WickWick war and peace books add fourth title for young readers
Finnish publisher WickWick has expanded Tuula Pere’s picture-book series on war, displacement and peace with Mother’s Bread Dough.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
WickWick has expanded its War and Peace picture-book series with a fourth title, adding to a children’s list built around war, displacement and peacebuilding. The WickWick war and peace books have also moved beyond Finland, including Arabic editions that reached children at a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan.
The Helsinki-based publisher’s series is written by Dr. Tuula Pere and now includes Lullaby of the Valley, Between the Walls, Raspberry Red and the new Mother’s Bread Dough. The books are aimed at young readers facing, or trying to understand, subjects usually treated as adult concerns.
What is WickWick’s war and peace picture book series?
The series uses picture-book stories to address conflict, forced flight, memory and reconciliation in language intended for children. Pere has described the approach behind Between the Walls, a story about two towns separated by a wall, as “diplomacy of the heart.”
Mother’s Bread Dough, illustrated by Stefan Turk, follows Leo and his mother as they flee their home carrying bread, a kneading bowl and a family sourdough starter. The book places the series’ themes inside a child’s experience of leaving home and holding on to family traditions.
The title took third place in the Best Children’s Book category of the Outstanding Creator Awards’ Spring 2023 contest, according to WickWick. Between the Walls took second place in the same category, and Pere is a two-time Author of the Year honoree in the awards program.
The project began after Pere saw a Suomen Kuvalehti cover showing a young girl in ruins in the Middle East under the headline “Only she is left.” Pere said the image moved her to write about war and peace for children, drawing as well on memories from older generations in Finland.
Raspberry Red, illustrated by Georgia Stylou, is based on a true childhood account from Finland’s Winter War of 1939-40. Pere said passing such experiences to younger readers can help them learn from the past.
The books have gained an unusual international path for a small Finnish picture-book series. In 2019, WickWick sold worldwide Arabic translation and publishing rights for Between the Walls, Lullaby of the Valley and Raspberry Red to Al Hokama Publishing FZ LLC, the publishing arm of the Muslim Council of Elders in Abu Dhabi.
Emirates News Agency reported that the Arabic editions were launched on Dec. 2, 2019, at Mrajeeb Al Fhood, an Emirati-funded camp for Syrian refugees in northern Jordan. Books were distributed to children, and Raspberry Red was read aloud to dozens of them.
The publisher also says Between the Walls and Lullaby of the Valley were delivered through diplomatic channels to leaders attending the 2018 Helsinki summit. That detail underlines the series’ dual framing: books for children that also speak to adults working around conflict and reconciliation.
The broader war and peace picture book series for children is published in English, Finnish and Swedish editions, while Mother’s Bread Dough is currently available in English and Finnish. WickWick says additional language editions are in preparation.