What will today bring is a picture book about a young child’s experience coping with disaster. This book is a great way for children to learn empathy for those facing civil disasters, to get inside the shoes of children displaced by natural disasters. This would be a very suitable story for classroom study when fundraising for communities in need following a natural disaster.
Author: Chrissi Nerantzi, Illustrator: Gail Spencer
Examples of Exercises to Complete Based on the Book:
1. Write about how you would feel if your town was struck by disaster, what are some of your fears and what would
you be most upset about.
2. Talk about some ways you can help others who are facing disaster
3. Discuss or implement some fund raising ideas.
4. Talk about the spend, save donate as a concept, and how donations can help those in need.
Text From What Will Today Bring – Coping with Disaster
Something is burning my eyelids.
I open my eyes and look around. Where am I? Sea, sun and hot sand. A beach?
What is all that noise?
How did I get here? Where are Mummy and Daddy? Where is Hope? The noise is getting louder and louder.
I want to go home.
I close my eyes and imagine.
It all came back to me.
Broken houses. Broken people.
Trying to swim, in the water, clinging on… a piece of wood. Mummy, Daddy? Hope?
What happened next?
I can’t remember.
Who are these people? Why do I not understand them? A little girl gives me her teddy.
I am holding on to teddy. With both hands.
I am looking around. And around.
Where is my Mummy? Daddy? Hope?
My eyes fill up, like the sea. They become the sea.
Where are we going?
I am in a room with pictures. Happy pictures. Mountains of toys. Clothes. Food.
Girls and boys with sad eyes.
Where are Mummy and Daddy? Hope? I still feel their warmth.
But they are not here.
I run out of the room.
I keep running and running.
No familiar faces. None.
People are crying, others laughing. “We made it,” they shout.
I hold on to teddy.
I hold on and look around. It is just me.
Nobody I know.
Nobody.
Suddenly a familiar voice reached my ear… I turned around.
My eyes lit up.
I run. With teddy. It was Hope.
My heart started beating again.
She squeezes me hard and doesn’t let go. We look out to the sea.
Hope shows me a picture.
We just sit there. In silence. With teddy. It got dark and then light again.
“What will today bring?” I ask Hope…
<End of Text from What Will Today Bring>
About the story and this book…
This open picture book was created to raise awareness of children in need and find ways to help them. Experiences in the family of the author and current traumatic situations in many parts of the world, triggered the writing of the story as a response, a personal voice that was united with the illustrator’s voice and became this picture book.
The pictures are part of the story and accompany the reader to immerse themselves into the story through creating opportunities to extend their interpretation of them and contribute to them. This is the rationale behind using this type of pictures. So feel free to add to the pictures, personalise them. And please share them back as we would love to see your versions.
We hope that our story will be translated into other languages and travel around the world. Please get in touch if you have any comments or suggestions and if you could help finance a possible publication of a printed version to raise money for children in need.
Thank you for engaging with our story and Dr Meriel Lland and Amy Turner for their help during the creative process.
Chrissi Nerantzi and Gail Spencer c.nerantzi@mmu.ac.uk and g.spencer@mmu.ac.uk
… an experiment, part of #creativeHE https://plus.google.com/communities/110898703741307769041
See more books from creative commons category
Animals Eating – Early Reader - In this Mustard Seed book, one learns two new nouns with a similar verb phrase, perfect for early readers, and also lots of fun for toddlers learning about different animals.
Useful Tips to Boost Focus and Learn Better Online - Learning online can be incredibly convenient, but it comes with its own unique challenges. Without a physical classroom or face-to-face instruction, students may struggle to stay engaged, retain information, or structure their time efficiently. Distractions at home, unstructured schedules, and screen fatigue can quickly derail progress, especially for younger learners or those unfamiliar with digital ...
Turning Points – YA Short Stories - The paths of two young women weave around each other, bringing them together then pushing them away from each other—will they remain apart forever?
4 Ways Nannies Can Celebrate Diversity With Kids - Is your family a family of mixed cultures, or do you simply want your children to learn about more cultures and engage with them from a very young age? This can have a huge impact on their development and diversity, and can be exactly what forms their personality. How can you achieve this? Parents usually ...
The Pinglish Project - Paul Gough from the Pinglish Project has translated these four books, available on our website, into Pinglish:Pinglish makes it very easy for English second-language speakers to pronounce words.
Pinglish is English only the spelling is different.
The JC Team Volume 3 – Bible Stories - Another great collection of biblical stories about Jesus from Sr Mary Joe. Stories include Dave’s Dilemma, Martha and Mary, Taking the Step, Jesus’ Family, The Centurion’s Boy, The Curse? Peter’s Secret Wish, Jairus’ Daughter. Sample Page from The JC Team Volume 3 Download or read online the full children’s ebook by selecting one of the ...
Why Diversity in Children’s Books Shapes Better Understanding Early On - Children’s literature exposes children to diverse stories and characters and helps them cultivate a better appreciation for differences in culture, race, and family structures. Children read about characters who differ from them, and they naturally start to form connections that improve their empathy and awareness. Growing up, children need to see themselves represented in stories ...
The Whistling Man - A charming free children's storybook about the visually impaired for early grades. 
Recycling Arts and Crafts Guide – Planet Ark - Recycling Arts and Crafts free children's ebook is a fun collection of crafts made from recycling - perfect for schools, homeschoolers, families, and all children, young and old.
How to Tame a Monster - Lwando’s sister Oyiso is sometimes very cute, but sometimes she is a monster! Can Lwando tame the monster? Find out in this beautifully illustrated book from BookDash. Sample Page from How to Tame a Monster <End of Page 2 of 24> Download or read online the full free children’s ebook by selecting one of the ...
Sponsored Links:
Note – if you sign up through these links, it doesn’t cost you any extra, but FKB receives a small donation, which helps us move towards our aim of
FREE Hardcopies!
All our posts are checked by Grammarly, the FREE online grammar checker (We still receive a donation even if you only sign up for the free account :-):
This site is hosted by Bluehost:
Leave a comment (it won’t be public) if you want help getting your own website cost-effectively.
This story and pıctures are very perfect. Thank you for this story’s illustrator. God bless you. We love all children.