"War saddens, crushes, and silences.
War is a machine for pain -
The Evil Factory of all kinds of rage.
War begets shadowy, iron children."
It's very hard to talk with children about war, unless they have been subject to one. As teachers, we always look to share books that might invite discussion and provide a stepping stone to a better understanding of how wars happen, and why. Adults, who have not faced the terror or consequences of war, are often hard-pressed to find an opening that encourages students who have lived through such events to be willing to share their experiences.
Written by a Portuguese father-and-son team, this one attempts to answer relevant questions about how war happens, and what are the outcomes of such conflicts. The art is stark, done in black, gray and tan. As the book begins, readers see spiders and snakes fill the pages, and the snakes creeping ever forward. They move through a forest of trees until the sky lightens with a fiery orange.
The author describes their movement.
"War spreads through the day like
a whispered, swift disease."
The text remains minimal, the illustrations move readers past a darkened building where one man stands alone apparently making decisions with little thought to the effects on others. There is hatred, fear, and vengeance ... all brought too often upon the innocent. Endless rows of soldiers, the sky full of bombers dropping bombs that destroy everything and leave countless dead, and the silence that follows perfectly describe what war is.
It is a complicated and serious topic for discussion, but worthy of attention to help open conversations that have no easy answers or quick resolutions.
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