Storm Seal by Sarah Ann Juckes
We know the power that stories can have on the reader and author Sarah Ann Juckes shares her insights into writing about important topics using animals.
Using animals to write about mental health and environmentalism in children’s books
Whether pets in our home, or wildlife around the world, there is something both calming and healing about animals. Whatever we have going on in our human lives, animals seem to signify something much simpler. If I’ve had a bad day, my cat will still sleep purring on my lap, and even if the news is difficult to watch, birds still fly free past my window.
Both my previous books for children, The Hunt for the Nightingale and The Night Animals use various British wildlife as a way to discuss difficult, but important topics such as loss and mental health. In The Hunt for the Nightingale, Jasper can slowly come to terms with the loss of his sister by taking lessons from British birds. He goes on a physical journey across the countryside to find the nightingale that has gone missing from his garden, and at the same time comes to understand that not everything that goes away comes back again. The Night Animals too features four rainbow-shimmering ghost animals that visit Nora to help her realise that she needs to reach out for help as a young carer of a parent with PTSD. These issues are ones so many children deal with, but by using animals to discuss them, children can learn important messages in a safe and exciting story.
My latest book, Storm Seal, features a young girl who is caught in a storm of change. Change is a hard thing for even adults to process, but is particularly difficult for children who can often feel so powerless in the face of it. Martha’s cousins have moved away, her coastal fishing town is plagued by litter, and her nana’s cough is getting worse. To deal with this, Martha clings to her nana’s stories about selkies – seal-people – who represent an escape into a world without problems. When Martha keeps seeing the same seal pup along the shores of her home, she clings to the idea that this seal can lead her out of the storm she feels raging inside her.
The seal in this book is based on a real seal, rescued by the Cornish Seal Sanctuary in 2023, and who was ‘melanistic’ – meaning she was entirely black. There is something extra-special about an animal who is so different in this way – almost like a story come to life. This is what Liquorice represents to Martha, and the reader can learn with her about the real-life risks posed to seals and other sealife and what anyone – even a child – can do to help. It’s my hope that young people feel empowered by this story to speak out about their feelings, but also to take action against climate change and other issues that may be worrying them.
For me, animals represent a safe space where important topics can be discussed with young people. There is so much we can learn from the animal kingdom, and I feel incredibly privileged to have a platform where I can help spread important messages on how we too can protect them in return.
Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Federation
