Review by Booklist Review
Encouraged by her Ukrainian heritage, author Wallace learned to make Ukrainian Easter eggs, known as pysanky, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In the process, she discovered Marie Procai, who learned the art of pysanky (and how it inspires good wishes) from her own grandmother in their Ukrainian village. In this picture-book biography, readers will also discover more about Procai, as imagery-rich text describes how war and famine caused her family to flee their homeland, how 13-year-old Procai set sail alone for North America in 1911, and how, by chance, she settled in Minneapolis. After marrying a fellow Ukrainian and starting a family, Procai continued making her cherished pysanky. The arrival of WWII would lead to an influx of Ukrainian refugees and a renewed interest in pysanky, prompting Procai to open a Ukrainian gift shop that still sells this traditional art today. 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.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly 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." As a child in a Ukrainian village, Procai learns from her grandmother the Easter tradition of creating natural dyes for intricately decorating eggs to express "a story, a wish, a prayer, a gift." Arriving in the U.S. in 1911, she settles in a Ukrainian community in Minneapolis and carries on the craft, eventually introducing and teaching it to expanding audiences. 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. Extensive back matter includes an author's note. Ages 7--10. (Feb.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
This picture-book biography, illustrated with the bright yellows, reds, and blues of Ukrainian folk art, tells the life story of Marie Procai (1897-1994) and relates her role in preserving the tradition of colored eggs known as pysanky. As a young girl, Marie learns from her baba how to make dye from sunflowers and beets and to use warm beeswax to paint pictures on chicken eggs. These cozy springtime scenes are followed by a grim time of "fighting and famine," and soon thirteen-year-old Marie flees to the U.S., eventually settling in Minneapolis. Passages with short, rhythmic sentences capture her experiences getting to know her new community ("Mechanics and mill workers. Builders and bakers. All born in Ukraine like Marie") and explain how she improvised a way to continue making pysanky. Meanwhile, back in Ukraine, pysanky were being destroyed by Russian soldiers, making Procai's artistry all the more important. Procai uses her art to teach others and to deal with her sorrow, including founding a gift store that continues to this day. Wallace's tender language ("Every day, like a perfect kind of magic -- steeped in the sweet-honey scent of beeswax -- Marie created pysanky as beautiful as her baba's") and Turk's gouache, resist, and colored-pencil illustrations combine for an engaging look at a folk artist who accomplished something meaningful for her people. Back matter includes more information about Procai and pysanky as well as a bibliography. Susan Dove LemkeJanuary/February 2026 p.93 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
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." Displaced by the "fighting and famine" of World War II, Marie flees Ukraine and resettles in Minneapolis, where the vibrant immigrant community inspires her to resume her handicraft. Marie passes on the tradition to her children and theirs, expanding the imperiled folk art while supporting herself and her family. Canting shifts in perspective capture the family with aquiline features, ruddy cheeks, and golden skin that's frequently echoed in yellows throughout the detailed lines of Turk's bold illustrations. 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. Exploring the power of art to preserve vulnerable heritage, the tale offers potential cross-discipline appeal; pair it with Julie Paschkis' picture bookP. Zonka Lays an Egg (2015) and Katherine Marsh's novelThe Lost Year (2023) for rich lessons in history and holidays. A proud and meticulously wrought ethnography. (more information on pysanky, playlist, bibliography, photographs, photo credits)(Picture-book biography. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
