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You Don't Know What War Is

The Diary of a Young Girl From Ukraine

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You Don't Know What War Is

By: Yeva Skalietska
Narrated by: Keira Knightley, Michael Morpurgo
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Summary

 Bloomsbury presents You Don't Know What War Is by Yeva Skalietska, read by Keira Knightley and Michael Morpurgo.

***A SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR***
*** Shortlisted for the Children's Book of the Year: Older Non Fiction The Week Junior Book Awards***

Featured on This Morning, Steph's Packed Lunch, Radio 4: Today and Channel 4 News
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Everyone knows the word 'war'. But very few understand what it truly means. When you find you have to face it, you feel totally lost, walled in by fright and despair. Until you’ve been there, you don’t know what war is.

This is the gripping and moving diary of young Ukrainian refugee Yeva Skalietska. It follows twelve days in Ukraine that changed 12-year-old Yeva's life forever. She was woken in the early hours to the terrifying sounds of shelling. Russia had invaded Ukraine, and her beloved Kharkiv home was no longer the safe haven it should have been. It was while she was forced to seek shelter in a damp, cramped basement that Yeva decided to write down her story. And it is a story the world needs to hear.

Yeva captured the nation's heart when she was featured on Channel 4 News with her granny as they fled Ukraine for Dublin. In You Don't Know What War Is, Yeva records what is happening hour-by-hour as she seeks safety and travels from Kharkiv to Dublin. You Don’t Know What War Is is a powerful insight into what conflict is like through the eyes of a child and an essential read for adults and older children alike.

Published in association with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with a foreword by Michael Morpurgo.
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'Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read it. You will love Yeva' Christy Lefteri, No.1 international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
'Yeva speaks a truth all of us must listen to' Michael Morpurgo, award-winning author of War Horse
'Exhilarating, shattering, heartbreaking, brilliant' Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author
'The most important story of our times' Viv Groskop, podcaster and writer
'A herstory of Ukraine' Olia Hercules, Ukrainian chef and food writer(P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Diaries & Journals Memoirs, Diaries & Correspondence War Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

Yeva speaks a truth that all of us, young and old, must listen to. (Michael Morpurgo, author of War Horse)
The most important story of our times told from the inside by the best narrator: a wise twelve-year-old girl. (Viv Groskop, comedian, writer and podcaster)
This book has touched my heart in a way that I am finding hard to put into words. Everyone, absolutely everyone, should read it. You will love Yeva. (Christy Lefteri, No.1 international bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo)
This is one of those extraordinary books that will haunt readers for a very long time.
[A] heartbreaking revelation of war through a child's eyes.
This is the eloquently written and important hour-by-hour account of what happened on and after February 24, 2022, when Yeva Skalietska woke up to the sound of explosions in her home town of Kharkiv, near Ukraine’s Russian border. She had just turned 12 and had lived an ordinary, happy life until that moment. Her diary tells of the days of taking refuge in basements, then fleeing to western Ukraine and Hungary before she and her grandmother found safety and a new home in Dublin. The book has contributions from some of Yeva’s friends who are still in Ukraine, and is a rare and moving chronicle of war from the point of view of children.
This is an important book – a recording of history written by Yeva, a young person, whose words and feelings reflect so many who rarely get an opportunity to be heard. A herstory of Ukraine for posterity. (Olia Hercules, Ukrainian chef and food writer)
Yeva is a young Ukrainian girl and this is her diary. It starts on February 14, her 12th birthday, and chronicles her flight from war alongside her grandmother, ending up in Ireland. It’s written with honestly and heart, and gives an important child’s eye view of war. Children’s books: 56 cracking reads to keep kids entertained this Christmas
The heart-stopping account of the war in Ukraine, You Don’t Know What War Is by 12-year-old Yeva Skalietska, who escaped to Ireland, is a vital read by everyone. Teenage page-turners
I wish Yeva Skalietska hadn’t felt the need to write this book but I’m glad that she did write it – because it is exhilarating, shattering, heartbreaking, brilliant. It’s an extraordinary book. (Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author)
Yeva's diary allows the reader to experience war through the eyes of a child and her story will endure long after this terrible war ends.
I'll never forget the first time Yeva read extracts from her diary to me in a refugee shelter at the start of the full-scale war. With this book, we all get that privilege. (Paraic O'Brien, Channel 4 News reporter)
It resonates beyond the particular to convey what it means to lose everything suddenly, the horror of bombardment and the need to make those who run from danger safe.
All stars
Most relevant
It was interesting to listen, how young girl describes war being one of millions who suffer from russian cruelty and aggression.
So sad to know that wars continue in our time taking life and bringing sorrow, grief, death.
Perverted federation does not have a future.
God will put an end to every evil on this planet. He promised and He will fulfil!

Sad story and terrible events in 2022

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So informing of how lives were suddenly turned upside down, and your old way of life lost, thank you

A glimpse into what it's been like

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Moving first hand account of the war in Ukraine.
Both my kids (13 and 16) thoroughly enjoyed it.

Excellent

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This book is a plea of a child who has more logic, sanity, humanity and love, than anyone, who have crossed the border of her country with a gun and righteous ideology and propaganda filled, otherwise vacant brain.
The reporting goes quite predictably with initial shock, struggles and eventually - seemingly calming ending. But then little stories of her friends return you to that crucial first minute, hour, day or month, when you are reminded how one moment orchestrated by a mad man can change lives of so many.
History has repeated itself and its up to all of us to:
-set up bar higher. Where all the world is looking after each other with respect, understanding and love;
or...
- plunge back in to medieval "free for all" land grab for those who have bigger stick and more advanced brainwashing. Risking more suffering, destruction and famine.

A plea of a child

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Very moving without being depressing. Made the war and the experiences of adults and children really come alive.

Brilliant

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