BookDragon Blog

“I look at the sky, I close my eyes, / and my imagination begins to soar …,” so begins this beautiful, but bittersweet picture book – bittersweet because for now, the little girl can only imagine, dream, wish for peace in her war-torn country of Afghanistan. For decades, her country has been decimated by violence, which means this little girl (and her entire generation and more) can only know peace in her sky-high dreams.

That said, buying this book is an immediately doable easy step towards peace because author Ana A. de Eulate and illustrator Sonja Wimmer are donating all proceeds to Fundacíon Cometa, a Spain-based organization that promotes educational projects, especially as a means “to empower women to be the vehicles that convey those egalitarian values of respect and human rights to their children.” Women and girls will be the ones to break the cycle of violence and war.

To move from dreams to making a new reality, never underestimate the power of a determined little girl. She dreams of a time when “the sound of war has truly gone forever.” Surely that must be a birthright for all children? Her unwavering convictions are testimony that she “can make this dream come true, / a wonderful  dream in which we all hold hands, / and we are all given a new opportunity / to leave our footprints for all eternity.” How impossible not to be touched by the book’s final thought, the longing for “A place – please forgive me if my eyes fill with / tears – that leads us towards PEACE.”

But before you close the book, go back and linger over the pictures. Beyond de Eulate’s inspiring words, Wimmer’s illustrations – from the smallest details to swirling, sweeping scenes — surely add volumes: a caged dove flying to freedom; the children’s various smiles, from the uncertain to the bursting; the women’s heavy blue burqas drawn over grid paper as if to show them to be the cages they are, and the daring few who momentary lift their veils to witness the little girl being lifted up (and away) by her high-flying kite before she, too, is caged; the (vibrantly colorful) intricate toys as the little girl plays on top of (dingy monotone) garbage and rubble, the bright lily bursting forth larger than life from a shrinking tank’s gun, the young girls at their desks with books and pencils in hand, various pieces of Afghan maps as if waiting to be reassembled back together, the cancelled Afghan stamps as reminders of the need for communication near and far.

Go ahead, enter this dreamy world … then help make it reality.

Readers: Children

Published: 2012 (United States)