Marie's Magic Eggs - by Sandra Neil Wallace (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

★ Publishers Weekly, starred review
★ Kirkus Reviews, starred review
★ Foreword Reviews, starred review
★ Booklist, starred review
★ The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

Here is the inspiring story of the woman who kept alive the Ukrainian art of pysanky Easter eggs and brought it to America.

Award-winning creators Sandra Neil Wallace and Evan Turk team up for a richly illustrated picture book biography for kids ages 7-10 who love arts and crafts.

As a new immigrant to America, Marie Procai felt homesick and alone--she missed her homeland, Ukraine. She took comfort in the ancient Ukrainian art of making pysanky, intricately decorated eggs for Easter, an art she learned from her grandmother and brought with her to America. Cradling the pysanka in her hands felt like holding a piece of her homeland and giving her Baba a hug.

Making pysanky made Marie feel a little more hopeful when the Russia's Red Army invaded Ukraine and forbade anyone from speaking Ukrainian or practicing their traditions, pysanky included. It sustained her spirit when her son was off fighting in World War II, and again when she welcomed Ukrainian refugees into her home after the war. A hardworking entrepreneur, Marie founded the Ukrainian Gift Shop in Minneapolis to keep Ukrainian culture alive in America and share it with everyone.

The legend goes that as long as pysanky are decorated, there will be good in the world. Ukrainian-heritage author Sandra Neil Wallace and award-winning illustrator Evan Turk share this hopeful story of the woman who fought to preserve an essential part of Ukrainian culture.

Review Quotes

★"An immigrant preserves, then elevates, a fragile, centuries-old art. Baba teaches Marie to craft Easter 'pysanky--beautiful, decorated eggs--in the same way Ukrainians had done since ancient times.' Grandmother and grandchild labor over homemade dyes and fresh chicken eggs, painstakingly etching with beeswax the intricate and symbolic designs. Each pysanka is 'a story, a wish, a prayer, a gift, ' 'for the legend goes that as long as pysanky are decorated, there will be good in the world.'... Extensive backmatter includes a note on Wallace's Ukrainian heritage and the real-life Marie Sokol Procai, and cultural respect rings through thoughtful elements including complex embroidered fabrics and recurring motifs like wheat and sunflowers. A proud and meticulously wrought ethnography."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "This heartfelt biographical picture book exemplifies art as a form of resistance. The life of Marie Procai--a Ukrainian immigrant, renowned folk artist, mother, and cornerstone of Ukrainian cultural heritage--is detailed in intricate illustrations reminiscent of the patterns and techniques of pysanky, the traditional Ukrainian art of decorating eggs that Marie preserved and revitalized. Brilliant yellows and blues nod to the Ukrainian flag, and sunflowers symbolize hope and resistance. The mesmerizing illustrations will reveal a new surprise with every read."--Foreword Reviews, starred review

★"Turk's stylized illustrations, with vibrant colors and intricate patterns, showcase typical pysanka designs and other Ukrainian traditions. Scenes with Procai in action with her special pysanka tools also help readers understand how these Easter eggs are created. Extensive back matter, including numerous period photos, offers more information on Procai's resilience and entrepreneurship, how to make pysanky, and the pysanka legend. A gorgeous tribute to this unique art form and its North American promoter."--Booklist, starred review

★ "In this moving picture book, Wallace and Turk limn the life story of artist and entrepreneur Marie Procai (1897-1994), focusing on her devotion to her culture's credo that 'as long as pysanky are decorated, there will be good in the world.'... Melodic prose foregrounds Procai's tender relationship with her grandmother, love of her native land, and successful endeavors in globally promoting pysanky and other crafts. Grounded in Ukraine's national colors of yellow and blue, gouache, colored pencil, and resist illustrations are boldly patterned and bright, teaming with the rich narrative to create an immersive tribute to a figure and a traditional art form."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "Author Sandra Neil Wallace and illustrator Evan Turk offer a strikingly designed picture book biography that pays homage to both the distinct style and subversive spirit that Marie brought to her work as she held fast to a heritage under threat... a fitting tribute to a woman who made it her life's work to preserve a cultural art form...a timely, accessible piece of nonfiction."--Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

About the Author

An investigative journalist of Ukrainian heritage, Sandra Neil Wallace is the author of almost a dozen books for children, some co-written with her husband Rich Wallace. Her titles include Race Against Time, winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award; Marjory Saves the Everglades, winner of the FLA Children's Book Award; and The Teachers March, an Orbus Pictus Honor book.

Evan Turk is an award-winning author, illustrator, and fine artist. His titles include Muddy by Michael Mahin, which was a New York Times Best illustrated book; The People's Painter by Cynthia Levinson, which won the Robert F. Sibert Medal; and, most recently, To See Clearly, which received 3 starred reviews.