Financial Times: Children’s book by Oksana Lushchevska among the best in 2024

“Silent Night, My Astronaut,” a book by Oksana Lushchevska (author) and Kateryna Stepanishcheva (illustrator), is among the five best children’s and young adult books of 2024, as reported on the website of the British daily newspaper Financial Times.

The book is written in the form of a child’s diary and tells the story of the first 10 days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Its main character is Ia, a seven-year-old girl, who makes notes on the details of her life, worries, dreams and beliefs during this time.

“During the opening days of the war in Ukraine, seven-year-old Ia addresses an imaginary astronaut in the sky who she hopes will protect her. This is a timely, powerful picture book about fear and resilience. ‘We need stories,’ Ia declares, ‘courageous stories, funny stories. We want to laugh so much!’” is written in the annotation.

“Newspaper Financial Times (UK) named the picturebook “Silent Night, My Astronaut” one of the best books of 2024. It is important that such books are so noticeable in the UK. Importantly, Financial Times is not about children’s literature but about the most important demands of our time,” Lushchevska commented on her Facebook page.

In the UK, “Silent Night, My Astronaut” was published by Andersen Press. Earlier, it was also published by the American publishing house Tilbury House under the title “Quiet Night, My Astronaut.” This was facilitated by literary agent Allison Remchek (Stimola Literary Studio).

Originally the book was published in Ukrainian in 2022 by the Knigolove Publishing House. The illustrator of the book is Kateryna Stepanishcheva. The publication won the Best Book Design 2022 competition.

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Images: Kateryna Stepanishcheva/Knigolove (Ukrainian edition)

Copy editing: Joy Tataryn