"Penned by a 12-year-old Ukrainian, this extraordinary diary account of the war in Ukraine presents a poignant personal journey of pain and hope"
With a foreword by Michael Morpurgo, Yeva Skalietska’s You Don’t Know What War Is shares a stirring, child-centred story about the war in Ukraine that the world needs to hear, and everyone should read.
“Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what war is.” 12-year-old Yeva’s words strike bone-deep from the opening of her extraordinary diary. It begins on 14th February 2022 when she’s happily celebrating her birthday in her Kharkiv home. A mere ten days later, Yeva’s world shatters when she’s “woken suddenly by a loud metallic sound that echoed through the streets”, and sees Granny “standing by the window, looking towards the Russian border. She was watching missiles flying over the fields.”
Yeva evokes the immediate aftermath of worrying about friends, finding shelter, and seeing snipers on the streets with chilling clarity. Her voice rings with remarkable honesty — “My heart is full of fear. What will happen next is anyone’s guess …”
Then, while sheltering in a basement, Yeva began write this document of her experiences, from dealing with escalating day-to-day dangers, to the journey she and Granny take to Dublin, and beyond as Yeva starts school, makes new friends, while desperately missing loved ones back home.
As Michael Morpurgo writes in his introduction, “Once read, we will have lived it with Yeva, through her words. Once read, we don’t forget. Yeva’s utterly compelling story stays with us.” I’ll leave the last wise, soul-stirring words to Yeva, though: “I want to finish by saying this: we are only children, and we deserve to live a life of peace and happiness!”
| Primary Genre | Biographies & Autobiographies |
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Everyone knows the word 'war'. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you've been there, you don't know what war is.
This is the gripping and moving diary of young Ukrainian refugee Yeva Skalietska. It follows twelve days in Ukraine that changed 12-year-old Yeva's life forever. She was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling.
Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she was forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story.
And it is a story the world needs to hear. Yeva captured the nation's heart when she was featured on Channel 4 News with her granny as they fled Ukraine for Dublin.
In You Don't Know What War Is, Yeva records what is happening hour-by-hour as she seeks safety and travels from Kharkiv to Dublin. Each eye-opening diary entry is supplemented by personal photographs, excerpts of messages between Yeva and her friends and daily headlines from around the world, while three beautifully detailed maps (by Kharkiv-native Olga Shtonda) help the reader track Yeva and her granny's journey.
You Don't Know What War Is is a powerful insight into what conflict is like through the eyes of a child and an essential read for adults and older children alike.
Published in association with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo.
You Don't Know What War Is features in the following genres: Biographies & Autobiographies, Non-Fiction Books of the Month, Children’s / Teenage social topics: Migration / refugees, True stories of heroism, endurance and survival, Children’s / Teenage social topics: War and conflict issues, Diaries, letters and journals, Refugees and political asylum, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Recommendations, Children’s / Teenage: Social issues / topics, Children’s / Teenage: Personal and social topics, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, True stories: general, Social and ethical issues, Society and culture: general, Society and Social Sciences
You Don't Know What War Is is available in Paperback, Ebook
You Don't Know What War Is was written by Yeva Skalietska and published by Bloomsbury Childrens Books an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
You Don't Know What War Is has 239 pages
£8.99
