Therapeutic Function of Literary Accounts of the War in Ukraine Addressed to Children

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse children’s books on war, written by Polish and Ukrainian authors, with special emphasis on the war in Ukraine. The starting point for the considerations is the methodology of children’s studies, which is a scientific discipline that places childhood as the subject of in-depth research. The interpretation used current data on psychological problems related to the youngest refugees from Ukraine. Children’s books by Polish authors published in the series Adult Wars – Children’s Stories about the war in Ukraine were analysed, and their indisputable therapeutic functions were indicated. Reading them individually or collectively brings relief to the traumas experienced by Ukrainian children who find themselves in exile in a new, unknown country. At the same time, it teaches compassion and creates empathy for those in need among the youngest Poles. Then, the works from the indicated series were compared with those written at the same time, i. e. from February 2022, by Ukrainian authors. It turned out that they did not take into account the psychological needs of Ukrainian children, promoting primarily patriotic content and focusing on providing knowledge about the homeland in a state of danger. The summary includes a postulate regarding the need to adapt the content and form of the message related to war in children’s literature to the audience of early school age, in such a way that its therapeutic function is fulfilled.