QUIET NIGHT, MY ASTRONAUT

A child chronicles the first 10 days of the Russia–Ukraine War, cuddling her beloved astronaut doll and addressing an imagined “super powerful astronaut in the sky.”

Lushchevska’s text sensitively conjures a child’s wartime fears, hopes, and daily experiences. Ia’s father becomes a soldier for Ukraine, and his joking phone calls brighten her days. She, her mother, and their dog, Pifa, recalibrate their daily lives in Kyiv around air raid sirens, curfews, and reassuring communications with friends, relatives, and professional colleagues. (Ia’s mother, a writer, interacts with the writers’ organization PEN.) Taking dangerous but treasured walks, making posters to encourage solidarity, and exercising together in their apartment help them cope with social disruption. There are moments of despair: On day six, Ia reports, “Today is March 1, our first day of spring, and my pencil is not drawing.” Soon, the pair prepare to leave Kyiv for a safer place with relatives. Amid smoke and broken trees, Ia spots a child’s toy rabbit on the road. That they must rush to their car without picking it up crystallizes a poignant symbol of war’s effect on children. Stepanishcheva’s inventive illustrations, in a patriotic palette of blue and yellow accented with black and red, underscore the family’s closeness despite the upheaval. Portrayed huddled inside a go bag, encircled in Ia’s absent dad’s arms, or entwined, reunited, amid a cultural floral motif, the family—like Ukraine—will survive.

A heartfelt message as the Russia–Ukraine War rages on.