The Ukrainian husband and wife, author/ illustrator team created this book as a response to their experiences of war in Ukraine. The story is set in the fictional town of Rondo, which is known for its greenhouses of musical flowers. Everyone who lives there speaks to birds and plants, paints pictures, sings, and writes poetry. Rondo is perfect. The three protagonists are Danko who glows like a lantern and has a shining heart, Fabian who resembles a dog-shaped balloon animal, and Zirka who has a bird-like origami body folded from maps and newspaper articles about war. War comes to Rondo bringing its darkness and destruction. Together, the three friends rally their town to devise a plan using light, community, and song to halt war and restore peace. The stunning mixed-media illustrations undergo dramatic shifts in color when war enters and then finally leaves Rondo. mjw |
| Title: How War Changed Rondo Author/Illustrator: Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books. New York Copyright: 2021 Original Language: Ukrainian Translator: Oksana Lushchevska Original Publisher: Vydavnytstvo Starohoo Leva (The Old Lion Publishing House) Lviv, Ukraine Original Copyright: 2015 ISBN: 978-1-59270-367-8 Hardcover pages: 40 Age range: 5-8 Genre: Picture Book Author’s ethnicity: Ukrainian Author’s residence: Ukraine Illustrator’s ethnicity: Ukrainian Illustrator’s residence: Ukraine Awards: 2022 USBBY Outstanding International Book Subjects: Death, Flowers, Nature, Peace, Music, Violence, War |
How War Changed Rondo
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Hedi and her friend Marika spend their days playing in the park with Hedi’s dog Bodri. Hedi is Jewish and Marika is Christian, but that doesn’t stop them from being friends. All is well until Adolf Hitler ’s frightening voice is heard on the radio saying that he hates Jews. His soldiers come and round up Hedi’s family and all the other Jews and put them onto a train for the camps. Bodri is left behind. Hedi dreams of Bodri for the many months that she and her sister are separated from Bodri and their parents. They are cold and hungry in the camp. Their heads are shaved and they have to wear dirty uniforms and hard shoes. The sisters survive and they are reunited with Bodri. Carefully chosen language tells this difficult story. The author, who was born in 1924, is a Holocaust survivor who experienced the horrors of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and several work camps. The illustrations, which were created with watercolor, ink, and digital media, evoke the time and place perfectly. mjw
War spreads like a disease. It hears nothing, sees nothing, and feels nothing. It feeds on hate and spite. It saddens, crushes, and silences. It destroys everything in its path. This eye-opening book with sparse text reveals the many sides of war. The watercolor illustrations in black, grays, and browns are stunning and surreal. War is the perfect book for starting important discussions between children and their parents and teachers. mjw
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