Stories as a Safe Space
We are always excited when our books find children who appreciate them. We believe that stories are safe spaces in which children can find comfort in hard times. That's why we were glad to hear from the "Nice to meet you" project.
The "Nice to meet you" project wants to create spaces for refugee children and their caregivers. The aim of the project is to invite children from Ukraine and other countries with their caregivers into a sheltered and child-friendly environment which will hopefully make the arrival in Germany more pleasant. These meeting points are safe spaces for both children and adults as they provide a feeling of peace and security. Additionally, they present the opportunity to come into contact with people from the same part of town.
Luckily, the central library of Shleswig Holstein, a state of Germany, had some spare books left over from the German-Ukrainian bookbags. These were gifted to the project. Iwan Ruzanov, the person responsible for the project, told us that the children were excited to look at the picture books and when the adults read them aloud, they listened carefully.