Belonging by Lisette Auton
Photo Credit: Paperboat Photography by Laura Tindall
Belonging for me is fitting in, that sense of comfort and being able to be entirely you and accepted for that. Comfy pyjamas, cup of tea, I am absolutely and utterly at home here sort of feeling.
Bookshops and libraries need to give us that comfy feeling too. Books are escape and often refuge. They are sometimes the only hug available. They were often that for me. I love that books can give me an insight into lives that are different to my own, which can cultivate empathy and kindness. This is a rich and wonderful world in which we live and I am hungry to gobble up all the words that can teach and mould me into being a very nice human being indeed. But I also want to find me and my world mirrored on the shelves. Everyone deserves this. Especially for children, to be able to see a book cover and tug the hand of the big human they love and say, ‘Look, that’s me!’
That is magical. That feeling of being seen. Of belonging. It is necessary and vital. And for people who are underrepresented in publishing this may happen very rarely, sometimes never.
That’s why I wrote my middle grade book, THE SECRET OF HAVEN POINT, because I wanted to show and reflect the belonging and acceptance I found within the disabled community. I wanted a book on a shelf where children could see themselves reflected. But not as a one off, an only, a token, but to be part of a vibrant, messy, big, warm hearted, get stuff wrong, fall-out, make up community. And to then be able to read this with their non-disabled peers, so they get a peek at our world too. They get to witness that sense of belonging, and are invited inside. And that we’re pretty darn wonderful exactly the way we are. We may go about things a bit differently to them, but blimey, we can have an adventure too, our way, with added kittens in beards and fierce mermaids for good measure! My book contains adventure, magic, hard won friendships and most of all looking out for each other. That’s the sort of world I want to belong to, one where kindness and empathy is at its core. And, well I wrote it, so I get to make my world that way!
When I saw Gillian Gamble’s front cover for my book for the first time, I’m not ashamed to say I sobbed my little old heart out. Not one disabled character, but a whole lighthouse full of them – proud of being exactly who they were. What I would have given to have found that book on a bookshelf and seen myself reflected back at me.
More books please that give that sense of belonging to every single one of us. Every child deserves to know that they are important, that they belong, that they are valued exactly the way they are. And I’m guessing that would be rather nice for their trusted adults too.
The world feels very frightening and unstable right now, books can provide hope, solace and understanding. They can give us the most important thing in the world as long as we ensure that everyone is represented – and that is to feel that we belong.
THE SECRET OF HAVEN POINT, published by Puffin, is available now in paperback and in audiobook, written and narrated by Lisette Auton.