“Alive Writers. How to talk to children about war and peace”

About the project. A team of specialists from the BaraBooka Children’s Reading Laboratory of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and expert educators and psychologists from the “Smart Osvita” NGO developed the “Alive Writers. How to talk to children about war and peace” project.

The goal of the project. To help children and adolescents cope with the experience of war, it is essential not only to talk to them about this but also to read special literature. Literature allows children to gain new experiences in a safe environment and to perceive events remotely, thus learning to empathize, accept, and understand themselves and others.

In 2019 and 2021, two thematic guides for parents and educators were created and are available for free on the “Alive Writers” website.

In November 2023, the third thematic guide was published. A list of contemporary children’s and teenage books that deal with combat, trauma, and loss, and those that touch on aspects of life important in war was selected. The experts held a closed vote to decide the manuscripts, which resulted in the selection of 40 children’s books for reading about war and peace that scored 4 or more points (on a 5-point rating scale).

The third thematic guide is available for free download and printing here.

Expert Council: Halyna Tytysh, Tetiana Stus, Svitlana Roiz, Olha Kupriian, Mariia Artemenko, Anna Tretiak, Anastasiia Muzychenko, Halyna Tkachuk.

In addition to the third guide, the project experts prepared 5 webinars for parents and educators on reading literature about the war, which took place in November 2023, and video and text materials under the tag #howtotalktochildrenaboutwar.

Partners:

• BaraBooka of the Minor Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
• Ukrainian Book Institute

Term: from 2019.

#AliveWriters #howtotalktochildrenaboutwar