I can only speak for myself but these days as I sit at my desk and try (emphasis, try) to write while a wicked war rages in Europe, is not easy. At night when watching the news, and seeing, among other awful things, the waves of refugees fleeing with frightened, weeping, and terrified children, I have to ask myself what in the world am I doing. Do I contribute anything to the world with my stories, my words? For those young people?
Years ago, when I was only just beginning to write for young people, I came up with the notion that my books, my colleagues’ books, tell tales of kids who do things, achieve things, solve things, become, answer, discover, untangle……… in short, grow up, becoming fully realized by living in wonderful ways. That is to say, a children’s book is a book of promises.
And when we promise something to a child we need to keep our word.
Which tells me I must keep trying to write.
6 thoughts on “Writing books for kids in a time of war ”
Have you heard about Writers for Ukraine? It’s one way to focus the emotional torment. that many of us writers are feeling. https://activatedauthors.com/ I’ve seen you talk with children, Avi, and I know you have a tender heart.
Your words are important keep writing them.
I think it’s more than writing in a time of war, a time of a pandemic, or a time of economic depression. the question, for me, is how to write about these things.
I am halfway through reading The Button War now and it’s hard to read a book with such haunting parallels to the ongoing war. Still, it is right and true that writing about hard things, especially for children, is important and always will be.