The Scar Will Remain: How War Changed Rondo

Ala’ K and Iana N

How War Changed Rondo (2015) is a Ukrainian picturebook written and illustrated by the artist couple Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, and translated into English by the Ukrainian writer and translator Oksana Lushchevska. It tells the story of how the war comes to the small happy town of Rondo, bringing darkness and destruction. The townspeople, who have never seen a battle before, try to fight it in various ways. Led by the main characters, they discover through trial and error the power of light, song and unity as essential elements to restore peace.

The story was inspired not by conflicts from the past but by Russia’s escalating military intervention in Ukraine, which began a year before the book was published. The authors note that their task was not to realistically document the horrors of war but to set the stage for finding a non-shocking language for discussing what was happening. This effect was partly achieved through the use of metaphors. In the perfect world of Rondo, the main characters are depicted as toy-like creatures made of glass, light, air, and paper, reflecting the fragility and the subtle structure of a human being. The nature of this nonviolent representation of war was also emphasised by the colours chosen for the illustrations, highlighting the difference between Rondo’s pre-war and post-war state. The bright reality is seen in the urban spaces painted to be perfect. The town vibrates with life, and its residents grow flowers and recite poems.

However, the War (referred to in the text with a capital letter, which results in personification), represented as a “puppet” without a heart but with a human hand, suddenly enters the city and transforms it, stripping it of colour, so that Rondo becomes black and grey. The illustrations move fluidly between the colourful reality of Rondo before the War came, the grey documentation of the War, and back to the colourful city of Rondo after the War had been defeated. These starkly contrasting illustrations visually double the book’s text; the child can understand the essence of the story just by looking at the pictures. However, this book is intended for intergenerational reading. It provides an opportunity for dialogue about war between parents and children aged four and above: the book provokes young readers to ask questions and adults to search for answers.

The main characters of How War Changed Rondo are presented as children with whom the reader can identify. The nature of the fragile materials they are made of reflects not only the vulnerability of human life but also the romanticised pure world of childhood. Thus, childhood can be seen as a beam of light that gets cracked by hardships like war. On the other hand, the main characters are glorified as the main engines of victory over war. Tremendous power is given to the children’s actions to end the conflict. Danko and his friends work collectively to freeze the war, while the beam of light and the song sound cleanse the land from it. In the end, the main characters manage to win the war and stay alive, which can give young readers a sense of hope. Here, however, one may wonder whether such hope empowers children. The adult writer may wish children to act on the uplifting   message and lean towards peace and fighting injustice. As a result, such books “set up expectations of might on the child’s part which are impossible to follow”.

Even though this book makes war “accessible to children by describing its protagonists in heroic or fantastic terms” as it “helps readers to think constructively about a world being destroyed”, this accessibility is more relevant for children who are not suffering from it. A real war can be a protracted event, while life before it is rarely perfect. In addition, wars do not happen out of the blue and are never ended by children, songs, or light. Therefore, such books do not offer children already caught up in war a way out; instead, they may be seen dismissive of their pain. Despite its overall “optimism”, however, the story does not end with an exaggerated “happy ending”. The authors clearly emphasise a strong mark the war has left on Rondo and its inhabitants: a mark that will remain forever. Thus, the narration leaves room for dealing with the traumatic experiences of the post-war period.

The book contains many allusions to Ukrainian culture and the political situation: the cover with flowers, for example, refers to the painting by the Ukrainian folk art painter Maria Primatchenko. The small peninsula on the Rondo map resembles Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and subsequently annexed. The moment when the residents assemble parts for the singing flower rescue machine refers to how people rolled tyres into the main square to set up barricades during a massive protest in the centre of Kyiv, the Euromaidan.

Nevertheless, as the authors note, many of the references in the book are universal. For example, the red poppy, which frequently appears in the book, is commonly used as a symbol of remembrance for the victims of the First World War. Another example is the figure of a paper crane, a Japanese symbol of hope for peace, which is used as a prototype for one of the main characters. These visual images can be understood by people all over the world–it is no coincidence that this book has been translated into many languages and has won numerous awards in Europe, America and Asia. Even if readers are unfamiliar with certain references, the universal language of the visual symbols will help them understand the book’s central message: the importance of preserving peace.

Book Details

How War Changed Rondo

Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv (auth./illust.),

Oksana Lushchevska (transl.)

Brooklyn: Enchanted Lion Books, 2015

First published: 14 March 2023

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