosely based on her own mother's experience, the notes and photographs about this make this story even more powerful. There are so many good things about this book that it's hard to list them all. Even the cover is excellent! Ms Yingling

A journey of wartime survival parallels the strength Sora needs to fight for her own dreams. Kirkus Star review

Anyone labouring under the delusion that historical fiction is dull will be disabused of that notion after reading this book.  There is plenty of action and suspense.  Sora is a fascinating protagonist: she’s smart and dreams of a future as a teacher or writer, yet still wants her parents’ approval and tries to be a good daughter (which means giving up school to take care of her brothers). Kids Book a Day

This book is for mature readers aged 11+ and I do need to warn you (spoiler alert) the ending is not a fairy tale. The words "and they all lived happily ever after" do not apply to this book. This is a long book 300 pages but I was totally engrossed in the story and desperate for the two children to survive. The scene when they finally climb on board a train is quite harrowing and may distress some readers. Sora takes such good care of her brother and so the scolding she receives from her mother when they do arrive in Busan is utterly dreadful. 

Awards:

• 2020 Freeman Book Award Winner 
• 2021 International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Award Winner
• 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist
• 2021 ALA Notable Children's Book
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• 2021 ALA Rise Selection
• 2021 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year - with Outstanding Merit
• Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2020

We meet Myung-gai Kim in the first book and his story continues in the sequel or companion book which will be published this year:

Bookseller blurb: Trapped in an enemy tunnel, a young refugee experiences the Korean War firsthand in this searing story of survival, loss, and hope, a companion to the Freeman Award-winning novel Brother's Keeper. Myung-gi knows war is coming: War between North and South Korea. Life in communist North Korea has become more and more unbearable--there is no freedom of speech, movement, association, or thought--and his parents have been carefully planning the family's escape. But when his father is abducted by the secret police, all those plans fall apart. How can Myung-gi leave North Korea without his dad? Especially when he believes that the abduction was his fault? Set during a cataclysmic war which shaped the world we know today, this is the story of one boy's coming-of-age during a time when inhumanity, lawlessness, and terror reigned supreme. With only each other, Myung-gi, his mother, and his twelve-year-old sister Yoomee do everything they can to protect one another. But gentle, quiet, bookish Myung-gi has plans to find his father at any cost--even if it means joining the army and being sent to the front lines, where his deepest fears await him.

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Running on the Roof of the World

We are Wolves