Safe by Vanessa Harbour
As readers, many of us will identify with Vanessa Harbour’s sage words about books, reading and libraries. Safe, the sequel to Flight, is published by Firefly Press and is available now.
When I was a child I spent my life with my head in a book. Living my dreams of owning a pony through all the horse books by the Pullein-Thompson sisters. I could read a book in a day if it caught my imagination. I was my parents’ “accident”. The nearest sibling to me, my brother, was seven years older than me and my sisters ranged between ten and fourteen years older than me. This meant I lived the strange but wonderful childhood of an only child whilst being part of a huge family as my siblings went off to higher education and then got married. I was an aunt at eleven. You can see why books were such a glorious escape for me plus I aspired to be a writer even then. Books were a joy and still are.
Books are wonderful. I don’t need to tell you that. They give the reader a chance to go to places they’ve never been. Make friends with the characters. Walk in their shoes and meet characters who are just like them. As EmpathyLabUk has highlighted books help readers develop empathy. They help them understand those difficult situations and what they might say if they were put in said situations. Books also give the reader a chance to ask questions. To start a dialogue about things they don’t quite understand but want to know more. Historical fiction is a great way to use the past to explain the present and even consider how they want the future to become.
When I first started writing for children it was my dream to create a story that children would get lost in, would go back to, and would read over and over again. I was thrilled when I saw Tweets saying exactly those things about children who were reading Flight. Now Safe the sequel has come out. I have enjoyed writing this, even more, I think, than writing Flight. I was editing it just as Russia was invading Ukraine. It felt rather pertinent as I saw the images on the news of frightened children as they fled while I was working on a story about frightened children fleeing from a war-torn area who had also seen far too much. As I mentioned above, I felt this story is going to be useful for opening a dialogue about the present even though it is set in the past.
When I was at school I lived in the library too, so many books to explore. There is nothing more satisfying than wandering around a library and finding books that pique your interest. I feel libraries are going to become even more important as people struggle with their finances. Being able to borrow a book and still read for free will be vital.
Vanessa Harbour
Social Media:
Instagram @NessHarbour
Twitter @VanessaHarbour
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation