TO WONDER WHY

For World Book Day I give you The Wheel on the School by Dutch author Meindert de Jong.

I no longer have my original copy - I think it fell apart from being loved so much - but this paperback has the original illustrations. I think it's my favourite children's book, followed closely by Hurry Home Candy and, of course, all the Moomin books. You can read the thesis of the book on these pages, when we start to wonder, we can make things begin to happen. It still appeals to me as it did when I was about 6 years old, but then I am a naive optimist; in the face of all the darkness of this world, all the tragedy and disenchantment, I still believe we can do better - we can have storks nesting in Shora.

I opened a book and in I strode.
Now nobody can find me.
I've left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.

I'm wearing the cloak, I've slipped on the ring,
I've swallowed the magic potion.
I've fought with a dragon, dined with a king
And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.
I shared their tears and laughter
And followed their road with its bumps and bends
To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.
The cloak can no longer hide me.
My chair and my house are just the same,
But I have a book inside me.

Julia Donaldson