Editorial

Dear Bookbird Readers,

In this issue of Bookbird, we turn our attention to the difficult subject of war, particularly as to how it is depicted in books for children and young adults. Sadly, many children around the world continue to live amidst conflict and violence. The writers in this issue consider the many ways in which war affects children including how books for young people reflect war history, how childhood experiences with war shape future writers, and how literature can support children and families in surviving war and conflict.

Feature articles

Milena Šubrtová’s article When children die in war: Death in war literature for children and youth gives us an historical perspective on the depiction of war in books for young people, from the portrayal of the heroic to the disillusioned character, including how writers handle the deaths of children. What do the voices of the characters tell us? How do their voices inform the present?

What can we learn that will be helpful to children whose lives are torn apart by war? This is the essential question that Ivanka Stričević addresses in Bringing books and children together: Croatian war experiences. We learn the valuable role libraries played during the difficult war years in Croatia and how libraries created a sense of normalcy for children, families, and communities living in the most difficult of circumstances. Stričević shares powerful lessons to learn about how libraries can help children and families maintain their humanity in inhumane times.

Next, two children’s book authors offer their experiences growing up during wartime. Author Ira Saxena’s Peace and peacemakers in books for children writes about her own experiences as the daughter of a Gandhian freedom fighter growing up in India during that country’s struggle for freedom. She conveys the Gandhian view of peace that goes beyond the absence of violence and which must include the presence of justice. Saxena presents a discussion of books in which peacemakers like Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela sought justice through nonviolent means.

Acclaimed artist and illustrator, Roberto Innocenti, shares his thoughts about growing up as a child in war-torn Italy, as well as his insights about how political ideologies are represented in books for children. In his essay The war inside books we get a behind-the-scenes view of how his books depicting war came to be published. Lindsay Myers’s What do we tell children? War in the work of Italian illustrator, Roberto Innocenti offers a fascinating companion piece, brilliantly analyzing Innocenti’s illustrations depicting the experiences that children have of war in Rose Blanche, Erika’s Story, and Leda e il mago. When taken together, these three articles remind us that children should be afforded access to history and, more importantly, that the child’s place in history should be acknowledged.

This issue also features two articles that expand our understanding of the artistic process and the nature of multiculturalism in books for youth. S. Rebecca Leigh shares insights from award winning Canadian author and illustrator, Marie-Louise Gay, who creates picture books in two languages. Her ways with pictures and words: An interview with Marie-Louise Gay provides us with an insider’s view on the work of this prolific artist. And scholar Vassiliki Lalagianni examines the depiction of “other” cultures in Greek fiction for young people in Understanding the Other: Alterity in contemporary Greek fiction for young adults. Lalagianni explores the multifaceted and sometimes stereotypical portrayal of what it means to be a stranger in a strange land and offers hope that literature will ultimately challenge bigotry and broaden perspectives about those who are different.

The departments

The departments bring our readers information about professional resources and children’s books from around the world. In Books on Books, the reviews in this issue address a wide range of topics, from the history of children’s books in the Netherlands with special attention given to eight representative authors, to picture book illustration in Korean children’s books, to a critical study of the work of acclaimed Swedish...