The jungle scene on the cover is inviting, as is the
message in the title. Bright colors and happy, peaceful scenes fill
the next few pages. But that happiness gives way slowly but surely as the hidden destruction caused by war seeps relentlessly into the water, plants, forests, and fields, eating and dribbling on "everything in its path." And, finally, the reader is warned to be wary of a time when he too becomes war, and even worse, has to drink the contaminated water that has been left behind. War is not a game, and it impacts all even though it may be happening halfway around the world.
Mahatma Gandhi once wrote "if we are to reach real peace in this world...we shall have to begin with the
children." However, this book is not on target for where kids are developmentally. A nicer approach may have included
positive messages about the way to be connected to the earth and all its people, and basic lessons on acceptance, compromise, and justice. In fact, another collaboration by Walker and Vitale,
There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me, sends a more positive message about a child''s interconnection to the earth, and is appropriate for younger readers.
Walker is a poet, writer, and political activist best known as the author of
The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983. She has dedicated this book to the children who have been caught up in the horrors of the war in Afghanistan. Vitale, an artist with a vibrant, folksy style, paints in oils on wood and has illustrated many award-winning children''s books. Walker thanked him for giving this book its radiance and resonance.