The boy who flooded the world
Story about sensitive children and coping with sadness
| Author | Snježana Babić Višnjić |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Marko Pinjuh |
| Original Title | Dječak koji je poplavio svijet |
| ISBN | 978-953-8008-55-9 |
| Format | hardcover |
| Pages | 32 |
| Size | 26X25 cm |
| Age range | Beginning readers (5 – 7), Young readers (6 – 10) |
| Categories | Heartworming stories, Sadness |
|---|---|
| Tag | Renowned Croatian authors |
Ever since he was born, everyone in his family knew he was special. His parents named him Clement – once they held him in their arms and met him, they realised such a name suited him perfectly because Clement was a gentle and sweet boy.
When he smiled at you, you would feel a surge of happiness as if you were being touched by a warm southern wind, and when he was sad, you would want to cry your eyes out because you’d feel his sadness like a restless storm.
Dams of his feelings were very low, and he could not contain them inside his heart, so they kept overflowing and splashing onto others.
His parents kept him safe and satisfied, happy and calm, but everything changed when he grew up and started school.
This is the beginning of a story about a gentle boy Clement. His family hoped that school is going to be a happy place for their sensitive child, but it turned out to be the opposite. Faced with new challenges and cruelty from his school friends, Clement’s unpleasant feelings arouse, and he simply could not hold back the tears.
One day he climbed onto the school roof and cried so much that he flooded the whole world with his tears. And who knows how the world flooded with sadness would have healed if Clement had not met Jane, a little girl who joined him on the roof.
She also carried sadness in her heart, but unlike him, Jana hid her pain. The two children will find comfort in each other and together find a solution to the unpleasant and difficult feelings that were pressing on their young hearts.
This is a story about dealing with the feeling of sadness. Sadness is an emotion that lasts, an emotion in which we can drown, and which doesn’t leave our body easily. It is okay to be sad, it is okay to cry out loud or to withdraw and remain silent, because everyone has their own way of processing pain.
But what this story tries to teach children is that we can find relief by sharing our feelings with someone, receiving support or comfort, and then trying to fix what hurt us or letting go of what happened and moving on.
