Commemorating World Refugee Day with The Day War Came

On the 18^th of June we commemorated Refugee Week with a special event for The Day War Came at The Book Club. We had author Nicola Davies and illustrator Rebecca Cobb on a panel with 100 chair illustrations up for grabs including pieces from Shirley Hughes, Shaun Tan and Nick Sharratt. Tickets were £20 with everyone receiving a randomly allocated chair illustration – all money from tickets has been donated to Help Refugees. 

A powerful and necessary picture book, The Day War Came shows the journey of a child forced to become a refugee when war destroys everything she has ever known. 

Imagine if, on an ordinary day, war came. Imagine it turned your town to rubble. Imagine going on a long and difficult journey – all alone. Imagine finding no welcome at the end of it. Then imagine a child who gives you something small but very, very precious... When the government refused to allow 3000 child refugees to enter this country in 2016, Nicola Davies was so angry she wrote a poem. It started a campaign for which artists contributed drawings of chairs, symbolising a seat in a classroom, education, kindness, the hope of a future. The poem has become this book, movingly illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, which should prove a powerful aid for explaining the ongoing refugee crisis to younger readers. 

50p from every paperback copy sold goes to the charity Help Refugees – find out more about their wonderful work at their website, helprefugees.org.

You can pick up a copy of The Day War Came at your local bookshop and you can find The Day War Came teacher's notes here.

Three Walker Picture Books Shortlisted for the 2019 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal

We are absolutely thrilled to say that three Walker picture books have made the shortlist of the 2019 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. You can see the full selection of titles below.

Julian is a Mermaid illustrated and written by Jessica Love

The Day War Came illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, written by Nicola Davies

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse illustrated by Jon Klassen, written by Mac Barnett

Good to luck to all the illustrators shortlisted! You can pick copies of all these books at your local bookshop.

PREVIOUS KATE GREENAWAY MEDAL WINS FOR WALKER BOOKS:

2018 Sydney Smith, Town Is by the Sea
2014 Jon Klassen, This is Not My Hat
2012 Jim Kay, A Monster Calls
2004 Chris Riddell, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver
2002 Bob Graham, Jethro Byrde, Fairy Child
2001 Chris Riddell, Pirate Diary
1999 Helen Oxenbury, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
1997 P J Lynch, When Jessie Came Across the Sea
1995 P J Lynch, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
1988 Barbara Firth, Can't You Sleep Little Bear?
1985 Juan Wijngaard, Sir Gawain and the Loathly Lady

The Day War Came

A powerful and necessary picture book – the journey of a child forced to become a refugee when war destroys everything she has ever known.

Imagine if, on an ordinary day, war came. Imagine it turned your town to rubble. Imagine going on a long and difficult journey – all alone. Imagine finding no welcome at the end of it. Then imagine a child who gives you something small but very, very precious... When the government refused to allow 3000 child refugees to enter this country in 2016, Nicola Davies was so angry she wrote a poem. It started a campaign for which artists contributed drawings of chairs, symbolising a seat in a classroom, education, kindness, the hope of a future. The poem has become this book, movingly illustrated by Rebecca Cobb, which should prove a powerful aid for explaining the ongoing refugee crisis to younger readers. 

£1 from every copy sold goes to the charity Help Refugees – find out more about their wonderful work at their website, helprefugees.org.

Behind the scenes with Rebecca Cobb

We’re excited to welcome Rebecca Cobb to the Picture Book Party blog for a behind-the-scenes look at The Day War Came

Nicola Davies wrote The Day War Came when in 2016 the UK government voted against giving sanctuary to 3000 lone child refugees and after she had heard a story about a little girl refugee being turned away from a school because she was told there was no chair for her. Nicola started the #3000chairs campaign with the illustrators Jackie Morris and Petr Horáček, drawing chairs as symbols of solidarity with all those children who were completely alone and with nowhere to go.

My work for The Day War Came all began with a drawing of a chair for this campaign, so it felt appropriate to use images of chairs throughout the book.

The chair is a very meaningful symbol and is central to Nicola’s poignant, beautiful poem because the little girl is told that not having a chair is the reason she is refused entry to the school. It is a very simple everyday object but it somehow represents the things that children should be able to expect from life - a secure, safe home environment and access to an education.

At the beginning of the book, the little girl sits on a chair at home with her family to eat breakfast and then she goes to school and sits on a chair in her classroom to learn about volcanoes and draw birds.

But then, when the war explodes across the page, the chairs are thrown over and she has to flee, leaving them behind.

I love Nicola’s positive message of hope at the end of the book, where a boy brings the girl a chair and then we see that all his friends have brought chairs too. I think it is often true in life that children are the ones who remind us how to be kind and look after each other.

If you’d like to join in with #3000chairs too, then here is my guide on how to draw a chair:

You can pick up a copy of The Day War Came at your local bookshop and you can find The Day War Came teacher's notes here.