Story Boat

Written by Kyo Maclear

Illustrated by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Tundra

978-0-7352-6359-8

40 pp.

Ages 3-7

February 2020

A young girl and her little brother begin a journey with family and others, travelling from one "here" to another "here" and finding comfort where they may in a cup, a blanket, and especially in a story of hope.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

As they travel, the girl tries to explain the concept of "here" to her little brother. The concept can be a difficult one for very young children to grasp, especially as "here" is constantly changing for the travellers. But here becomes whatever is on hand that creates a permanency of people and emotion. It's the cup "Old and fine, warm as a hug" or a "song that every can sing." And, always, that cup or song, or blanket or lamp, or flower, becomes part of a story boat that takes the two children and their cat to see hope amidst a turbulent sea.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Kyo Maclear, author of my favourite Virginia Wolf (2012), consistently tackles big issues by making them personal and intimate. Leaving one's home for something safer, travelling into uncertainty, and looking for hope wherever it may reside will sadly be familiar to most refugees looking for new homes after violence, persecution, and instability compels them to leave the homes they've always known.

Here is our journey
That holds the warmth of a cup,
The softness of a blanket,
The brightness of a lamp,
The strength of a flower
And the openness of a story.

Imagine what it must be like for young children for whom the destination is a grey hole of nothingness, unable to anticipate where home may be or who will be there or what it will look like. Kyo Maclear's wonderful child's storytelling transports them to a new here.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Award-winning Iranian-born illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh, who currently lives in Washington D.C., fuses the gravity of the refugees' lives with their comforts from home and hope for something good. She does this primarily through her palette of backgrounds of muted blue green and splashes of brightness in the oranges, though much is still black and white, not unlike their circumstances. However, Rashin Kheiriyeh's art, created with coloured pencil and watercolour, oil and acrylic paint, along with some cut paper and other media, also uses shape to infuse the story with the activity of movement, whether it is the travellers' journey on foot or on water or the children's jaunts by story boat. Thankfully, it's all forward from an old here to a new one.

Kyo Maclear and Rashin Kheiriyeh's Story Boat may be a story of those seeking refuge and children finding ways to cope with uncertainty but this story transports and guides just like their story boat. For them and for us, stories can save and illuminate new ways.

From Story Boat by Kyo Maclear, illus. by Rashin Kheiriyeh