Sparking Peace -- Book Review & Giveaway

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. I am working with The Children's Book Review and Herald Press to bring you this post.

Has your community or family suffered from gun violence? I feel like all the school shootings and random shootings are make us apathetic unless it is in our circle. I remember when the Columbine school shooting happened. Do you? It was the first school shooting. I was teaching in public school in Massachusetts then, but it was a school vacation week. I remember watching it on television and yelling at the reporters and cameramen to stop and help the kids running out of the school instead of sharing the story. As a teacher I couldn't imagine adults not caring for the kids who just went through this awful experience. When we got back to school, we had to address it. Kids were telling me their parents helped them plan out escape routes from any class they had. Now I feel like we hear about a shooting at a school, a mall, etc. and we may say a prayer for the victims, but it is not as big of a deal. Even the media doesn't cover it like they covered Columbine. Hazel has brought up what it is like to be growing up in this time of school shootings. We tried to hide it from her when she was young, but as grew older and the shootings became more commonplace, she heard about them. Today we are sharing a powerful book about a community finding a way to spark peace after some gun violence. The book is Sparking Peace by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky and Hannah Rose Martin and illustrated by Gabhor Utomo. At the end of this post there is a giveaway as well!

About the Book:

Sparking Peace Written by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky and Hannah Rose Martin and 
Illustrated by Gabhor Utomo

Ages 5+ | 40 Pages | Publisher: Herald Press | ISBN-13: 9781513813707

Publisher’s Book Summary: Broken into beautiful. A story of friendship and healing.

After breaking a neighbor’s window, a young child discovers friendship, transformation, and new beginnings in an unlikely story of peace. Gentle and moving, this poetic tale offers readers a hopeful path in the face of gun violence and despair, showing kids how peacemaking can turn conflict into friendship and new beginnings—and forge guns into garden tools.

Children grow up with lockdowns and gun violence as part of their reality. As parents, caregivers, and educators, how should we respond? Sparking Peace provides a springboard for those seeking to discuss gun violence and trauma with children in a safe way that highlights help rather than harm. This picture book helps children learn about conflict while also carefully addressing gun violence and peacemaking. It includes resources that equip parents and educators to talk about gun violence and trauma, using a story of a broken window to show kids how conflict can be transformed through acts of peace. Suggested reading for ages 5–9.

Purchase Links
Amazon
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Bookshop.org

About the Authors

Teresa Kim Pecinovsky holds a master of education from the University of Houston and a master of divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School. She is an ordained minister through the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Rev. Teresa is the author of the children’s book Mother God and coauthor of The Peace Table. A healthcare chaplain, she lives with her family in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Hannah Rose Martin has had a passion for children’s education since she was in the 2nd grade, which led to a bachelor’s degree in education. She began teaching in an elementary school and is now a reading interventionist and Mennonite pastor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is a wife and mother of two energetic children who love books. She was inspired to teach and write because she saw a need for curriculum and books that engage children’s creativity and their role in the community around them. She hopes that Sparking Peace encourages parents and caregivers to have deeper conversations with children and together find that they are just one imaginative idea away from a transformed world.

About the Illustrator:

Gabhor Utomo was born in Indonesia. He moved to California in 1997 to pursue a career as an artist. He received his degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in spring 2003. Today, he works as a freelance illustrator and has illustrated numerous children’s books. His first children’s book, Kai’s Journey to Gold Mountain, tells the story of a young Chinese immigrant on Angel Island. Gabhor’s work has won awards and recognition from local and national art organizations. His painting of Senator Milton Marks is part of a permanent collection at the California State Building in downtown San Francisco. He also created posters for the Mountain Play, an outdoor theater in Marin County, California. He lives with his wife, Dina, and their twin daughters in Portland, Oregon.

From Me:

At first, I found the book a bit confusing. I am guessing it was the way the young boy felt. He broke his neighbor's window when playing with a soccer ball with his friend. He sees a picture of the neighbor, Miss Winifred, and a young boy. The reader never learns who the child is. Miss Winifred is also the only named character in the book. The young boy is going to make up for the accident by helping Miss Winifred in her yard. Her back yard is full of old junk. It includes in the illustration a tricycle, a slide and other toys as well as old furniture and appliances. The young boy works to clean out the backyard. After a couple of weeks Miss Winifred who has barely spoken to the boy leaves a glass of lemonade for him and comes out with her boots and gloves on. She tells him they are going to make a garden. Then on the weekend the young boy and his father go to the community center for a special event. There is blacksmith and forge there. The young boy watches as the blacksmith takes a hot piece of metal out of the forge and hit it with a hammer on the anvil. After a few times of going back and forth between the fire and anvil, the blacksmith opens it up to the audience to come and hammer the metal. The boy is watching it change shape throughout the whole time. Then Miss Winifred comes and hits the metal with a bigger hammer and more than anyone else. The young boy says something to his father and the father talks to the blacksmith. The young boy brings Miss Winifred the garden shovel that was made that day the next time he goes to help with the backyard. 

The boy sees all the sadness in the people at the Community Center. He sees the garden shovel and wonders why they are so sad. It does not mention that the metal was a gun at any point. At the end there are guiding questions for discussions including the various layers in the book. There are many things implied and in the illustrations. This book is powerful. It is about taking back the community after gun violence. I love the idea of the community making gardening tools out of a gun to bring back some peace and sense of community. This book shares this idea, and the discussion questions lean into the gun, the implied things as well as relating creating change in the reader's life. It doesn't have to be gun violence but bullying that kids could come together and stand up to. 

This book is perfect for any community dealing with violence and wanting to create peace. It has powerful messages from the community grieving together and coming together to create change to helping neighbors and correcting accidents/mistakes. It is also a wonderful introduction to things like empathy, community, and peace being something everyone can create. I hope every community that needs to create peace after some violence (mental or physical) has this book to help the youth get through it and understand. I also hope that no community really needs it again.

Giveaway:

Enter for a chance to win one of TEN signed copies of Sparking Peace! Plus, one lucky grand prize winner will receive a signed copy AND a $50 Amazon gift card! Good luck!!

Sparking Peace: Book Giveaway