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Why War is Never a Good Idea by Alice Walker and illustrated by Stefano Vitale is a poem put to life in a picture book with beautiful, rich illustrations. This powerful text shows children the affects of war and the innocent bystanders from frogs to children to mothers to villagers who are the victims of war. Here’s a small verse from the book:

Though War has a mind of its own/War never knows/Who/It is going/To hit./ Picture a donkey/Peacefully/Sniffing a pile/Of Straw/

This is a book that could upset children, but it is a book to share with them. If they have questions about war or why their moms or dads are away in the service or why their village is being destroyed by soldiers, this book can help start a dialogue. It’s PERFECT for homeschooling, churches, small counseling groups. We can help children around the world who are victims of war when we educate everyone about the affects of war–this book can help do this!

Alice Walker is the author of The Color Purple and is an activist. She has written other books for children such as: There is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me, Langston Hughes: American Poet, and Finding the Green Stone.

Here she is in an interview on WNYC radio, reading a section of this book. Very powerful–only about two minutes long, so please take time to watch:

Searching for information about Bill Wahpepah, a Kickapoo and Sauk and Fox man who worked at the Native American Survival School in the Bay Area in the 1970s, I found myself reading Alice Walker's blog post "The First Time I Saw Dennis Banks: Ojibwa Warrior Introduction." I learned that Alice Walker was involved with the American Indian Movement:

Many years later, after moving to the West Coast, I became involved in the American Indian Movement: Reading poetry with John Trudell, hosting fund raisers with Nilak Butler, Bill Wahpepah and his sculptor wife, Carol. Celebrating Un-Thanksgiving Day at Alcatraz Island, praying-in on top of Black Mesa in Arizona, and joining demonstrations and vigils for Native American rights whenever I could. However it wasn’t until a decade had passed that I once again saw Dennis. This time handcuffed, on trial for a list of crimes designated by the court, having voluntarily returned to face sentencing after leading the FBI on a chase that lasted eleven years.

The most shaping experience of Walker’s childhood and adolescence occurred in 1952 when she was eight years old. Playing cowboys and Indians with her older brothers Curtis and Bobby, Curtis shot accidentally Walker in the eye with a BB gun. To avoid punishment, the brothers concocted a fiction and pressured their sister to accept it. The physical result was that Walker lost the sight in her right eye.

From Emory’s Web site…

The first public exhibition of papers and other memorabilia from the extraordinary archives of Georgia-born Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker will open at Emory University Thursday, April 23.

The university will celebrate the opening with a daylong symposium on the author’s art and life Friday, April 24, followed by a public talk by Walker at 8 p.m. that evening.

“A Keeping of Records: The Art and Life of Alice Walker,” which opens in the Schatten Gallery of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, features 200 items drawn from one of the most complete archives in existence, says curator Rudolph P. Byrd, Goodrich C. White Professor of American Studies.

You can visit Alice Walker’s Garden here.

Thank you to our reader Neesha Memminger who shared with us about the TORONTO WOMEN'S BOOK CENTER in Ontario. Why not take a hike over to their site, say hello and thank them for their good work? Click here to have a look.


"We are a bookstore that nurtures diverse communities through special events and ventures. We offer a multitude of community services such as bulletin boards, reading groups, and courses. We also host author readings and book launches. Some of our previous launches include Alice Walker (By The Light Of My Father's Smile), Dionne Brand (At The Full And Change Of The Moon), Patricia Hill Collins (Black Feminist Thought), Dorothy Allison (Cavedweller), and Shauna Singh Baldwin (What The Body Remembers)."

Patagonia, Argentina

Coordinates: 45 0 S 69 0 W

Approximate area: 300,000 sq. mi. (770,000 sq. km)

Perhaps best characterized as a sparsely populated, expansive arid region situated almost literally at the ends of the Earth, Patagonia once teemed with an impressive range of flora and fauna. Of course to fully appreciate the abundance of life that once called this piece of South America home, it helps to have a degree in paleontology. (more…)

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