Brilliantly celebrating the power of community and friendship, Swallows Kiss focuses on a young girl named Blessing.
Written in lyrical free verse, author Sita Brahmachari successfully immerses readers into Blessing’s world. As readers we discover Blessing and her mothers love for singing, including a lullaby which they sing in Lingala. We discover the love she has for her family and Blessing shares that her mother arrived in the unnamed city as a refugee from the Congo.
Blessing is attentive, curious, imaginative and she longs to be reunited with her father who she so dearly misses. One day she discovers a bag of lost paper birds. These colourful creations are adorned with brightly coloured wings and on each wing there are various messages of wishes in different languages. Keen to discover who this bag belongs to, Blessing discovers a friendly community of refugees who made the birds and with it comes friendship, happiness and surprise.
Jane Ray’s illustrations colourfully bring this story to life. The spread of striking paper birds surrounding Blessing’s is a favourite of my girls and I. From the gorgeous endpapers to the detail chosen in designing the bag found by Blessing, there is so much work here that embraces the beautiful diverse community that we are all part of.
Please do seek this book out. It is publishing on the 24th June and is available to preorder.
Part of 10 stories that make a difference. The collection shines light on diverse voices. Created by Pop up Projects, a non profit, U.K. based national children’s literature development agency, 10 stories is celebrating Pop Ups 10th birthday.
Money from sales will go towards initiatives including work in deprived schools and supporting book creators. I will add that volunteers from several publishers have worked on this collection, representative of some of Swallows Kiss themes. This particular book celebrates children’s rights to safety, equality and play and is endorsed by Amnesty international.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for the purpose of review. All words and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.