The introduction to this new anthology of poetry and prose says: ‘… do you realise how many wars have been going on in the world since the last World War ended in 1945? …  You, the children of today, are the ones with the power to make it stop.  Tomorrow, when you are the grown-ups, you can make the world a more peaceful place.”

In response to the war in Iraq writers and illustrators from around the world were asked to contribute work for an anthology.  All profits and royalties from this book go to UNICEF’s emergency appeal for the children of Iraq.

This is a powerful and confronting anthology, organised into six chapters from ‘The Road to War’ to ‘Seeds of Hope’.  It contains work by some of the world’s leading writers and illustrators for children and young adults.  Well-known names like Jane Yolen, Kevin Crossley-Holland, David Almond, Shirley Hughes, Michael Rosen, Nick Sharratt, Tony Ross, Korky Paul and Jane Ray are included.  Australia is well represented with three contributions from Wendy Blaxland, including her moving reflection on the form miracles can take in ‘Miracle’; a spin on war that no-one but Steven Herrick could voice in his poem ‘Early Monday Morning’; a sharp bite to make you sit up and think from Bob Graham in ‘Bang On!’ and a gently lyrical glimpse of life beyond war, called ‘Away From War’ by Lorraine Marwood, Bendigo’s internationally renowned literary poet.

Like all anthologies some pieces will appeal more than others.  The poems often work more effectively than some of the prose pieces, especially the excerpts from longer stories, which take longer to settle into than the stand-alone short stories and traditionally-flavoured tales.  But you will be hard-pressed not to find something that speaks to you, and to young readers from Prep/Kinder through to secondary aged students.

This book is already into its second reprinting and has been selected as a set text in Britain.  I hope it is a book that finds its way onto the shelves of all libraries and into the hands and hearts of tomorrow’s adults.

Review by Sarah Mayor Cox

© 2003 Sarah Mayor Cox