Sanna Pelliccioni’s wordless children’s book We Had to Leave has been a subject of research within the international community.
The book has been chosen to “DIALLS: DIalogue and Argumentation for Cultural Literacy Learning in Schools” research project, led by the University of Cambridge and ongoing in several European countries, to research how children engage in discussions where they may have differing viewpoints and how wordless books can help to grow awareness of their own cultural identities.
The book was also recently presented in the five-day conference of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature in Stockholm. The conference gathered over 500 participants from ca. 50 different countries. One of the participants has commented that Pelliccioni’s book has received a spontaneous “Wow!” among the usually rather critical audience.
University of Helsinki researcher and teacher Jaana Pesonen, who held the presentation about the book (‘We Had to Leave‘– Voicing the refugee experience in a wordless picturebook), was glad to see that it received so much interest from the academics, among others, from Evelyn Arizpe who was named the new president for the IRSCL board. Arizpe mentioned Pelliccioni’s book in her own presentation.
We are very proud that Finnish children’s titles are considered to be the etalon of quality and have a notable role in the education research and practice around the world. Congratulations to Sanna Pelliccioni!
(Photo: Loviisa Kangas)