A Blue Kind of Day
Written by Rachel Tomlinson
Illustrated by Tori-Jay Mordey
Puffin 2022

Registered psychologist, Rachel Tomlinson, has written an endearing picture story book to help children access themes of depression and sadness. For a young person who experiences a blue day or knows someone who does, this book helps them to understand these feelings as messages to their body.

Through this engaging story and Tori-Jay Mordey’s expressive illustrations, we follow a moment in young Coen’s life. Coen is struggling with some difficult emotions and these translate to different physical symptoms such as heaviness. Coen’s family all try to come up with solutions to help him move beyond his sad feelings, however, Tomlinson shows us that feelings can’t be rushed. Eventually the family curl up with Coen and wait until he is ready, illustrating compassion and sympathy for his journey.

As well as an excellent social emotional text, Tomlinson writes an elegant tale with a variety of similes, metaphors and a vivid array of adjectives. It would be an excellent text to accompany a word choice or sentence fluency writing focus. As a reading mentor text, the facial expressions within the illustrations, the symbolism of the words and actions, all lean towards a useful companion for teaching inference and connections.
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Tomlinson, who has also written ‘Teaching kids to be kind’, has provided teachers and caregivers a fabulous resource that is worthy of a place on the bookshelf.

After the Tampa- from Afghanistan to New Zealand
By Abbas Nazari
Allen & Unwin 2021
 
This isn’t the first time I’ve envied New Zealand’s humane leadership. After The Tampa gives me another reason to wonder how two countries seemingly so similar can have such different approaches when it comes to ethical decision making.

Abbas Nazari at age seven, accompanied his family on the traumatic and exhausting journey to escape the hold of the Taliban in their home country of Afghanistan. As an ethnic Hazara, Nazari’s family and neighbours were at risk of murder.

After the Tampa tells a tale of a people who faced adversity and overcame it time and time again. Their journey started in the trailer of a lorry van, concealed from view with only a few bags of belongings. Nazari’s youngest sibling, an infant, stowed away in a bag. The eldest sibling, fearing that he would be conscripted to a militia group, had already been sent off to Iran on his own.

The journey spanned months including covert journeys in vans, buses, aeroplanes and finally boats. Motion-sickness along with other ailments were standard at each leg of the way. The journey cost the Nazari family everything, their homes, their money and even the wedding ring from Abbas’ father’s finger as they bribed and paid their way from Afghanistan, to Pakistan, to Indonesia and finally New Zealand.

Abbas’ father had a plan to take his family to Australia, a place of security, free from persecution. They never imagined that stuck out at sea, close to death as their small, overcrowded fishing boat tore apart in the storming waves, the Australian government was doing everything they could to prevent the people of the Palapa from touching Australian land.
The Nazaris are eternally grateful not only to the captain of the Tampa who rescued them and looked after them as the political parties of Australia, Indonesia and eventually New Zealand played ping pong with their lives, but also to the New Zealand government who offered them a new home.

Each step in this incredible journey is a leap of faith and it highlights the bravery of families who would do anything to secure a better, safer life for their children. Even when succeeding in New Zealand, the battle and uphill struggle was not over, with homesickness, earthquakes and the horrific, unforgettable massacre by a loan gunman in Christchurch.
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Similar to Ahn Do’s ‘The Happiest Refugee’, this is a story of a young man who has done everything to stay positive and live his life to the full despite the hurdles. Courageous and inspirational, we should all be so lucky to have such a positive outlook on life.