Journey Back to Freedom by Catherine Johnson (Children's, 9 years +, 8/10E)

 

September 2022, Barrington Stoke, 120 pages, Reading Age 8, 9 years +, Review copy 

Summary from Barrington Stoke

Aged only eleven, Olaudah Equiano was cruelly snatched away from his home in Africa and sold into slavery. He spent much of the next ten years at sea, travelling to the far corners of the globe, witnessing horrendous cruelty and occasional kindness, experiencing daring adventures and extreme peril. Throughout it all, he never gave up hope that one day he would be free again. But little did he imagine that the story of his remarkable life would become a bestselling book and help the cause to abolish slavery.

Nayu's thoughts

I think I knew the story when I received it for review, but I forgot, saw the pretty cover and dived in thinking it's a happy tale. I didn't get past chapter one. These days I struggle with reality stories, and I knew this wasn't for me. I've read Catherine's books in the past so know the tale will be a good one. I peeked at the end and it is happy but I just can't cope with all the middle bits knowing it's based on reality. I still wanted to feature it because Catherine is a brilliant author, plus the cover by Katie Hickey is stunning. So check it out if you like this kind of historical based read! There are the usual Barrington Stoke easy to read font on off-white pages. 

Find out more on Catherine's website.

Suggested read

Other books by Catherine include those for older readers like The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo by Catherine Johnson (Young Adult, 9/10E) 

Nayu's Feature Posts #3 Water Safety with Royal Life Saving Society UK 2018

Image provided by RLSS UK

 I got approached by Royal Life Saving Society UK with tips on how to try and prevent water accidents. It's not the most pleasant of topics, but as you'll see in the post there are quite a lot of accidental drownings in water each year, and it's not necessarily always the people you hear about on the news. For some reason I didn't think people participating in water sports would be affected (surely they have life jackets and know about water safety), but they are. I knew about idiots who think it's fun to do cliff diving (NEVER DO IT!) and who invariable having severe or fatal accidents doing that. There are other surprising accidents with water. 

Because this is a PSA (public services announcement: something everyone should know) type post I am putting it on both my blogs, this one and Nayu's Reading Corner at the same time, to maximise the amount of people I can get this message towards. 

Here's the all important info: please share this with your friends and family, especially if they go near water. The first paragraph is directly from a RLSS UK email: 

Thousands of people are hospitalised due to near drowning experiences in the UK every year and hundreds more lose their lives. A national campaign to tackle the problem kicks off this week [this was in June, I'm a little later than planned posting this] and will see leisure centres, schools, businesses and communities uniting across the UK to try to prevent summer drowning tragedies. 

Here's an even easier image to remember the main points: 

This may be from a previous campaign - I got it from Google.

So wherever you are remember to stay safe this summer! 

Nayu's Feature Posts #2 ESSN

Nayu: This info in this post appealed to me as it seems such a good idea. I hope you find it informative! More info and illustrations can be found on the ESSN website. Everything below this paragraph is from the press release sheet and the website. It's true no matter who you are or what's going on in your life there are certain actions which most of us do, and can relate to. I think this helps explain the plight of refugees frther.

 The Emergency Social Safety Net (ESSN) is a programme that provides cash to the most vulnerable refugee families living in Turkey. They can spend the cash on whatever they decide is most important. It could be food, fuel, rent or medicine.

Shoes provide a step into normality for Syrian refugee children 

European children’s book illustrators come together to show how Syrian refugee children find new hope and stability through everyday objects.

The European Union (EU) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) have teamed up with children’s book illustrators from across the EU to depict the importance of everyday objects in providing hope, security and comfort to refugee children who have been uprooted from their homes and normality. 

As experts on understanding and visualizing the world from a child’s point of view, these emerging European illustrators have come together to portray how seemingly mundane items mean so much more to a refugee child than we could know. From a teddy bear or a story book to a toothbrush or a pair of shoes, these objects provide something they can call their own - an escapism from reality. These items comfort the children with a familiar taste of home and give them hope and the excitement that every child deserves. 

Belgian illustrator Hanneke Supply highlights the  importance of a nightly routine for a child. This image  depicts the simplicity of a bedtime story, allowing important quality time with the family. 

Nayu: stories are what makes the world go round!

Estonian-Born illustrator Aleksei Bitskoff shows us how children attach their hearts to objects they know and love, these objects are necessities that a child should never be without. The joy and excitement in these children’s eyes show the mesmerising effect simple objects can have on their imagination thanks to assistance from the EU. 

Kristyna Litten, a UK-based author and illustrator (Blue and Bertie) with Eastern European heritage, takes us through the comfort of morning and evening routines for refugee children. This is illustrated through daily meals and the joy of playing with friends. (Nayu: picture below is 1 of several in the project)

Nayu's Feature Post #1: Illustrators raise money for Three Peas charity

This post is about an illustration charity auction that took place late June. I was contacted by a publicist who volunteers with the sweetly named charity, Three Peas, who help refugee families stranded in Greece.  I'd hoped to post this sooner, but life happened. While the auction is over, the charity still needs support, so I thought I'd share the info about the event and what the charity does. You can find more on their website, and the auction website if you're interested.

They raised just over £11,000 - yes that's eleven thousand pounds! Whoohoo! 

The publicist told me it's much more than they hoped to raised, that Three Peas can continue their housing project (renting flats for the most vulnerable), and with the running of the community centre in Sindos (paying rent, teachers -often refugees themselves-, journeys to hospital etc). As you can see the charity provides a wide range of care for the refugees, and the auction has meant their vital work can continue. If you want to support them, you can, and if you don't that's fine too. Just reading this post is important, as you may then discuss it with friends and family.

Illustrators involved in the auction

 

Nayu: I recognised a few of the illustrators  - do you? Here's the list, with a links to a review of their work if they are on this blog.

 

Anke Kuhl

Axel Scheffler

Barbara Nascimbeni

Barroux

Bethan Woollvin

Britta Teckentrup: books include Seasons Come, Seasons Go: Tree by Britta Teekentrup (Children's, Picture book, 10/10E)

Chris Riddell

Ella Okstad

Emily Gravett: Books include Matilda's Cat by Emily Gravett (Children's, Picture Book, 10/10)

Helen Stephens

Ian Beck

Joel Stewart

Jonny Duddle

Katherina Manolessou

Kerstin Meyer

Kristina Stephenson

Lauren Child

Liz Pichon

Mini Grey: books include Three by the Sea by Mini Grey (Children's, Picture book, 5 years +, 9/10E)

Moni Port

Oliver Jeffers

Penny Dale

Peter Bailey

Philip Waechter

Ros Asquith: books include The Great Big Body Book by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith (Children's, Non-fiction, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review) 

Rotraut Susanne Berner

Sarah Horne

Sarah McIntyre: books include Vern and Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre (Children's, Graphic Novel, 7 years +, 10E/10E)

Satoshi Kitamura: books including The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly by Luis Sepulveda, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura (Children's, 7 years +, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

Sophy Henn

Thomas M Mueller

Tony Ross

Tor Freeman 

Illustrations sold at auction included: 

A print by Moni Port,

Nayu: it's a sausage dog!!!

An original by Bethan Woollvin.

Nayu: Possibly Rapunzel, or a bored princess with long hair. Love the attitude!

Final words from Three Peas

33 illustrators, 56 pieces and so many bidders from all around Europe, our auction “Illustrators for Three Peas” has been a tremendous success!

Three Peas would like to thank the illustrators for their immense generosity, the bidders for their (reckless!) enthusiasm, and all the publishers, agents, bloggers, journalists, and organisations & individuals who helped spread the word. We couldn’t have done it without you.

We raised £11 000, which will carry the running of our community centre and our housing program for about two months, paying rents, teachers wages, medication supplies and much more.
For the refugee families and individuals stranded in Greece, with no choice but to rely on the kindness of strangers, the impact of your help is priceless.

Thank you for being the kind strangers!