Powerful and highly topical picture book about war, flight, change and reconciliation.

In the beginning, there is a house with blue window frames. There is a mum and a dad, a cushion, a grandmother, a school, a cat on the step and a secret chocolate drawer. But there is also war. There are bombs and uniforms and grownups talking in whispers, and the war will change everything. Soon almost everything is gone. The chocolate drawer and the cat, the cushion and Grandmother, the school and even Dad. Now there are new things. There are queues and cold draughts and a house that isn’t a home. There are people who talk strangely and food that tastes weird. But there are also children who play. And a cat on the step who may become a friend.

What Is There and What is Lost is a powerful story about having to abandon everything you know and put down new roots in an unfamiliar place. It’s a story that will be a great conversation-starter in schools and kindergartens, where many people meet children who have been forced to flee from war and unrest in their homelands.