The most Beautiful Village in the World written by Yutaka Kobayashi

The most Beautiful Village in the World written by Yutaka Kobayashi is a strong, children's book that I warmly suggest to buying to your children for let them think of the importance of a peaceful place as the one where they are living in, and a country where this blessing is distant and where living and existing is just a story of luck and where, also life is much more hard.
This children's book starts with a great poeticity. Set in Afghanistan, during years of war and in a little town called, name of fantasy, Paghman enchanting and fertile, plenty of delicious fruits, beautiful sunny and colored flowers, the description the one of a rural reality the one experienced in Europe these past decades.
Illustrations are very colored, vivid, realistic, dreaming.
Yamo is a little boy and  goes to the town for helping his dad at selling for the first time fruits replacing his brother at war. With them the donkey called Pompa. They would have sold cherries and plums.
Yum!
Once they have finished to sell all fruits Yamo's dad will present to his son a precious gift, a lamb called Spring for the good work done.

But, problem is another one: problem is that during the war this village was destroyed.

When you read this final phrase, "In the winter, the village was destroyed in the war. It no longer exists" after having read of animals, fruits, market, tea-rooms, chat with friends, dinamic life you feel a profound shock.

But it's important. It's important to understand the price of liberty, freedom, peace and the one of oppression, war, peril. It's important to understand that it's up to us, only to us, to build the society and the world where we want to live in, starting from the little actions of everyday. And that the difference is visibly  important and plenty of signification.

Also little ones should understand this. If you put on your children's hands this book I know how profound, long will be this conversation, because I experienced it.

As adds the author, our idea of Afghanistan is the one of an arid place but there are mountains, hills, and fertile places and most important, many gentle innocent people who were and still are paying a too high price just for being born and for living in a country of great torments and agitations.

As says the TAO when there is a war, "Every victory is a funeral; when you win a war, you celebrate by mourning."


I thank  Museyon Publishing House for the copy of this book.

Anna Maria Polidori