by Neil Gaiman
illustrated by various
13 artists
 
Back in 2019, author Neil Gaiman put this question to his Twitter followers: What reminds you of warmth? Out of a multitude of replies, he carefully strung together a poem to form part of UNHCR’s winter appeal. This beautiful hardback, with its wonderfully disciplined black/white/orange palette, introduces us to this simple, powerful verse. It starts out with each double page spread conjuring up feelings of warmth straight out of the everyday, bringing us together in the thought of a baked potato, a hot drink, a cosy fireplace. And then, half way through, there is a shift as we witness people leaving homelands, looking for places of sanctuary and sources of warmth. As the publisher says, this poetic text sings loudly with the message that, “It is our right to feel safe, whoever we are and wherever we are from. It is about holding out a hand to welcome those who find themselves far from home.”

Each of the spreads is illustrated by a different artist, taking their own inspiration from a couple of the verse’s lines and the ‘Notes from the Artists’ section shows the different ways each of them worked with the material. Illustrators: Oliver Jeffers, Yuliya Gwilym, Nadine Kaadan, Pam Smy, Daniel Egnéus, Beth Suzanna, Mrei-Alice Harel, Petr Horáček, Chris Riddell, Bagram Ibatoulline, Benji Davies, Majid Adin, Richard Jones. A fantastic classroom springboard for discussions about conflict and displacement. Age 7-14, Hardback 28pp
 
Themes: Refugees and Migration