Sometimes seeing the world through the eyes of a child
Makes us understand how suddenly life can change
Makes us see how the ordinary things are extraordinary
Shows us how easily the dark sits beside the light
I Saw A Beautiful Woodpecker is one sentence a day from the diary of a young Polish boy at the outbreak of World War II. His holiday homework for the summer was to keep a diary. And the boy did and he kept that diary with him into adulthood and now we are truly blessed that he, Michal, has chosen to share his diary with us.
Just one sentence a day from 15.7.1939 until 17.9.1939.
One sentence a day that shows us the simple joys of boyhood in summer time through to the beginnings of war. Once sentence a day that shows us childhood innocence stolen away by war and loss. One sentence a day for just two months that reminds us all it takes just moments to change a life for all time.
One sentence a day tells of a summer of family and adventures, walks in the woods, time spent observing nature.
One sentence a day tells of planes circling, war beginning, bombs falling, shrapnel flying.
One sentence tells of a last visit from a father Michal would never see again.
The book has been beautifully put together. Stunning illustrations show Michal’s journey through the summer from peaceful green forests with streams to play in and woodpeckers to watch, to planes overhead, dark shadows, cloudy skies and fires burning beyond the trees.
Photographs of pages from Michal’s original diary enhance the poignancy of this simple record – an ordinary holiday interrupted by war; a life changed forever by an extraordinary moment in history.
This is a wonderful book to share with children, to show them how war happened for children at the time. Michal shows us that the children who lost so much through the Second World War were not so different from children now. A moving book to share with children this Remembrance Day that shows the innocence of childhood against the trauma of war.
I would love to know the rest of Michal’s life story.