Tag refuge

Owl Bat Bat Owl

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Owl Bat Bat Owl
Marie Louise Fitzpatrick
Walker Books
I’m a big fan of wordless picture books and this one is a cracker. It features two families one of owls, one of bats.
As the story opens, the owls are happily settled on their roomy branch enjoying some shut-eye when all of a sudden along comes a family of bats. They too decide to make their home on that self same branch so we then have …

Unsurprisingly the two families are circumspect: after all owls and bats don’t really make the best of friends.
After a fair bit of positional adjustment, the families both prepare to sleep but baby animals, like humans are inquisitive and so you can probably guess what happens after this …

Now we know that human children are much more ready to accept newcomers than are most adults. The same is true of owls …

though mother owl soon has her youngest offspring back where she wants, beside her and all is peace and quiet. But when the chips are down and disaster strikes in the shape of a storm,

differences don’t seem to matter – co-operation is now the name of the game.
This book works on so many levels and is open to a multitude of interpretations. We often talk about the power of words: here, picture power rules.
What a wonderful demonstration that reading is about so much more than getting words off the page.

Welcome

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Welcome
Barroux
Egmont Publishing
CRACK! The ice breaks and Polar Bear and his two friends are swept away far from their home, losing everything they hold dear. They’re frightened, our narrator tells us but they cannot any longer stay in those icy surroundings: it’s imperative they find somewhere else to live and they must keep their spirits up no matter how scary things get …

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Then land is in sight; but will they be able to find refuge here? Sadly not …

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On they go, still hopeful but again their hopes are thwarted, not once but twice … and things are getting desperate …

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Surely there’s somewhere they’re not “too bear-ish”, “too furry” or “too tall”? somewhere with plenty of room for all, where things aren’t too much bother …
Finally as the last remains of the iceberg turn to water, the bears find an empty island, one whereon they can make a home for themselves and …
With a beautiful twisting finale, this highly topical book is a must have for all early years setting and primary classes. It needs to be shared, discussed and shared again to help everyone understand the issues and challenges migrants face, no matter from whence they come, or go. We MUST empathise, we MUST help, we MUST open our arms and welcome them …
This moving, thought-provoking book is a step along the way to understanding and compassion; and thanks be to the brilliantly talented Barroux for creating it.

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Refuge

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Refuge
Anne Booth and Sam Usher
Nosy Crow
Anyone who has been watching the news over recent months and seen the refugees fleeing, desperately seeking safety from Syria and other conflict-ridden countries cannot fail to be moved to the core by this heart-achingly beautiful rendering of the Christmas story, in particular, the flight into Egypt of Mary, Joseph and their new baby. Now today, just before writing this review, I have heard Chris Morris on the World at One reporting from Malta saying that the Mediterranean has become a graveyard for all too many who had hoped to find refuge.
I admit to having tears in my eyes as I read Anne Booth’s spare prose. By using the donkey as narrator, she makes the whole thing feel much more intimate and immediate: ‘When the last king left, the scent of frankincense lingering in the air, we all slept and the man had a dream. A dream of danger. …

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And we set off … under starlight, through empty streets, whilst people were sleeping, hoping for the kindness of strangers. Again.’

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Achingly poignant too in their stark simplicity, are Sam Usher’s largely grey, black and white illustrations. Rendered in watercolours and ink they evoke the spirit of the precarious plight of families fleeing both then and now.
May others, like myself and like that oil lamp strategically centrally placed in that final scene of Sam’s, to borrow a phrase from Auden, ‘show an affirming flame.’ 

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Indeed, the creators of this book – author, illustrator and publisher (and others listed on the copyright page) have all collaborated to get this to publication in just six weeks and £5 for every copy sold will go to the publishers’ partner charity, War Child. https://www.warchild.org.uk

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