Gill Lewis's Reading List

"The first book I’ve chosen is for very young children – but any age would enjoy it – and really is it a simple story about kindness. It is called Small Finds a Home by Celestine and the Hare. I loved it because it reminded me of my childhood and playing outside. The illustrations are made up of photographs of felted characters. It’s a very gentle book full of cheeky fun. It’s a story about a little weasel who finds a lost small creature. There aren’t any questions like ‘who are you?’ or ‘where are you from?’. It is simply a description of acceptance of someone for who they are, and not expecting anything in return for this kindness. It’s not directly about the refugee crisis – but it is about not judging others and about the rewards of kindness."

"I couldn’t not include this book, or graphic novel, in my choices. I particularly love the fact that such a wide range of ages can get something from reading this book. You can read it all in one go, dip in and out or just look at some of the pictures. It doesn’t matter, as there is so much to absorb or discuss on every page. Right from the beginning of this story there is a sense of creeping dread. We don’t know what this dread is. As the reader you are following the character’s journey from their familiar life to their arrival in a whole new place where life is totally different. It has a dream-like quality which captures how surreal the refugee experience must be at times. The reader is asked what it might be like to be dropped into an alien culture. The illustrations capture the subtleties as well as strangeness of the refugee experience. The illustrations draw on historic fact and familiar images and remind us that in many ways we are all immigrants. Or descended from immigrants. I read it with one of my daughters who was about nine at the time and she noticed an entirely new story in the pictures which I hadn’t spotted at all. I found this delightful. In fact, every time I look at it I notice something new. It is one of those books that grows and grows in your mind. It stays with you long after you’ve read the last page. The fact that it is only told through illustrations makes it accessible to anyone, no matter what their language or cultural background. It is. And even so, it’s a safe version. It’s not going to disturb or distress the reader. It is really brilliantly balanced in that sense."

"It’s a much darker book – a very stark, grim book that pulls no punches. It isn’t easy or comfortable at all. There may be some children ready for this at ten years old but parents need to make that judgement. There are distressing images in the book. Children do have access to distressing information and images – found on the internet or in the news and the media – and this information is often just a glimpse with no explanation, no history, nothing linking it to real lives in a meaningful way. That is the worst way to come into contact with this type of information about the world. Here, although it’s not a comfortable read, you do see the story behind the distress, revealed as you follow Alpha’s journey and all the events taking place around him. It tells a devastating true story about many people’s journeys and the hardships they have to bear. “It has a dream-like quality which captures how surreal the refugee experience must be at times” I was at the Islington Centre last week. The people there were saying that they hadn’t made the boat journey but instead had made the desert journey. They explained that in the desert the journey was just as terrifying as at sea. To be left in the desert would mean certain death just as a capsizing boat would. They were as isolated in an ocean of sand as in an ocean of water. This story feels like so many people’s story. The terrible uncertainty of everything. Alpha’s wife and son have gone on ahead of him. There is no contact. This is so painfully beyond my understanding; I don’t know how people cope. The illustrations are very dramatic – pen and ink, very simple lines, simple splashes of colour. They effectively describe the boat journey. When someone falls over the side, it’s so quick, just a splash, and then they are gone. Part of me hesitated about putting this book on my list. It paints a very dark picture. It contains a bleak hope but it is so slim. Things don’t work out for Alpha. This is important to understand, too – in real life there aren’t always happy endings. And this is how things are for so many people. Yes, and there are lighter human stories. One of the characters wants to be a footballer, and on page 53 he is described maintaining his form in the face of unimaginable hardship. This is how he retains his hope for his future. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter It also shows how war and conflict robs bright young things of their futures. How devastating it must be to have an education, to have such hopes and then to have them removed so forcibly. To have that taken away is so cruel."

"Most of the refugee stories we see are stories about someone else making a journey to where we are. These books are great because they put us in someone else’s shoes. They give us a window through to someone else’s world. But After Tomorrow does something else. And it’s really very clever. After Tomorrow doesn’t put up a window, it puts up a mirror. It asks us to consider what if this happened here, in Britain? In this story the banks have collapsed. Food is being hoarded. Law and order has largely broken down. We join the family at this point. It is a terrifying read. If I was a child I would feel that this could happen. Yes, and it comes back to trying to look after your family. How do you look after those around you? The family have to get on a truck and go on a dangerous journey, ending up in a refugee camp with the villagers looking on with contempt. Feeling unwanted, yet having no choice but to ask for the kindness of others. It’s a poignant book and, while terrifying, is full of hope and some great characters. One I particularly liked is a kind of earth-mother type who generates a sense of togetherness. It is a powerful book that asks important questions of the reader. Simple things like, when it starts raining how do you keep dry? Which queue do you get into? There’s a sense of urgency, yet you have no control. Others have control over you. I think this creates an atmosphere of unease throughout the book – a fear of losing your identity. You don’t know if you’ll ever be able to return home, or to any kind of familiarity. The broader picture is knowing how fragile freedom is. How easy it is to take this for granted. Yet, when you look historically, it is easy to see that we haven’t always been so lucky. I am aware that the next generation needs to understand that freedom needs protection. These books show what a complicated web the world is today. We have a global responsibility for the displacement of people. The need for certain resources can cause tragedy and create war. In my book Gorilla Dawn I explore how the global demand for certain minerals, that are key components in the manufacture of mobile phones, has perpetuated civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have a global responsibility to ensure that our supply chains are conflict free. If we want a safe world we have to take these steps. “We have a global responsibility to ensure that our supply chains are conflict free” One of the ways to ensure a safe future for your family is through education – books are very much at the heart of education. There are so many threads and factors about the refugee crisis and all of them affect us directly. Books are often a child’s first glimpse of the outside world. Education is central to empowerment – as are safety and love. Children, all children deserve this."

"The author says this is effectively a work of fiction. But it is closely based on the true story narrated to him by a refugee, Enaiatollah Akbadi. In the foreward, Fabio Geda says that writing the story allowed Enaiatollah to take possession of his story. This is very important to many refugees I have spoken to. What is interesting about this book is that we are regularly and suddenly pulled out of the story by snippets of interviews or interjections and questions from the author himself. For example, on page 93 Geda interrupts the story to ask Enaiatollah a question: How can you just change your life like that? Just say goodbye one morning. You just do Fabio. I read somewhere that the decision to emigrate comes from a need to breathe. The hope of a better life is stronger than any other feeling. My mother decided it was better to know I was in danger far from her; but on the way to a different future, than to know I was in danger near her; but stuck in the same old fear. The timing of these interjections is perfect. Partly because I was thinking of a similar question as I read it. And this draws the reader even more closely into the story. It makes you think about the enormity of the decision to leave home. And how will you ever create a new home. It is also a very readable book. There is a safety net for a child when they understand how empathy works, because if you can understand others then it follows that other people have the ability to understand you, too. Once you realise this it is easier to be tolerant. And tolerance brings happiness and peace. The other thing these stories do is allow us to see the individuals in the news stories, not just the anonymous ‘refugees.’ This is vital for our understanding of the global tragedy. The act of sharing our stories, even though many of these stories are devastating, is still an important thing. The more we can learn about other people’s lives the richer our own lives will become. Fundamentally, it is about widening our communities and sharing our stories. Stories are, after all, what makes us human. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount ."