How War Changed Rondo by Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv

How War Changed Rondo

written and illustrated by 

Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv

translated from the Ukrainian

Enchanted Lion Books, 2021, 40 pages

Three friends,  Danko, a bright light with a shiny transparent heart, Fabian, a red balloon dog with a knot for a nose, and Zirka, a paper origami bird covered with notes and sketches of his journeys, loved living in Rondo. Rondo was a place with clear air, where residents grew and tended flowers everywhere, and lived in distinctive houses. In other words, Rondo was a pretty great place to live.

Rondo was especially famous for its flowers and there large greenhouse where there was a collection of rare plants and flowers that could sing. Concerts were often held in the greenhouse, and the town anthem, Mozart's Rondo alla Turca, was always played for residents and visitors alike. 

One ordinary day, Danko and Fabian were on their way to meet Zirka, who had just returned from a trip with new stories. But, whispers had begun...war was on its way to Rondo and leaving a path of death and destruction everywhere it went. No one in Rondo knew what war was, but soon, everything there was dark and ugly. War planted black flowers (bombs) and prickly weeds so that no light could shine through, causing Rondo's beautiful flowers to stop singing. 

The three friends resisted war, but Danko, Fabian, and Zirka were all hit by the stones (bullets) that war sent out. How could the three friends ever defeat war, especially now that they were all wounded - Danko's heart had cracks, one of Fabian's legs was pierced by a prickly weed, and the edges of Zirka's wings were burned? When Danko decides to try to provide light to the flowers in the greenhouse, he realizes that war is afraid of light and so he, Fabian, and Zirka rally the other residents of Rondo in an effort to produce a powerful enough light to finally defeat war. 

War is finally defeated, and Rondo is repaired and rebuilt. The flowers in the greenhouse begin to sing again, but the poppies that had grown all around town no longer grew in different colors. Now, they only grow in one color - red.

    

The interesting thing about How the War Changed Rondo is that war itself isn't the focus, but rather how it impacts the lives of Rondo and its residents during and after the fighting is over. Here we see the lasting effects of injuries received in the war on Rondo. Because, even though Rondo is repaired, its residents of are forever changed. Now, they know what it is like when their beloved flowers stop singing, they will  have to live with sad memories of loved lost friends and relatives, as well as with the physical wounds that were inflicted on them by war, including Danko with his cracked heart, Fabian with his injured leg, and Zirka with his singed wings.  

The thing about war and children, like the residents of Rondo, is that they don't usually know or understand what war is, where it comes from or how it starts, but they do know the fear and destruction it brings with it. And that is something that will never leave them. In the end, readers might be left scratching their heads and wondering why would anyone want to have war. I'm adult and I still wonder that. 

Mixed-media illustrations in this picture book for older readers harmonize brilliantly with the text, going from pale green and a golden yellow to darkness followed by that same pale green with building tinged in a sooty black - another physical manifestation of the lasting impact of war. Interestingly enough, there are only two illustrations where a human arm is seen, first dropping bombs, later retreating, yet none of Rondo's citizens are human. It really brings out the point that only humans start wars. 

This book is recommended for readers age 8+

This book was purchased for my personal library

War by José Jorge Letria, illustrated by André Letria, translated from the Portuguese by Elisa Amado

War is a thoughtful, honest though grim look at the common factors all wars share, from its first glimmerings to its end and beyond. 

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War written by José Jorge Letria,

illustrated by André Letria, 

translated from the Portuguese by Elisa Amado

Greystone Kids, 2021, 64 pages

Beginning with black endpapers that lighten only slightly on the first two-page spread, readers will begin to realize that the idea of war begins in darkness by those who would capitalize on our fears, symbolized here by snakes, spiders, and other crawling insects creeping and slithering through a landscape of leafless trees. These fears are then picked up by a large black hawk who carries them to one who had a wish for war. 

And he who wishes for war, motivated by hate, ambition, and spite, internalizes those fears, then uses them to infect the people over whom he rules. Soon, as "war saddens, crushes, and silences," books are burned, factories are built for the war effort, and "war begets shadowy, iron children" who can easily be indoctrinated into becoming an army of obedient soldiers.

But, in the end, all wars leave behind nothing but silent destruction after all the bullets are shot, all the bombs are dropped, and most of the people are killed. But don't be fooled, war isn't over, just turn the page to another almost black wordless two-page spread that carries the shadows of people's fears, those same snakes, spider, and other crawling insects just waiting...for another person wishing for war and filled with hate, ambition, and spite.

Readers will find a powerful indictment of war in what appears to be a simply written, simply illustrated book that is anything but simple. The images are done in a somber palette of war-like browns, blacks, grays, and greens, and printed on heavy paper. There are 14 wordless double-page spreads, and 17 double-page spreads that contains one single sentence, which means that in only 17 sentences, all the horrors of war are emotionally  conveyed. Interestingly, though this book clearly is not about one particular war, there is much to it to compare with World War II. 

A thought-provoking, sober picture book for older readers, War will likely generate many conversations and questions from thoughtful readers when used in a class, library or home school setting. 

This book is recommended for readers age 7+

This book was purchased for my personal library

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

Shortly after the death of his mother, 7 year-old Peter found a very young orphaned fox kit and brought it home. His cold, strict father said he could keep the it but only "for now," but five years later, the kit, whom Peter named Pax, is a much loved, domesticated fox, sensitive to Peter's emotional needs and aware of the sometimes sudden cruel anger of his father. 

Now, war is coming and Peter's father has voluntarily signed up to fight, which means that Peter must go live with his equally cold, strict grandfather hundreds of miles away, and that means that Pax must be released into the wild, despite lacking the skills and instinct to survive there.

The first night at his grandfather's house, Peter realizes the mistake he made setting Pax free and decides to go find him and take him home. At the same time, Pax, who doesn't understand what has happened, is trying to patiently wait for his boy to come and get him in the same spot where he was dropped off.

Peter packs a backpack and takes off in the night, but things don't go a planned. His second day out, Peter breaks his ankle and is taken in by Vola, a war veteran with a prosthetic leg living in a secluded part of the forest. She sets Peter's broken bone, and for the next few weeks, the two live in less than perfect harmony, although Vola does help Peter build his strength up for the day he will go in search of Pax again.

Meanwhile, Pax has been taken under the wing of an older fox named Grey. But a younger female called Bristle smells the scent of human on him and refuses to accept Pax. Bristle is also very protective of her brother, Runt, who is curious about Pax and more willing to accept him. As the war comes closer to them, a terrible accident becomes the catalyst for a tentative accord between Pax and Bristle for the sake of their survival. 

Can Peter's plan to find Pax and return home conceivably come to fruition as the war comes closer, and Pax becomes more acclimated to living in the wild, while Peter must deal with delays in returning to the place where he last saw Pax?

Pax is narrated in alternating chapters by Peter and Pax. At first, I was a little hesitant about chapters told from the point of view of a fox. Anthropomorphizing Pax felt like it would spoil what sounded like a wonderful story about the connection between a boy and a fox. But Pennypacker has a note in the front explaining that readers should understand the italicized words in the Pax chapters represent the "vocalization, gesture, scent, and expression" of complex fox communication, and in an NPR interview, she further explained that she had consulted a fox expert, who vetted the book for her. 

Pax is a wartime story about loss, grief, trauma, and betrayal, but also about healing, caring, acceptance, and redemption, which all sound like the usual war story tropes. But Pax is a wartime story unlike any other. For one thing, it is an unspecified war in the present time, in a place with no name. Yet, that doesn't diminish the horror, destruction, and death that war brings not just to people, but to animals and the environment, and while Pennypacker doesn't spare the reader from those horrors, none of them are gratuitous or terribly graphic. I found what does add to the horror of war is how normal some things are - there is television, there are cell phones, there are kids going to school and playing baseball, a sport Peter loves.   

As soon as I received an ARC of Pax, Journey Home, the sequel to Pax, I knew I had to reread the first book and that is just what I did. The writing is elegant, and the story is every bit as beautiful and poignant as the first time I read it. Whether or not you have already read Pax, I highly recommend it, especially if you plan on reading Pax, Journey Home.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+

This book was purchased for my personal library

America at War edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins, illustrated by Stephen Alcorn: A poem for September 1, 1939

Today is the 80th anniversary of the start of WWII. I couldn't decide what to do to commemorate it so I turned to Lee Bennett Hopkins' book America at War to share some poems with my young readers. This book covers America's participation in war from the American Revolution to the war in Iraq. There are eight poems dedicated to WWII and I wish I could share all of them with you, but since my focus is on children and teens, and because children also wanted to do their bit for the war effort back then, I picked this poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater:

Refugee by Alan Gratz

In Refugee, Alan Gratz has seamlessly woven together the stories of three refugee children and their families from different time periods and different places in the world and brought their harrowing experiences together as each flees their homeland in the hope of finding safety and freedom elsewhere.

On Kristallnacht in 1938 Berlin, Nazis enter and destroy contents of the home of the Landau family, terrorizing Josef, 12, his younger sister Ruth, his mother, and arresting his father, Arron. When his father finally returns home, he is a broken man after spending time in Dachau. Luckily, the Landau family has secured tickets and the needed visas to emigrate to Cuba. 

On board the MS St. Louis, a luxury passenger ocean liner, the Jews fleeing Nazi Germany are treated well all the way across the Atlantic, but for Josef, the trip also brings stress. His father refuses to leave their cabin, insisting it is all a Nazi trick to send them to a concentration camp. When Josef turns 13 on the trip, he is able to make his Bar Mitzvah with the help of other passengers and ship’s crew. It would have been wonderful for Josef, if only his father could be at his side. 

When the ship reaches Cuba, it is held offshore for what feels like endless days. Then comes the news that Cuba has cancelled all visas and ordered the St. Louis to leave Cuban waters. The ship sails to the US, where the passengers are also refused entry. But if no country will take this ship full of Jewish refugees, the only recourse is to return to Germany and certain death.

For Isabel, 11, living in Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba, immigrating to the United States, el norte, is only an impossible dream. That is, until 1994, when Castro announces that anyone who wishes to leave Cuba would not be stopped. Then, Isabel discovers that her best friend Iván’s father has been secretly building a boat to travel the 90 miles to the Florida coast with his family.

Isabel is determined to go with them when her Papi is threatened with imprisonment by the Cuban police. Discovering that there is no gasoline for the escape boat, Isabel sells her beloved trumpet for what they need. In the middle of the night, two families, 9 people in all, pile into the boat, including Isabel’s pregnant mother, and take off for el norte, and hopefully leaving their homes in Havana behind. 

Fleeing the the US isn’t as easy a just enough gasoline, there is also the “wet foot, dry foot” policy. If you make it to the beach, you can stay, but if they catch you still in water, you are sent back to Cuba. Everything goes well for a short time, but then the trip begins to run into all kinds of problems and el norte seems even further away than before. Will they all make it before their boat sinks or the US Coast Guard finds them?

For Mahmoud Bishara,12, life in Aleppo, Syria in 2015 means trying to make himself invisible and making sure his younger brother Waleed is safe. But when the building the Bishara’s live in is hit and destroyed by a missile attack, the family knows it is time to leave Syria with its violent civil war behind and try to find refuge in Germany. 

Starting out in a Mercedes, and heading to Turkey, the Bishara’s have food, money and cell phones, but are soon caught in the cross hairs of fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims once again, losing most of what they are carrying, including the car. Luckily, they manage to keep a cell phone. They finally make it to the border town of Kilis, Turkey by walking, and where Mahmoud’s father finds a ride to Izmir, Turkey and the possibility of a ferry to Greece. But they also discover that there are people along the way who will do anything to take advantage of the plight of desperate Syrian refugees in a country where they are not welcomed.

After waiting days for a ferry to arrive, they finally board an overly crowded, not very sea worthy  boat. But when a storm hits, they are thrown overboard into an angry sea, where Mahmoud must make a heartrending decision in order to try to save at least one person in his family.

Each of these stories are heartbreaking and harrowing to read and really bring home what it is like to be a refugee in a world that just doesn’t want you. Gratz draws out the tension by telling the stories of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud in alternating chapters, each chapter ending in a bit of a cliff hanger, not for the sake of drama, but to emphasize the level and frequency of danger that is faced by refugees.

And though their stories are separated by time and place, Gratz manages to highlight the universal similarities refugees faced in the 20th and 21st centuries. Though each protagonist stands on the cusp of adulthood, they all must take responsibility and make hard decisions that impact their families and the outcome of their flight when the adults around them are incapable of doing it. 

Readers can trace the route Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud traveled to their final destinations with the maps found at the back of the book (and I continuously referred to them while reading), and please read the Author’s Note for more information about these young heroes.

Facing hardship, trauma, loss, hunger, and invisibility, the stories of Josef, Isabel, and Mahmoud form a poignant look at life on the run. But ultimately, each one gives us reason to hope. 

A useful discussion guide from the publisher can be found HERE

This book is recommended for readers age 10+

This book was an ARC sent to me by the publisher, Scholastic Press

Threads of Blue by Suzanne LaFleur

Threads of Blue is the sequel to Beautiful Blue World, a story about children involved in an nameless war between fictional countries, a landscape that bears an uncanny resemblance to Europe. After being tested for their suitably, some children of Sofarende are sent away from their families to a remote area called Faetre as part of an Adolescent Army unit, where they worked on important intelligenc for the war effort. While in Faetre, the children were not allowed any contact with their families. 

You may recall that at the end of Beautiful Blue World, Mathilde Joss, 12, had committed what might be considered an act of treason that had caused her to become separated from the other members of her Adolescent Army unit as they are being evacuated to the safety of Eilean, an ally of Sofarende.

Now, Mathilde must try and find out where the Adolescent Army is on Eilean, after being brought across the sea that separates it from Sofarende. There is danger everywhere, even on Eliean, but Mathilde meets a kind family who takes her to a refugee camp to wait until she is eventually reunited with the other Sofarende kids and adults in her unit.

Once reunited with them, Mathilde waits to see if she will be punished for what she did before leaving Sofarende. And, even worse, her best friend Megs refuses to speak to her or even look at her for reasons Matilde can’t figure out, yet everyone else is as friendly as they had always been. Meanwhile, as Sofarende falls to the constant bombing of its enemy Tyssia, Mathilde works on maps to determine where their air force should drop their bombs in Sofarende in order to drive out the Tyssians.

While Mathilde tries to deal with some of the moral and ethical issues inherent in her war work and war in general, she must also come to terms with loss on several levels. Surprisingly, she gets help from an unexpected source, and moral support from others. All Mathilde really wants is to be best friends with Megs again, and to return to her beloved home and family. But then the horror of war, and the senseless killing and destruction that comes with it are brought home to Mathilde when she is sent to Sofarende on a secret mission. Will this young girl ever find the love and peace she craves?

If you haven’t read Beautiful Blue World, I would recommend doing so, but even if you don’t, you will have no problem reading Threads of Blue. There is enough explanation of the events from the first book embedded in this sequel so you won’t be lost.

The story is told from Mathilde's point of view, though experience has taken some of the innocence out of her stream-of-consciousness observations. She astutely describes life as a refugee living in a camp set up for Sofarenders fleeing their country as the war intensifies: the constant hunger, the inability to wash, the feelings of frustration everyone feels, all while mourning the loss of their country and loved ones. And when she returns to her homeland, she is stunned by the extent of ruin that the war had inflicted. In that respect, the images LaFleur word paints are particularly poignant and so, so very anti-war.   

Along that vein, look closely at the cover image of three children, two boys and a girl wearing a knapsack, who is obviously Mathilde, sitting in a row boat. They couldn't look more innocent, until you look more closely and see the faint shadows of bombs falling on them. This image says so much.

Like Beautiful Blue World, Threads of Blue is a brilliant novel about the ravages of war, but it is also a story about holding on to who you really are even when it causes you trouble, and facing life with bravado, honesty, and hope in a world where none seems to exist. These are two books not to be missed.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library.

Two Refugee Stories: The Journey by Francesca Sanna and Stepping Stones by Margriet Ruurs

Refugees seeking asylum and safety is a old as humanity and a recent as today’s news. It is hard to imagine having to leave the home you have always known, the place you have always thought of as safe, leaving behind your beloved possessions whether it is a doll, or a stuff toy, perhaps pawning your great grandfather’s pocket watch or your great grandmother’s tea service to get money to pay for the trip you and your family are about to embark on. But that is just what these two excellent books are about.

The Journey written and illustrated by Francesca Sanna

Flying Eye Books, 2016, 48 pages, age 5+

The Journey begins with a young girl, the narrator, introducing her happy close-knit family living in a city near the sea, until war arrives and bad things began to happen. But when the war takes her father, her mother decides it is time to leave their homeland despite the dangers, and to try and reach a country where they can live without war and fear. So the family packs up what belonging they can and leave. But the journey is difficult, and little by little they begin to leave belongings behind to lighten their load and make traveling easier.

And they face all kinds of obstacles - a high guarded wall, a sea that stretches far and wide, a scary ferry boat ride, followed by a long train ride, all in search of a home where the family can begin their story all over again.  

Sanna used a collage of migration stories from different people she interviewed at a refugee center in Italy to create The Journey, inspired by the story of two girls she met there. Using simple language, and folk art style illustrations, Sanna has written a book that really captured what it is like to be a refugee, to be fleeing friend, family and home for your life with no idea how it will all end. Kids who may have heard about the ongoing problems in Syria this year may greatly benefit from this book, not because it will help them understand the politics of what is happening, but because, on a more personal level, it will help them understand what being a refugee means.

Stepping Stones: A Refugee Family's Journey written by Margriet Ruurs, 

artwork by Nizar Ali Badr, translation by Falah Raheem 

Orca Books, 2016, 28 pages, age 5+

Stepping Stones is a collaboration of Canadian author Margriet Ruurs and Syrian stone work artist Nizam Ali Badr that tells the story of Rama and her family.  For Rama, living in Syria means waking up to breakfast prepared by Mama, with tomatoes from the garden. It means playing outside with her friends and brother Sami, and it means stories in the evening when Papa comes home from work. So many wonderful days and memories, until war comes to Rama's country. Families started leaving her village and one day, she also left with Mama, Papa, Jedo (grandfather), and Sami. Walking with only the things they can carry, they join the "river of people" fleeing the war with its destructive bombs. Then Rama and her family take an overloaded boat to a new land, walk some more, until finally they are welcomed by the people living in their new village far away from the war in Syria. 

The story of Rama and her family is similar to the story that the young narrator tells in The Journey and certainly just as compelling. The text is simple and Ruurs has really captured how confusing and frightening it is to go from a life filled with love and serenity to one that knows only fear and upheaval and the hardships refugees experience on their journey. To it credit, the story is written in both English and Arabic, increasing its accessibility to young readers. 

What makes this book unusual is the artwork done by Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr. Using carefully and skillfully placed stones, he has created Rama's tight-knit family and surroundings, creatively capturing all the mixed emotions and feelings that they experience as they flee.  

I liked that in The Journey there are no names used for the family, making it a kind of Everyman tale, encompassing all refugees regardless of when, where, or what the circumstances of their leaving might be, while Stepping Stones personalized the story by naming the family members on their journey to freedom and safety, yet both stories are so much the same.

War inevitably leads to people fleeing from the fighting, the persecutions, because their homes, schools, cities, towns and villages have been bombed and/or shelled to smithereens, because of the color of their skin, their religion, or simply because they have been caught in the middle of someone else's war. We see it everyday on the news and so do our children. The Journey  and Stepping Stones are two excellent books that will help young readers understand what is happening to the children they see on TV. I can't recommend these two books highly enough.

These books were both purchased for my personal library.

Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story by Ken Mochizuki, illustrated by Dom Lee

Hiroki Sugihara, the son of a Japanese diplomat posted to Lithuania in 1940, tells how his father suddenly found himself confronted with a terrible dilemma.

Hundreds of Jewish refugees, driven out of Poland by the Nazis after they had invaded and then occupied that country, began to show up at the gates of the Sugihara home, which doubled as the Japanese embassy.  The Sugihara's, Hiroki, his younger brothers Chiaki and Haruki, his Auntie Setsuko, and his parents lived upstairs, and his father, Chiune Sugihara, worked downstairs.

Men, women and children, dressed in layers of clothing despite the July heat, were seeking visas that would enable them to travel through Russia to find asylum in Japan.  Sugihara knew he had to do something, so he asked the crowd to choose five people to come inside and talk with him.

The next day, Sugihara cabled the Japanese government asking if he might be allowed to issue visas to the desperate refugees.  His country refused his request, leaving Sugihara with a tough moral decision - turn away the people outside his gate and leave them to certain death at the hands of the Nazis or disobey his government.

Sugihara chose to issue visas to each and every person outside his gates, disregarding Japan's order.  Day after day, from early morning to late in the evening, Sugihara hand wrote about 300 visas per day.  Even after the Nazis and Soviets began to close in on Lithuania, visas were written, right up until the family was ordered by Japan to leave when Sugihara was reassigned to Berlin.

In telling his father's story, Hiroki writes in the Afterward that it is a story that he believes "will inspire [readers] to care for all people and to respect life. It is a story that proves that one person can make a difference."  His father remained a diplomat for many years after the war, eventually leaving the Foreign Service.  In the 1960s, Chiune Sugihara began to hear from some of the people to whom he had given visas, and who referred to themselves a Sugihara survivors.  He ultimately received the Righteous Among Nations award from Yad Vashem in Israel.

Dom Lee's sepia-toned illustrations provide close detail and give a feeling of dimension and authenticity to the story being told, seemingly based on old photographs of the July 1940 events.  They are done by an very unusual method.  Lee applied encaustic beeswax to paper, scratched out the image he wanted and then added oil paint and colored pencil.

Passage to Freedom is indeed an inspiring story and one that should be shared with young readers.  Sugihara was a real hero, a man who put human life above politics,  even at a time when Japan was at war with China and relations were already contentious with Great Britain and the United States.  One thing that did amaze me was that his government didn't call him back to Japan to censure him.

An extensive PDF Classroom Guide for Passage to Freedom is available from the publisher, Lee & Low books.

This book is recommended for readers age 7+
This book was borrowed from the NYPL

This 11 minute video recounts the life of Chiune Sugihara at the time he was writing so many visas, it includes Sugihara survivors and his wife's recollections.

Today is Nonfiction Monday, be sure to check out this week's nonfiction roundup