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Posts Tagged with war

There’s Room for Everyone – Anahita Teymorian

There’s Room for Everyone – Anahita Teymorian

Posted on September 25, 2018September 27, 2018 by melissacreate

 

From the front page it is almost as if this book is reaching out to hug you. In uncertain times this is exactly what this picture book does. It provides reassurance and hope. It is the first title in the publisher Tiny Owls ‘Hope in a Scary World’ series. Which aims to build up a collection of books which help children (and adults) who may feel frightened or worried about world events. It is written and illustrated by award winning Iranian author Anahita Teymorian.

On one level this is a simple tale about a boy who grows up with the acceptance he needs, who then notices as an adult that everyone around him is fighting for space big and small, and then reflects with some very sound advice that through kindness and acceptance we can make room for everyone.

It is supported by the most wonderful illustrations, which have been drawn by the author. For anyone who has followed me on twitter (@melissacreate15) you know how much I love children’s picture books, despite this I can honestly say I have never seen illustrations quite like this before. Each page is backed by a warm comforting colour palette, and the choice to draw people with over extended arms is really effective. As a couple of my bookish twitter friends have also said this is the kind of book you keep being drawn back to.

On another level there are multiple layers and overlapping messages.  Each reader may interpret things differently.  This book is suitable for younger children aged 5+ years, but it’s real power as a book that helps you make sense of the world and find hope may lie with older children, teenagers and adults.

It ‘s the possibility of multiple messages from this story that has made it challenging to write about this heartwarming, thoughtful and hopeful book. Below are some of my reflections on what this story means to me.

My personal RESPONSE this story

Reflecting on this story I found the piece at the back of the book in which the author explains where her ideas came from was useful. It was a response to the fighting in the world that is always on the TV and a desire to show that we can accept and make room for each other and show kindness – a desire to give a positive message as an antidote to all the uncertain things that are happening in the world.

In the first part of the story the boy is growing up, and at each stage in his development he uses an example of how there was always enough space. On another level this reflects what many parents feel when a child is born, that their house feels small and they wonder how they will make room. But, one does accommodate, adapt and find space and this space is re-negotiated as the child get’s bigger. At the same time a strong and powerful parallel is drawn to nature, where the author says “there is enough space for the stars” and the “birds in the garden.”. For me there is another message here of how taking time to notice and observe nature can both centre and calm us.

   

I love how as the boy grows up the scale of what he notices and sees gets bigger a bit like a child and young person’s expanding view of the world. So we go from space for all his toys to space for all the fish in the sea.

As he grows up he notices people are fighting for small and big spaces. And once  again the wonderful pictures add power and emotion to the words. In a world of uncertainties where so much has changed and is changing this story both acknowledges the existence of things that may make us feel scared or worried, whilst also providing us with the reassurance of the constant presence of nature. There is one thing we can control and that is we can choose to be kind to ourselves and to each other.

   

You can find out more and view a great video by the author on Tiny Owls website

You can purchase the book from me at Readers that Care or order it from a good local bookshop

Tomorrow by Nadine Kaadan

Tomorrow by Nadine Kaadan

Posted on August 21, 2018 by melissacreate

 

Already a fan of the illustrator and author Nadine Kaadan I was delighted to receive a copy of her new book Tomorrow to review from Lantana Publishing. I have a particular interest in picture books that help children understand others experience of war and about refugees. This story is unique in a number of ways. Instead of focusing on people fleeing their country it focuses on the experience of a boy in his home as it is besieged by war.

Tomorrow tells the story of a small boy called Yazan who lives in war torn Syria. It is told from a unique perspective as you don’t actually see the war. Instead you get to feel what the immediate effects are for Yazan, as everything changes around him. Changes include no more trips to the park, not being able to see his friends, no school (which he actually begins to miss) and his mother becomes withdrawn. The boys experience is sensitively portrayed and great attention is given to gradually building up all the small things Yazan is not able to do because of the war.

The message of the story is beautifully supported by the authors own drawings, which help to convey powerful emotions and to reflect the boys feelings and experiences in a way that is meaningful to children. A simple colour palette of black, yellow and read is very effective. Black for sadness, fear and anxiety, red for happy memories and red and yellow for hope.

There are some lovely messages in this story. It is a powerful story of a family supporting each other in the most difficult of circumstances and in the power of imagination and art to bring hope to the darkest of moments. Towards the end of the story Yazan’s mother draws a picture of the park he can not play in and says:

“But let’s paint a park in your bedroom – an amazing park with everything you’ve ever dreamed of. And soon you’ll be able to go outside and play again.”

In some ways the messages in this story are very simple, helping readers of all ages to build empathy with the young boys experience of living through war. Yet the pictures convey some powerful emotions that some children may find upsetting and need help to understand. When using with a group of children I would be tempted to start with the last picture first and ask, what they liked about their local park and how would they feel if they could not go to it.  My 7 year old son initially found some of the pages ‘quite dark’. But when we explored the use of red and yellow colours in the story he could also see there was hope in the story too.

Whilst not shying away from powerful emotions it protects the reader from the worst of the war in several ways. For example: Whilst, his mum does become sad and withdrawn at the beginning, Yazan doesn’t loose either of his parents in the story, they are still together at the end. Another example is you learn about the war outside from a little distance, through a TV Screen, which I thought was really clever.

I would highly recommend this for children aged 6+ and young people and adults. It is a great story which encourages empathy and offers multiple opportunities as springboard for discussion.

Another of Nadine Kaadan’s wonderful picture books Jasmine Sneeze, would make a great contrast to this story as it is set in a peaceful Syria.  You can read my review here.

The book can be published direct from the Lantana publishers here.

It is also available from me through Readers that Care 

The Journey by Francesca Sanna (published by Flying Eye books)

Posted on June 30, 2016May 19, 2017 by melissacreate

JourneyFP copy

 

The Journey is an amazing and important picture book by author and illustrator Francesca Sanna. It tells from a refugee story from a chid’s perspective. A girl and her family are forced to flee their homes by war. The story tells of their difficult journey to safety. The honesty with which it portrays the darkness of their experience and emotions such as: loss, despair, fear is breathtaking. It deals with a theme which is all around us, and has such a huge significance today.

It makes clever use of colour and illustrations to reflect changing emotions and circumstances. Orange hues are used for hope, and they are the colour of the car at the start of their journey and the train towards the end. Blackness represents the darkest of moments. And there is none darker than:

And one day the war took my father

The blackness conveys what words alone could not, and the orange of hope on subsequent pages propels you forward.

I had an interesting discussion with a friend about The Journey. We were in agreement that it is a book that should be in every school library. But, we could not quite decide if there was a little too much darkness. The darkness in the first part of this story is what makes it so powerful and I would not have it any other way. Then they arrive at the sea and colour comes back into the pictures and there is hope. Then on their boat journey fear comes back again. It was the picture below that got us thinking.

Journeyboat

Some questions we asked were:
What is the effect on the reader from going from a place of darkness to hope and then to be plunged back into darkness again? Would this be too much for some children?  What would have been the effect on the reader if instead this page was mainly light and warm hopeful colours with a smaller amount of black? Would the story be the same?

These are questions worth thinking about when sharing this book with children. The recent events of the EU referendum vote in Britain have sharpened my focus. Having thought about the picture I realised it would have been odd if Francesca Sanna had represented this part of the journey in any other way. The sad reality is that refugee journeys on boats are dangerous and they must have many fears both real and imagined of what they may face at the other end. Furthermore some children will have heard in the news about these difficult boat crossings and children dying. I think the breathtaking honesty of this story will resonate with many children, and especially older children who are beginning to take note of the world we live in. Aside from its key theme of refugees: a families flight from war to safety, there are also many powerful life messages. The journey from an awful place to somewhere that has the potential to be good can be difficult and up and down (get better then worse again) but ultimately hopeful.

Journeyend

There is also a second and beautiful story in this book. Where in the later stages of the story the girl and her family are joined by migratory birds flying alongside them. Then there is a beautiful scene at the end of them flying with these birds, into a new and more hopeful future. This last page opens up so many other topics that could be explored.

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Children’s books which could help build global empathy and understanding

Posted on June 28, 2016May 12, 2017 by melissacreate

How we interact with the world around us has always been something which has interested me. Political events in Britain in 2016 and their aftermath have made me realise not everyone understands the migrant or immigrant experience and that children’s books can have an important role in building global empathy and understanding. Featured below are 5 books that can help children and adults explore these issues. Each is written from a child’s perspective. The stories deal with complex issues, and are not afraid to deal with traumatic and difficult situation’s, but in a sensitive way that the very best of children’s authors know how to do. Despite the sometimes difficulties circumstances the children and their families face they provide hope of the ability for children to survive, and the capacity for humans to adapt and change, such a vital message.

This selection of children’s books to help build global empathy and understanding about refugees experiences and other ways we are all connected include: a picture book, a story written in prose and chapter books at different reading levels. They are all shorter stories, proving that stories that really make you think don’t have to be long ones!

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