The Moon of Kyiv. Peace and war in Children's literature

Abstract

Children's and young people's literature offers some of the most evocative narrative plots on the national and international scene of the sector; these are stories that, through reading, remembering, and reworking real facts and events narrated, offer readers of all ages not only terrible and lacerating pages of reflection on historical memory but can also be an extraordinary laboratory for meditation on the human.

Some authors have pointed out (Boero, De Luca 1995; Faeti 2011, 2013; Fochesato 2011, 2022; Campagnaro 2015) how in the past children's literature was in some cases entirely functional to the ideological and propaganda project. Many authors and illustrators told stories that proposed a strong pedagogical-moralistic conditioning, that is, stories that were based on narrative coordinates such as love of country, respect and sacrifice, heroism and moral rigour.

In recent decades, it is noticeable how authors have tried to recount the war and its horrors with mere authenticity, through the eyes of the children themselves, relying on the primacy of narration.