Guelph Mercury (Ontario, Canada)
February 28, 2009 Saturday
Final Edition

Children

by Brenda Hoerle

SECTION: BOOKS; Pg. C5

Call Me Aram
by Marsha Skrypuch illustrated by Muriel Wood (Fitzhenry & Whiteside,
$16.95 hardcover)

War took away his parents and his homeland, but he refused to let it
steal his identity.

Aram Davidian’s Armenian name was the only possession he had left when
he and other orphans, ages eight to 12, were rescued from the Greek
island of Corfu during the Armenian Genocide in the 1920s.

Brought to Canada, they were educated and trained as farm helpers near
Georgetown, Ont. They did their best to learn a new language and adopt
Canadian customs, but refused to adopt the "Canadian" names they were
given.

This book is Brantford author Marsha Skrypuch’s sequel to Aram’s
Choice. The boys’ Armenian interpreter in the tale is a character
based on Aris Alexanian, who was also the founder of Alexanian Carpets
in Hamilton.

The book’s illustrator, Muriel Wood, lives in Port Hope, Ont.