Silver Birch Express shortlist 2007
Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice, 2007
Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children shortlist, 2007
Golden Oak nominee, 2008
Embark on this gripping adventure!
Aram is like all the boys exiled in Greece. He has survived the Armenian genocide in Turkey and now lives in an orphanage. He can never return home. One day Aram learns that he will be one of fifty boys who will start a new life in a country called Canada. What does he know of this distant land? There is snow, lots to eat, and no war. But most important of all, Aram has heard that the trees are covered in gold. All he will have to do is pluck the gold off the branches and he will have enough money to bring his grandmother out to join him. But first he must get there.
Aram is about to embark on a long adventure. Will he find a land of endless riches, or a place he can finally call home?
A great adventure story for boys
Illustrations are historically accurate
Third title in the New Beginnings series (see below)
About the Author: Marsha Skrypuch is the author of many books for children, including Silver Threads, Enough, The Hunger and Hope's War. Her novel about the Armenian genocide, Nobody's Child, was nominated for the Red Maple Award, the Alberta Rocky Mountain Book Award, the B.C. Stellar Award; and it was listed by Resource Links as a Best Book. Aram's Choice is based on the story of Kevork Kevorkian, one of the original Georgetown Boys - a group of Armenian orphans brought to Georgetown, Ontario, in 1923.
Muriel Wood is acclaimed for the accurate historical detail in her illustrations. She is the illustrator of Apples and Angel Ladders, Scared Sarah, The Olden Days Coat, Anne of Green Gables and Old Bird. Muriel lives in Port Hope, Ontario.
