The Great Realization

by Tomos Roberts (Tomfoolery), Nomoco (Illustrator)

Overview

Selected by Today as a book "to ease kids’ anxiety about coronavirus.”

We all need hope. Humans have an extraordinary capacity to battle through adversity, but only if they have something to cling onto: a belief or hope that maybe, one day, things will be better.

This idea sparked The Great Realization. Sharing the truths we may find hard to tell but also celebrating the things—from simple acts of kindness and finding joy in everyday activities, to the creativity within us all—that have brought us together during lockdown, it gives us hope in this time of global crisis.

Written for his younger brother and sister in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Tomos Roberts’s heartfelt poem is as timely as it is timeless. Its message of hope and resilience, of rebirth and renewal, has captured the hearts of children and adults all over the globe—and the glimpse it offers of a fairer, kinder, more sustainable world continues to inspire thousands every day. 

With Tomos Roberts’s heartfelt poem and beautiful illustrations by award-winning artist Nomoco, The Great Realization is a profound work, at once striking and reassuring, reminding readers young and old that in the face of adversity there are still dreams to be dreamt and kindnesses to be shared and hope. There is still hope.

We now call it The Great Realization

and, yes, since then there have been many.

But that’s the story of how it started . . .

and why hindsight’s 2020.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063066380
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tomos Roberts (Tomfoolery) is a spoken-word poet and filmmaker, born in New Zealand to Welsh parents. He was inspired to write The Great Realization while homeschooling his seven-year-old brother and sister, and the resulting film includes a cameo from his brother, Cai. Since its release, Tomos’s heartfelt poem has been watched by tens of millions, bringing with it newspaper and TV interviews, high-profile endorsements, and thousands of messages of appreciation from around the world. Tomos lives in London.

Nomoco is a Japanese artist and illustrator whose joyful artwork, created in a range of different media including inks, silkscreen, and lithography, has been published and exhibited all over the globe. Her first children’s picture book was nominated for the Kate Greenaway Medal, and she has produced artwork for clients including the Royal School of Music, the Guardian, and the New York Times. Nomoco lives in Tokyo.

Editorial Reviews

"This fairytale-style story provides a springboard for discussion of current events with children, and presents a more optimistic view of the future in a time where the outlook often seems bleak."   — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

07/31/2020

PreS-Gr 2—Set in an abstract future, a young boy asks his older brother to share a bedtime story about the time of the virus of 2020. It was a time when people had lost their way, when humans were lost to a world of environmental degradation, technology, and corporate greed. Then a virus came and changed how people behaved. During a time when everyone was forced to slow down and live differently, they managed to find hope and inspiration for a different way of living. The story, in the form of a picture book poem, was originally released as a short video that went viral on social media platforms in this past spring. It featured the author reading the poem as a bedtime story to his younger brother and sister in an effort to offer a more optimistic response to fears and anxiety caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nomoco's artistic ink and watercolor illustrations serve as an understated backdrop for the text. In the introduction, the author is careful to assert that he does not wish to negate the many hardships caused by the virus, but instead offers a message of hope and optimism in a time of great difficulties. VERDICT This fairytale-style story provides a springboard for discussion of current events with children, and presents a more optimistic view of the future in a time where the outlook often seems bleak.—Jessica Marie, Salem P.L., OR

School Library Journal

2020-08-18
Lyrical reassurance in the face of illness or pandemic, spun off from a viral video: “Well, sometimes you get sick, my boy, / before you start / feeling better.”

With similarly daft logic—not to mention frequent disregard for regular meter and rhyme—Roberts tells a favorite bedtime story to two children. Back in 2020, the text relates, corporate greed (“our leaders taught us why / it’s best to not / upset the lobbies— / more convenient to die”) and feelings of loneliness brought about by our addiction to screens and social media were transformed into a healthier “work-life balance” while hiding away from the virus. “We started clapping to say thank you / and calling up our moms. / And while the car keys gathered dust / we would look forward to our runs.” Emerging from this rather radically simplistic isolation scenario to a fresher, less-plasticized world led to the titular epiphany, the exact nature of which readers are left to figure out. Along with Americanized spelling and a few unnecessary changes in line order and wording, this version of the poem comes with restrained, sparely brushed watercolor illustrations of, mostly, stylized human figures rendered in a range of hues from paper white (the narrator and children) to shades of brown and pale blue or green.

Readers may be affected by the optimistic tone, but the words sound darker, even disturbing, themes. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews