Today I am delighted to share with you Karen Hendriks’s recent picture book Home as part of a Books On Tour promotion.
Home, published by Daisy Lane Publishing, is a story of hope for a brighter future.
I previously introduced Karen to you when we explored how creativity was celebrated in her picture book Go Away, Foxy, Foxy. I am also pleased to say that, in some way, Karen and I are writing buddies. We both have stories in last year’s anthology Tell ‘em They’re Dreaming as well as in this year’s anthology to be released next week Once Upon a Whoops!
About Karen Hendriks
Karen Hendriks is a children’s author who lives in a small seaside village in Shellharbour, New South Wales. Picture books are her favourite kind of books. Karen adores how words and pictures join together to create story magic in picture books. Karen is very passionate about writing quality stories for children.
About Home — the blub
War ends, yet its dark shadow remains.
A family is forced to flee their home.
As they journey through hunger, long cold nights, and homelessness,
a heart locket whispers words of hope.
And a country that’s far away,
calls for those that are no longer wanted.
It offers new beginnings and a precious place, once more to call home.
As explained in an interview with Romi Sharp on the Just Kids’ Lit blog, the book was inspired by a journey taken by Hendriks’s own family after the Second World War. It is a slice of history of which many are unaware.
Hendriks writes:
Between 1945 and 1946, three million Sudeten Germans were expelled from the Sudeten Mountains to Germany, Austria and the Soviet Zone. It was the largest forced refugee movement of a single population in the 20th century. I always felt the deep sadness inside my Oma about the loss of her family home. This pulled at me to write about losing home. When researching for Home I discovered that my Mum, Oma and great Oma and Opa were Sudeten Germans. My Mum was a baby when they were forced to leave their mountain village called Wunschendorf, in Czech. It is now known as Srbska. My great Opa was in still in a concentration camp for opposing Hitler. So it was my Mum as a baby, Oma and Great Oma and they walked from their village to East Germany. This story is so important to me because the plight of the Sudeten Germans is not really known and their story is my story, too.
You can read more about Hendriks’s family and the illustrator in this post on Just Write for Kids.
What I like about Home
Continue reading: Finding ‘Home’ — a new picture book by Karen Hendriks – Readilearn
Norah Colvin 
Norah, thank you for sharing your writing buddy’s new book, Home. I did not know of the plight of the Sudeten Germans. Congratulations to you both on your upcoming anthology. I received a notice from Amazon yesterday that my copy will arrive by Friday. I look forward to reading it.
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I love books based on family stories. Can’t get enough of the ones about WWII. So many homeless. I have a German friend who lived in Yugoslavia. After the fall of Hitler, Yugoslavia did an ethnic cleansing of Germans and sent them to concentration camps. They lost their home and many family members. This reminds me a bit of my friend’s story. Will check it out.
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It does sound similar to your friend’s story, Patricia. You’d think with all we’d learned after WWII, that we’d be done with that sort of thing. Sadly not, it seems. It just goes on and on. I’m sure you will like Karen’s book.
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This looks wonderful. It reminds me of Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeline series
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Hmm. That’s interesting. In what way?
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I think the pictures–the children images. The artistry in the creator’s mind as she drew them. I’ve read most of the Madeline books, none of these, so can’t say anything about content.
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Thanks for elaborating, Jacqui. I haven’t read the Madeline books for a long time, but I think I see what you mean.
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I didn’t like the drawings at first because the figure were almost stretched out, and then I loved them.
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I wondered if that may have been as a result of the way I uploaded them, but I just checked, I think they uploaded okay.
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I knew many were displaced by Hitler so lovely to hear some more detail. Karen comes from a very courageous family!
And such a hot topic right now with all the displaced Afghans … timely release 🙂
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Sadly, I think there are many ‘timely’ times in our recent history. But Karen’s book is special. I have no hesitation in recommending it. As you say – her family are/were courageous.
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yes to go through so much and come out on top is no mean feat!
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That’s for certain.
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Thanks for the sharing dear, l like to read stories to my kid it’s going to help me 🙂
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You’ll love this one.
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I did not know this story, the story of these people, the author’s ancestors. Thank you for sharing it and her book here. Sadly it is more than history, it is relevant and current for too many.
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Sadly it is still true for too many. 💖
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Thanks. I have material to publish a children’s book.
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Incredible story! Surprisingly, I have never heard about this history before. Home really is where the heart finds peace and where we are the most content.
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I think many of us were unaware of this piece of history, Angela. I love the way you have explained ‘home’. Perfect.
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I learn so much from people stories and experiences. Thank you for sharing.
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That’s just what we all do, Angela. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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You are right, of course. Take good care of yourself, Norah.
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You too, Angela.
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