Writing about sensitive issues

I have just made a tentative beginning on a story for young children aged c. 6-8.  It deals with adoption of children who are no longer babies.  Someone in our critique group raised the question of whether this could be upsetting to a young reader.  Her reasoning was that a child in an unhappy home might fear that they would be adopted “away” from their birth family.

I thought that was an interesting reflection and it is making me extra careful in how I write the story. There are many adopted children in our society.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to write in a way that is entertaining rather than worrying.  If not, I might start something entirely different.

As I walked home from the critique group meeting, I remembered something that I’m sure I have said when giving a talk about picture books: ‘Even though the readership is young, there are a huge number of themes that can be dealt with in picture books’.  I was thinking of death, as in the story of Badger who died Badger’s Parting Gift by Susan Varley.  On a far less contentious theme, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a much-loved classic, proving that one can write about something as “un-cuddly” as a caterpillar!

In Cloud Busting, Malorie Blackman has written a story in poetic format, seen through the eyes of the class bully.  It is a transforming experience reading this story.  It is clear that everything lies in the writing. And that is the challenge!

By Odette Elliott