All proceeds from website sales of How War Changed Rondo will be donated to UNICEF's relief efforts in Ukraine.

Dear friends,

When we published Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv's How War Changed Rondo last November, we never imagined how shockingly relevant the story would become just a few months later. At the time, when discussing it with Romana and Andriy, as well as with our sales team, we thought it was more or less "history," as well as an eternally relevant plea for and hymn to peace.

Originally published in Ukraine in 2015, How War Changed Rondo was inspired by its creators' personal experiences with war in their home country in 2013 and 2014. It centers the child's perspective, unflinchingly depicting the harsh realities of war: its darkness and pain, and its irreversible damage. Ultimately, the book offers a message of resilience and hope—but peace cannot return to Rondo without its inhabitants first reckoning with War's destruction, and then coming together as a community to combat its darkness.

At ten days into the conflict in Ukraine, over two million refugees have been forced to flee their home country. Of these two million refugees, one million are children. To help provide these children with the humanitarian aid and care they so sorely need, we will be donating all proceeds from our website sales of How War Changed Rondo to UNICEF's relief efforts in Ukraine, for as long as the crisis is ongoing.

We are also working with HP's Turn to Learn program to print and distribute free English-Ukrainian editions of How War Changed Rondo to Ukrainian children affected by the conflict. The book was selected by the HP team for this effort.

Please join with us to spread the message of this book—its light and its love—far and wide, as we all continue to stand together for peace and for the children, especially the children, of our imperiled world.

Love,

Team ELB 🖤

How War Changed Rondo

Danko, Zirka, and Fabian live peacefully in the small town of Rondo, a magical and joyful place where even the flowers sing! Everything is perfect … until the fateful day that War arrives. Faceless, wordless,
and relentless, War brings with it destruction, turmoil, and—most terrifying of all—darkness, sowing black weeds that block out any light from ever reaching Rondo and its marvelous singing flowers. Harnessing the power of light, community, and song, Danko, Zirka, and Fabian, along with all their neighbors, must rally together to lead Rondo to victory.

AWARDS & REVIEWS

A Kirkus Best Book of 2021: A Best Picture Book for Starting Conversations

A USBBY Outstanding International Book of 2022

★ “The universal story deftly highlights the importance of each person doing their part to battle darkness. The descriptive, lyrical text realistically depicts the impacts of war, and the visual juxtaposition of an imaginative, bright, colorful world and its war-ravaged aftermath is stark. Collage elements convey fragility and resilience in surprising yet visceral ways... An expertly crafted story recognizing the power of humanity amid the life-altering tragedy of war.” —STARRED REVIEW, Kirkus Reviews

★ “This is an amazing book... The illustrations are stark, symbolic and imaginative. The text slowly walks us through how War comes to the small and idyllic town of Rondo. Three friends ([representing] growth, light, and love) find a way to combat the darkness and survive the war, but each are scarred in important and devastating ways. It’s hard to watch and hard to read, but the book has so many possibilities… The themes and symbolism are fascinating, and the message is beautiful. [For] anyone who is interested in thinking about human nature, war, why we do the things we do, how we recover from devastation, and general philosophical ideals.“ —STARRED REVIEW, Youth Services Book Review

“Hold on to this radical idea: ‘The truth is that even the smallest ray of light will begin to disperse the darkness.’ Three friends, Danko, Fabian, and Zirka, love the town Rondo, which they call home. It is an idyllic place, famous for its greenhouse and the singing flowers that grow inside… Mixed-media illustrations are neatly situated across the pages like diagrams and maps, giving this fantastical, allegorical story a calm sensibility. Then War comes, and the pages turn dark as Rondo’s beauty is damaged. There is no explanation for the war, nor are culprits or reasons named, although an angry fist and recognizable war machinery give War a distinctly human aura. The three friends manage to save Rondo by uniting their unique skills, and despite some irreparable damage, peace is restored. This beautiful book has many layers for adults to unpack with young readers.” —Booklist

“How War Changed Rondo, a picture book by the Ukrainian artists Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv, captures the unrelenting destructiveness of wartime as a young person experiences it… Romanyshyn and Lesiv deploy a charming combination of drawing and collage, pasting in diagrams from botany textbooks and old newspapers. There is a fragility to the arrangement, which looks scattered on the page, and a fragility to their three main characters, [who] love their idyllic town and its most famous feature: flowers that sing. War obliterates all, seeding a thicket that blots out the sun… The book’s pages, shaded soft green and mustard yellow at first, turn the color of bruises, obsidian black and purplish gray. Danko, Fabian and Zirka dodge cutout bombs and tanks. Light must then defeat the dark… Rondo returns, but its famous multicolored flowers have been replaced by red poppies... It speaks so precisely to the perspective of a young person who has experienced the confusion of war.” —New York Times

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