Sunflowers in the Sand: Stories from Children of War

By Leah Curtin

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156833141X
• ISBN13: 9781568331416
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Madison Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Poignant, heart-wrenching, eye-witness stories.

Sunflowers In The Sand: Stories From Children Of War is the story of war in present day Europe and its poignant and heart-wrenching effects and influences on children caught in the horror of conflict. Illustrated by the artwork of Croatian children, Leah Curtin's informative, engaging, powerful text is a vivid expression of the experience of children in the Balkan conflict telling with a compelling candor what it is like for a child to be trapped in an incomprehensible world of adult hatred, conflict, and horror. Ultimately, Sunflowers In The Sand is a testament to the endurance and resilience of these children who survived the loss of home, family, and their own childhood -- all sacrificed on the altar of war created by political and military leaders in the name philosophies, ideologies, and ethnic hatreds. Highly recommended.

Heart breaking account of the impact of war on children

In her heart breaking account of the impact of the Balkan war on children, author Leah Curtin quotes Darija - a thirteen year old survivor living outside the town of Biograd:"War is nothing like I thought it would be...Tell the children of America that I hope for them, they never learn what war is. It is to be so afraid that you cannot sleep even when there are no bombs. It is to see everything, everything destroyed. I cannot speak of those who are dead ...my heart is still in bandages."Ms. Curtin - with the help of Patricija Padelin, child psychologist at the hospital in Zadar - chronicles the almost unspeakable violence the children suffered during the course of the war, along with their fears, hopes, dreams and enormous capacity for survival.In the face of complicated mourning - in one of the stories a boy recounts how he had to choose between betraying his father or grandfather - the children are encouraged to speak about their experiences and to draw and paint images based on how they feel. Some of the illustrations were drawn in refugee camps during and after the war; others during interviews with the children to help them express their experiences.The result is a moving and illuminating chronicle of the inner lives of children who have been victims of war.Just as war is the enemy of art, so art is the antidote for war. As the poet Jane Kenyon has said, "We cannot afford to ignore our inner lives, our imaginations, for when we do, we become capable of extreme cruelty and destruction. Tenderness toward existence is what we lose when we lose art."Ms. Curtin, with the assistance of Ms. Padelin, has taken us into the inferno of war and found, miraculously, war's primary victims taking off the bandages and making narrative and visual art. Ms. Curtin's narrative is interwoven with the children's voices and with their remarkable drawings. Upon being asked to tell his story, a boy named Davor declares "I am as normal as anyone else. It's the world that's crazy, not me." What artist has not felt a similar need to declare him or herself sane!The most haunting images are perhaps the ones of hearts. In one heart colored orange, there are teeth within the heart and a world outside it where a child is raising her arms to a sky without bombs. In another picture, there is a mouth with a twisted smile that appears to have stitches for lips. Under two dancing hearts the caption reads: "Usually when a child draws hearts, the larger the heart, the more he is in need of love."My favorite painting is reproduced on the cover of the book: a beautiful blue dove, its wings outstretched, an olive branch in its beak. The bird is flying through the war torn countryside where there are still sunflowers lifting their yellow heads to the sky. But if the viewer looks closely, there is a skull with an open mouth, and just above that image of death there are the instruments of war. This painting was a large mural made col

SUNFLOWERS IN THE SAND: Stories From Children Of War

In her heart breaking account of the impact of the Balkan war on children, author Leah Curtin quotes Darija - a thirteen year old survivor living outside the town of Biograd:"War is nothing like I thought it would be...Tell the children of America that I hope for them, they never learn what war is. It is to be so afraid that you cannot sleep even when there are no bombs. It is to see everything, everything destroyed. I cannot speak of those who are dead...my heart is still in bandages."Ms. Curtin - with the help of Patricija Padelin, child psychologist at the hospital in Zadar - chronicles the almost unspeakable violence the children suffered during the course of the war, along with their fears, hopes, dreams and enormous capacity for survival.In the face of complicated mourning - in one of the stories a boy recounts how he had to choose between betraying his father or grandfather - the children are encouraged to speak about their experiences and to draw and paint images based on how they feel. Some of the illustrations were drawn in refugee camps during and after the war; others during interviews with the children to help them express their experiences.The result is a moving and illuminating chronicle of the inner lives of children who have been victims of war.The atrocities inflicted upon civilians - the most vulnerable targets of modern warfare - are nearly unspeakable. The rape of women in Croatia during the course of the conflict has been extensively documented and made public.Less well known is the sexual savagery directed toward infants, and the brutal torture to which the old were subjected. I hesitate to repeat one child's account of what he witnessed in a church: elderly people tied to pews, begging to be killed, while soldiers cut out their eyes and forced these innocent people to swallow them.How does one ever forgive such atrocities? Ms. Curtin - a nurse and widely published health ethicist - offers no simple, unrealistic answer. It may not be possible, at least not in these children's lifetimes.How do children heal then? How do they overcome the impulse to hate not only the soldiers who did these things, but their own neighbors who may carry the burden of the enemy's ethnic identity?One of the many virtues of Ms. Curtin's book is her insistent answer: the inner, creative life of the children and the need for adults to honor it, to learn from it, to be changed by it.Just as war is the enemy of art, so art is the antidote for war. As the poet Jane Kenyon has said, "We cannot afford to ignore our inner lives, our imaginations, for when we do, we become capable of extreme cruelty and destruction. Tenderness toward existence is what we lose when we lose art."Ms. Curtin, with the assistance of Ms. Padelin, has taken us into the inferno of war and found, miraculously, war's primary victims taking off the bandages and making narrative and visual art. Ms. Curtin's narrative is interwoven

An Emotional Rollercoaster Ride!

Sunflowers in the Sand highlights the triumph of the human spirit over adversity when tested by the harshest circumstances. The twelve chapters are really short stories skillfully woven together into a primer on the evils of war. The voices of children from all sides of the war speak through Leah Curtin, trying to explain what happened to them and how they survived with their spirits intact despite the dark brutality of war. Mixing tragedy and triumph, hope and despair, Curtin draws the reader into each child's world. The confusion of sudden flight, panic of separation, terror of capture and the horror of slaughter intermingle with the sweet, exhausting relief of survival throughout this too brief novel. The best part about this book is that one is left with the genuine hope that with luck and perseverance, these wounded spirits might again THRIVE.

The Stories and Art of Children Survivors of War

Using art work drawn by Croatian children and a compilation of their stories, Leah Curtin brings war to life in a very real and unique manner. The children, who are the survivors of the war, were caught in unimaginable situations, enduring untold hardships. Their stories express a yearning for peace and a way to rebuild their lives. The art enfleshes the stories in a powerful and poignant way.