War, What Is It Good For?

Faithful Elephants

By: Yukio Tsuchiya

Illustrated By: Ted Lewin

Translated By: Tomoko Tsuchiya Dykes

“This one’s just sad.”  I turned around to find my nine-year-old son, clutching a copy of Faithful Elephants by Japanese author Yukio Tsuchiya in his hands, tears visible in his eyes.  After a conversation earlier in the day with my advisor about how the books in my war post elicited emotion, she suggested I take a closer look at the title.  I had stopped by the library and left it sitting on my desk with my other chosen books for the category to get back to later when Noah came across it.

The two kiddos in my house I refer to as “The Dynamic Duo” have earned their fair share of credit when it comes to this project of mine.  They have read (multiple times) all the books I have tracked down, often giving me their thoughts and opinions.  Practicing what I preach there are no off-limit books in my house and I wasn’t surprised he had picked it up.  The library is my second home and my office is always covered with new books for all of us.  (There’s already a heated debate about some of the Caldecott front-runners around here.  If you love picture books I suggest keeping an eye on the Calling Caldecott blog!) And I wasn’t surprised my sensitive animal lover was in tears because I had been myself after reading it a few hours before.

There is no doubt the book, which recounts the story of the decision to kill the animals at the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, Japan during World War II, is heart-wrenching.  The army, fearing that dangerous animals would run wild through the city if cages were destroyed during bombings order the killing of all the zoo’s animals.  The story focuses on the three elephants, John, Tonky and Wanly and the horrors of their deaths by starvation.  The story alone is enough, but it’s the illustrations, such as one of the dead elephant’s trunks hanging through the bars, that really ripped my heart out.  As Noah had so succinctly pointed out it was “just sad.”

(Kristi’s Note:  There has been questions raised over the validity of this book being called a true story.  If you’re interested, you can read one historian’s rebuttal here.  I’m going to stick with my “another blog, another day” mantra and side step this rabbit hole.  Whether it’s 100% historically accurate or not does not, in my opinion, change the emotional reaction to the injustice that is portrayed.)

I think sadness is a natural reaction to many books on war, we feel powerless because most are based, at least in part, on a war that has already occurred.  There’s nothing we can do to change what already happened and it can be difficult to get stuck in that powerful grip of grief, especially for a young reader.

So as much as my parental heart was breaking for the sadness Noah was feeling, I was encouraged by the fact that he had come to me.  Perhaps looking at first for just the open arms I automatically offered, but knowing that I was there to talk about it if he wanted to explore that feeling on a deeper level.  That conversation, that is where the power of these types of stories lie; they help the reader look beyond the sad to ask questions and try to understand; to empathize.

That moment in the kitchen, while it was still so raw he wasn’t quite ready to talk yet and I let him be.  I found him a little while later with the rest of the books I had set aside for this post, The Cherry Tree, Hiroshima No Pika, The Red Piano and Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear, curled up on the papasan in my office.  If I haven’t said it lately; kids are amazing.  He’d already read those titles before but I think he was, like I had been doing earlier, trying to draw connections to sort through his feelings.  I knew he’d find me when he was ready.

A few hours later, on a long walk on a gorgeous fall evening, he suddenly started with “That book about the elephants, Mom, it was really sad.”  The door opened and we began a long discussion on what made him sad and what he could do about that feeling.  He snuck in another little nugget that helped me put what I wanted to do with this post into perspective when he said; “I don’t really know that this made me sad about war though, it really just made me sad about how badly they treated the animals.” 

He had a point, and I think that many readers may have a similar reaction to the book.  When I pointed out that what happened to the animals was because of the war, he agreed but said he wasn’t sure if it really fit in with the rest of the books I had chosen for my war post.

This is where I stopped and did a little happy dance in my head.  While I can’t argue with him that Faithful Elephants may not be the best book to pick if you strictly want to stick to the subject of war, but it had struck a nerve with him that it was connected and he wanted to keep talking.  Without any prompting on my part he had pointed out what I found most important about all the books in the controversy category; they invite conversations. 

And so we had a conversation.  And instead of my ramblings about the other books in the category I thought I might offer up some of the wisdom (from both this Mom and her amazing nine-year-old) about what we discovered about each of them.

The Cherry Tree

By: Daisaku Ikeda

Illustrated by: Brian Wildsmith

Translated by: Geraldine McCaughrean

I wasn’t surprised when I asked him which one was his favorite that Noah responded with The Cherry Tree by Daisaku Ikeda or that his reason why was “because it ended really happy.”  The story is of two Japanese children whose father died when their village was destroyed by bombs, leaving them and their mother devastated.

When the two find an old man protecting a dying cherry tree before winter comes, they are determined to see the tree bloom again.  Their mother encourages them to hope, a theme that runs through the tale and is rewarded with a beautifully blooming tree admired by all.  To me, this is a book that is more about the important of perseverance and hope than it is on war, which is why I had picked it for this category.  This may be a good option to broach the topic with young readers that aren’t quite ready for some of these other titles.

Hiroshima No Pika

By: Toshi Maruki

Translated By: Kurita-Bando Literary Agency (Kristi’s Note, there is not a single translator given credit for the title, and this is the way the Batchelder Award was given in 1983.)

I asked him to imagine that one day in the future he was an advisor to the President and it was his job to convince the President not to go to war by giving him one of these books.  After I reassured him that no it would definitely not be our current President he picked Hiroshima No Pika by Toshi Maruki because it showed how bad war can be for humans.  The books has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Batchelder Award and the Ehon Nippon Prize, given for the most excellent picture book from Japan, though it hasn’t been without its fair share of controversy, often ending up on banned and challenged lists.  

As Noah pointed out, the book doesn’t shy away from an accurate depiction of the horrors of war.  It is a story of “The Flash” caused by an atomic bomb being dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and the after effects as told by seven-year-old Mii.  Like Faithful Elephants this book is a heartbreaking, for me even more so as it was based on an actual historical event that caused an unimaginable amount of human suffering and devastation.  The images of chaos, destruction and death aren’t ones the reader is likely to forget.  

Maruki acknowledges in her endnote that though she wanted to write the book it took her a long time to complete as “it is very difficult to tell young people about something very bad that happened, in the hope that their knowing will help keep it from happening again.”  I think Noah recognized that in selecting this as the book to put into the hands of someone who could have an impact on that.

The Red Piano

By: Andre LeBlanc

Illustrated By: Barroux

Translated by: Justine Werner

The Red Piano by Canadian author Andre LeBlanc was his least favorite because he really didn’t understand why the girl was in the camp in the first place.  I agree that without the historical context this one may not evoke the same response as some of the others.  Additionally, I struggled with putting this book, set during China’s Cultural Revolution in this category or my next post on human rights.  The books was produced by Amnesty International and tells the story of a young girl being “re-educated” to the Communist way of life.  At a camp separate from her family, she labors by day and sneaks out at night to practice a piano in the nearby village.  

I won’t give away the whole story which is beautifully illustrated by Barroux, but I will point out that I feel that the fact that the Cultural Revolution is considered one of the bloodiest eras in China’s history justified my choice to categorize it as “war,” the real reason was because of the human connection.  Though not a biography, the story is based loosely on the life of concert pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei.  As I’ve noted, different elements touch us all in different ways and for some, it may be the ability to connect to an actual person who lived through such a tumultuous experience.

Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear

By: Tomi Ungerer

Translated by: None Noted, the book was published by Phaidon Press in 2010, so it may have been done “in house”  It was translated from German.

Tomi Ungerer’s Otto: The Autobiography of a Teddy Bear is the one that Noah said he would give to his sister or friends to explain why there shouldn’t be wars.  Similar to Hiroshima No Pika in some of the raw depictions of battles on the streets of Germany during WWII, I think Noah’s right that this one may be a good balance between soft (it’s told through the eyes of teddy bear and it has a positive ending) and realistic.  Ungerer doesn’t hold back on his images, but by personifying a child’s toy and channeling complicated emotions through what is normally viewed as an object of comfort makes is more approachable for a young reader.  Make no mistake, bad things happen to Otto (he’s shot, he ends up in the garbage with his stuffing ripped out and is abandoned in a pawn shop for years) but he eventually ends up back in the arms of the one who first loved him.

What began to become clear during out conversation that all these books are all necessary because they each have the ability to connect to a reader in a different away.  Each reader responds and reacts differently to the words and images on the paper, they each have different needs in that moment.  It’s interesting to consider that some of these titles in their source language may be directed toward a much different age reader than what we may see in their translated form because of what and how different information is shared with children in other cultures.

My conversation with Noah didn’t end with the books he had read, but continued on to link some of the feelings the books brought up to more current events.  It always irks me when someone refers to a book as “just a kid’s book,” and it’s conversations like these that were inspired by that “kid book” that I hold up as an answer to that.  There is nothing “just” about books that tackle events and problems that adults can’t even wrap their brains around.  I’m glad that all the books in this category exist to try to help all of us, not just kids, learn, understand and empathize.

Well, death and war – are you all still with me?  Yes, this is a children’s literature blog, I assure you.  And we will get back to some much lighter themes, (Noah asked me to mention that he can’t wait to share his thoughts on poop!) but I’ll be back on Tuesday to look at a few books dealing with human rights.  I realize that is a VERY broad topic and I’m going to be covering a wide range of issues, but I’m trying my best to highlight the fact that if you need them, there are books out there dealing with a wide range of tough topics to tackle.  See you Tuesday!

(Kristi’s additional interesting rabbit hole on the topic of war…  If you have some time, peruse the list of Batchelder award winners.  Many of them have to do with war.  In fact, there are quite a few picture books on there that I could have used for this post.  I personally find that a little worrisome because based on what I now know, I don’t think it’s a very accurate depiction of the titles that would be eligible for the award.  If that is what readers are using as their “go to” source to find translated books, it’s a little skewed.  But, another blog for another day!)