Posted on: 26/03/2020
At this point in time, the world is in a fearful, suspended state. This scenario is a first for everyone and, collectively, the plan is of survival. Beyond that? We don’t know. And understandably this can be a difficult time for many adults who are looked to by children for reassurance, let alone a difficult time for children. We’re all likely to be experiencing some struggles with anxiety. And there will be sadness too: sadness that this is happening; sadness at life having to change so suddenly and exponentially. Some of us will be frontline workers, trying to help in unimaginable circumstances and others may be staying at home to support the effort. And so once more we turn to books to show us how to be kind and hold onto hope.
We’ve tried to draw upon a range of stories that might already be in the family home, school setting or available on kindle, via audible or even being read online by the author themselves. This is to help parents - or those wonderful teachers now teaching mixed-age groups of key worker children, hunker down with their children to share a story together, to allay loneliness and keep connecting, empathising and hoping. Stay safe everyone.
Stick Man – loved the world over, now as an animated tale tells the story of Stick Man who gets himself into a sticky (sorry) situation when he is accidentally mistaken for any old stick. And so ensues a misadventure of epic proportions where things get a little bit worse at each turn of the page. Stick Lady Love and his little stick children wait forlornly for Stick Man to return. Time passes and – perhaps – a sense of acceptance sets in but then in a miracle occurs in the appearance of a well-loved hero… we know it isn’t Christmas time but business isn’t normal right now so we don't think that this matters. Good for talking about resilience and hope with children.
Plucky Billy is a small girl who you really ought not to mess with… she is thoughtful and kind yet fierce when needed and also has the most brilliant super-power: she is able to secrete all manner of useful items in her wonderful hair and each of these objects prove to be crucial in defeating The Terrible Beast in order to save her forest friends. If you’re looking for a strong female protagonist – one with proper chutzpah then Billy is exactly that person. Great for encouraging children to consider that even though we may be small, we can be mighty if we avoid panic and face fears.
Willy is picked on and – kind to a fault – he doesn't help himself as he is simply resigned to being spoken to unkindly and pushed around. He needs to learn to stand up for himself. And although it takes a lot of hard work and self-reflection, he makes self-improvements without losing the sense of kindness that he is so liked for by the girl gorilla he meets at the end: Milly! Another lovely story about facing fears and accepting what we cannot change and working with what we can whilst still being kind.
Pete the badger is so focused on realising his dream that the forest be ‘perfectly neat’ he loses sight of what a forest should actually be like and he and all the other inhabitants end up homeless. Do the habitat-less creatures turn on Pete? Do they tell him that he made the mess and so he must sort it? No – quite the opposite! Showing huge restraint, we think, they pull together and rebuild, so to speak, except in this case, instead of de-foresting they re-forest. With this glorious tale there’s a clear message around triumph over adversity and communities coming together to support each other to rebuild.
Such a gorgeous book, this, from our current Children’s Laureate, Lauren Child. Charlie’s little sister Lola wants a dog. She pretends to be a dog; makes Charlie pretend to be a dog; names her would-be dog and acts out elaborate games and fantasies around what her dog would look like, the things he might do and how he might behave. But her parents point-blank refuse to let Lola have a dog. They do however agree to take her to get a pet rabbit. Quite sure she will still manage to talk them round (she’s rather stubborn, is Lola), she returns with an odd-looking dog… one with a puffy tale that sniffled and has nice, long ears. Brilliant for discussions around dealing with disappointment and making the best of a situation.
A moving tale from Oliver Jeffers, the girl in this story experiences grief and loss and this is something that for years she deals with by hiding away her feelings: she places her heart in a bottle. But she realises that not to feel is not to live and slowly, surely unlocks her heart and lets the sadness flood. And we must allow ourselves to feel sadness, yes, but also the joy and wonder at the world too. And it is her own child that helps her with this. We think that we have much to learn from children at this time and this is such a good story for exploring the difficult stuff in life.
We like the text by Josephine Poole which is written in narrative form. Try interspersing the text with carefully selected extracts from the original diary – these can be found on the Anne Frank House website.
If ever there was an example of resilience and human capacity to adapt in challenging situations then this is it. Anne’s diary, found by family friend Miep Gies after the Frank family had been discovered and taken to concentration camps by the Nazis gives insight into the world of an ordinary young girl and how she and the people she was in hiding with adapted to and coped with what was an extraordinary set of circumstances. Feisty, courageous and outspoken with humour that often belies the fear she must have felt, Anne’s log of the two years she and several others spent in hiding describes the worry and frustrations that they all endured but also talks of the mundane; the every day. Anne adapted to a ‘new normal’ and we feel that this might be a good story to share as a family when exploring ideas around keeping calm and managing to ‘get through’ a situation that is frightening not least because none of us know when – or how – this might end.
This beautiful book written by family favourite – Oliver Jeffers – and the second book of his included in this review when his son Harland was only a few weeks old is, essentially, a guide to life that he dedicates to his newborn. It talks of the planet earth, the land and the sea; it shares the things we might see and do, how we must look after it, all that’s in it and each other. There are messages around conservation and how the human body works. It talks of connecting with people, how everyone is different but should be celebrated and – the page that always ‘gets’ us not least right now – the part where it simply says, You are never alone on earth. Perfect for supporting children in dealing with the hugeness of what is happening at this point in time whilst also exploring the issues of loneliness and isolation.
Three years in the writing, this exquisitely written novel, the idea for which grew wings when the author was living in the Himalayas, tells the story of a time in Tibet where two seemingly innocuous words could get you locked in prison without a second thought… Dalai Lama. When Tash’s mother and father are carted off in the back of a lorry one night during a curfew imposed at the end of a troubled day, courageous Tash is forced to flee with few possessions other than a borrowed yak but at least she has her dear friend Sam for companionship. Together they set off to find the help that their people have so desperately been seeking: help from the Dalai Lama himself. But first, they must escape a country with tight borders, carrying none of the necessary papers to be granted permission to proceed. Their intended destination? India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile. If Tash and Sam can get an audience with the figurehead of Tibetan Buddhists then maybe their people have hope. A really lovely, evocative book for children to escape into and let their minds wander and great when looking for a book that has themes of hope and resilience.
It’s World War 2 in London. Olive and her brother Cliff are watching a film at the picture house. Sukie – their older sister - disappears not long after they had settled in their seats to watch that week’s feature, asking that the siblings wait for her in the foyer after the film has finished. Except the air-raid siren sounds and the cinema is evacuated. They wait for Sukie as long as is safe but are then herded out to the air-raid shelter but disaster strikes and Olive is hit and has to go to hospital to recover. The decision is made that Olive and Cliff be evacuated to the Devonshire Coast and this is where the adventure of daring and espionage begins. Initially, the children are billeted to Queenie’s in the post office. But Olive is suspicious about the activities of the locals. After a falling out with another evacuee Cliff and Olive are sent to live at Ephraim’s – the lighthouse keeper, who is a closed, solitary character. Olive unravels a trail of secrets through a message that she finds in the lining of her mother’s coat pocket. But Olive’s attempts at solving this next stage in the mystery are thwarted when Cliff falls dangerously ill... perfect for a bit of much-needed escapism but also with themes of jeopardy, fear and loss and – again- hope.
In this dystopian, apocalyptic novel, an insidious, unseen monster is killing people. Buildings are crumbling to the ground and people are – seemingly – being overcome by noxious fumes. It is discovered that this monster is a strange plant seeking to destroy everything in its path. People are evacuated and – sadly – many people die but courageous Ade stays with his mum; she has agoraphobia and crashing depression and Ade is her carer. As the buildings surrounding them crumble to the ground, they appear to be the last in the building but then in overwhelming scenes of connectedness, Ade discovers that there are others in his block and together they work in an organised and calm manner to survive and to protect their most vulnerable. We used to see these characters are heroes, enduring what they endured but maybe they just did what they had to survive. We think that the message here – as well as messages of hope and courage – is that sometimes the answers mightn’t be clear; coping mightn’t be something we manage with any sense of aplomb but that we simply need to cope in any way we can and that this might be messy and tear-filled at times.
Keeping what’s important in our sights in the days, weeks and months to come is going to be the biggest challenge for us all. Being accepting of that which we cannot change; finding joy in the simplest of things and trying to find comfort in the darkest of moments will all be important as our reserves are tested. One of the most incredible books that came out of last year (one which we’re fairly sure many houses will possess at least one copy of) is this meandering journey of friendship and exploration of the human mind and soul, depicted through the most beautiful of illustrations – some in black ink and some in water-colour. Filled with inspirational thoughts on literally all matters of the heart and mind, we’ll leave you with this one: ‘Nothing beats kindness,’ said the horse. ‘It sits quietly beyond all things.’
