Onjali Q. Raúf, Hope on the Horizon, Hachette Australia, May 2022, 288 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781526364418
Teaching children about everything happening out in the world, without overwhelming them is being done successfully to varying degrees by many authors. Onjali Q. Rauf is the founder of Making Herstory, an organisation tackling the abuse and trafficking of women and girls. She’s the founder for O’s Refugee Aid Team, which provides support for refugee familiar in Calais and Dunkirk. And, she’s an award winning and best-selling author of books for children that tackle all these issues.
Hope on the Horizon is her first non-fiction book, and it is not what you would expect, I think.
A combination of activity and guidebook, Rauf first firmly establishes herself as someone kids can relate to in the initial pages of the book – and her admission of her chocolate addiction certainly helps. She asks for an introduction and offers one in return, creating the feel of a someone sitting down and having a chat with a friend, to be honest. It’s charming, funny and right away I found myself wanting to know more about her and her book.
Rauf using contemporary characters like Superman, She-Ra, Tintin, and real life inspirations like Greta Thunberg, and Nelson Mandela to take her readers through chapters that deal with the refugee crisis, modern slavery, racism, domestic abuse and more. Using these characters and these real-life famous people she helps readers empathise with the those around them, to not be afraid to talk about tough topics and to ask questions.
What sets this book apart for me is the tone she chooses for her writing, even when dealing with such tough topics like the above: it’s still someone you want to have a cup of tea with or a Coke with — someone young readers could be talking with at school or on the playground – as she never once talks down to her readers or preaches to them. More and more we see on the news that young people are capable of changing the world, of raising their voices so they are heard.
A book like Hope on the Horizon might be where the journey for some of these voices could start.
Reviewed by Verushka Byrow
