Four years ago this week, some late night doom scrolling on X led to an interaction with a Polish academic, Dariusz Galasiński (who talks about the book here) looking for someone to illustrate a book. He had a team of clinical psychologists, academics and students creating a therapeutic story for Ukranian children crossing the border into Poland. They wanted the book produced in a week! I tweeted a reply, and offered to put the book together for them and confidently told them I would source an illustrator! It resulted in a crazy week of late night work and messaging and juggling a lot of other client work, but I am so grateful to the amazing work of writer and illustrator Paula Christie Metcalf who took on this project with little information, an impossible deadline, and patiently navigated her way through the story, drawing out key moments to bring to life through her illustrations. Paula is amazing and her work is beautiful, I feel very lucky to have been able to work with her and this project.

The book was made freely available online and printed copies were distributed for free as soon as it came back from the printer. There are Ukranian and Russian versions of the book. An audio version was also created along with lessons plans for teachers to use in schools.

The book is about two children (a girl and a boy) who arrive in a new city. with their mum. The past is not mentioned, it was too early to ask children to come to terms with the trauma. So the book focused on coming to grips with the new reality. A city which looks the same, cars, shops, birds, and playgrounds they all look like those back home. As the children explore the new surroundings they decide it’s like they are explorers and it’s OK to be curious about the new place. This is offered as a counterbalance to missing home. It turns out they can also understand much of what people say. In time, the children meet other children and make new friends. The tale ends with the children waiting to go to school/kindergarten. They are apprehensive, but they already know that they have met new friends. It’s a story that is aimed at getting children to understand that they may have negative, difficult emotions. but that the new reality has promise. 

After the success of the first book, a second follow-up book was produced, aimed at supporting Ukrainian children during their first weeks in Polish schools. This book was illustrated by the fabulous Lizzie Bristow, and art teacher, artist and illustrator.