"Tomorrow" by Nadine Kaadan (Lantana Publishing)

Lantana have a fantastic track record for publishing and championing diversity in children's literature...
They also have a fabulous track record for not shying away from some very tricky subjects to deal with in the scope of children's literature.

For example, Nadine Kaadan's sublime "Tomorrow" tackles a very tough subject - that of the impact on people when war comes to their country - and how they continue with day to day life in what becomes an increasingly dangerous place to live.

Young Yazan was once an ordinary boy who loved all the things that children all around the world love.

But since war came to his city, Yazan can no longer go to the park to play.

The streets are now so dangeous that he can no longer see his friend who lives just next door.

Yazan's world becomes unrecognisable. Everything around him is changing and he has no choice but to join his parents and watch television with the news turned up loud, just to try and see what's going on.

When Yazan asks his parents if he'll ever be able to go outside and play, they can only answer "Tomorrow, Tomorrow" but as we all know, tomorrow never comes.

Despite the tone, this is actually an incredibly uplifting story about a courageous little boy growing up in a time of conflict, and the strength of family love to hold things together in dangerous times.

It's the sort of book that makes you want to hug your children, and makes you realise just how lucky you are to live in a country that (thankfully) war hasn't touched in a very long time, but also makes you ponder why we go to war in the first place, and why so many places around the world become like Yazan's home town.

A beautiful, affecting and poignant book.

"Tomorrow" by Nadine Kaadan is out now, published by Lantana Publishing (kindly supplied for review).