by Alice Walkerillustrated by Stefano Vitale
(New York: HarperCollins, 2007)
Hardcover, 32 Pages, Poetry
Though War is Old
It has not
Become wise.
From the Cover: Poet and activist Alice Walker personifies the power and wanton devastation of war in this evocative poem. Stefano Vitale’s compelling paintings illustrate this unflinching look at war’s destructive nature and unforeseen consequences.
My Review: Last night I read this book to Connor and Deirdre as we were getting ready to go to sleep. I don’t know if it made much of an impression on Connor, let alone Deirdre, as he doesn’t even have a concept of “war” (which I can only hope never enters into his vocabulary, but I can’t keep it from him forever, try as I would like) but I can hope that by introducing him to these concepts early in life they will instill in him an understanding that there is always an alternative to violent confrontation.
Alice Walker’s poetry goes a long way to creating this understanding. Her personification of “War” as an all-consuming, all-destroying, unthinking, uncaring entity while not original, is a wonderful way to introduce children to the dangers and after-effects of war. By placing people and things that children would care about (home, animals, mothers) in opposition to and menaced by War, Walker’s poem will catch a child’s attention and make them think about what War does to those people and place and things he or she would care about.
This is a book that I got from the library, but it is one that I desire in our home library because it is a book that needs to be read over and over again, and it is a book that every right-thinking and caring parent should desire to have in their home as well and one that they should read to their children on a regular basis. If we all do so, and if every child grows up with this poem in their collective conscious, I think it would make a change in the way that our children perceive the world around them.
This review can also be found at Bryan’s Book Blog
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