Tomorrow

What would it be like to be confined to your house, never able to go out? But you are not ill. There seems to be no reason why you are shut in. However, outside a war rages, the streets are not safe, the conflict has been created by adults but it affects children. This is the life of Yazan who longs to go to the park, but his Mother, once a painter, now just watches the news. If they do go out it involves phone calls…why? Perhaps Yazan could take himself out…

There are a number of books now which draw the reader into the experience of refugees; there are fewer that highlight the effect of war on those that still live in cities where bombing and hostility are the norm. While Nadine Kadaan’s picture book draws on her experience of living in Damascus and was originally written in Arabic, Yazan’s life is one that can be mirrored in many places round the world and it is to be welcomed in this translation. The text is straightforward, unadorned, direct. The illustrations add power, creating the door to both a sympathetic and empathetic response. Yazan’s boredom and sadness are emphasised by bare rooms and a sombre palette, we get a hint of past happiness in the red of his mother’s dress before being overwhelmed by grasping shadows pouring from the television. Vertiginous perspectives give a sense of the destruction of the buildings – these are reflected in the dress of the adults, emphasising their roles both as a prison and as a playground. The endpapers add to this narrative as we see a row of newspaper dolls on the opening spread – figures covered in text, but the final spread shows the dolls without text against a grass green background. Maybe the future will bring them freedom to play in the park. This is I think an important picture book, and Lantana is to congratulated for publishing it here.