A Teaspoon of Light by Peter O’Connor and Nisaluk Chantanakom

Title:  A Teaspoon of Light

Author: Peter O’Connor and Nisaluk Chantanakom

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Dirt Lane Press

Published: May 2024

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $26.95

Synopsis: A story about making and saving loving memories.

Marley’s dream cloth reminds her of the people she loves, and of safe and happy times. When times get tough and the cloth rips in two, those memories begin to slide away. Marley must make new loving memories before she can bring back the old ones and begin to imagine the future anew.

Imagined after earthquakes in Christchurch and Mexico City, A Teaspoon of Light is a story about loss, despair, and the repairing of dreams. Author Peter O’Connor, an internationally recognised expert in using the arts to heal trauma, has woven a tale of hope for children struggling to make sense of their world, which Nisaluk Chantanakom has brought to vibrant life with her luminous artwork.

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Marley has a special dream cloth that she hold onto, because it reminds her of the happy and safe times, and the people she loves, but one day, during some rough times, Marley’s cloth tears, and she sets about asking her friends how they hold onto their memories, and find their memories. And she is also trying to make new memories to help bring back the old ones, so she can imagine a new future filled with love.

Marley’s story is a gentle one that explores holding on, letting go, and what happens when we feel like we’re losing the things and people who are special to us. Marley’s feelings of loss come through evocatively and powerfully as she explores how to get her happy feelings back during a time when she can’t find it. Everyone has their own ways of creating memories, and holding onto memories, and they try to help Marley, because they are her friends and want to make sure she still has her memories.

But as Marley learns, everyone keeps their memories in different ways, and despite trying what other people offer her, Marley knows she has to get her cloth back. And this is the beauty of this story – in sharing and caring, in knowing what works for you to work through your memories and trauma. It is a gentle book that will help children understand that we all have our own ways of coping with trauma and holding onto our memories and what helps us in our daily lives. Those little things that keep us going. Peter’s story makes talking about trauma accessible for children; to help them work through things they have gone through that might affect them deeply. Children also feel loss and despair intensely – and books like this make discussing these feelings accessible by providing a way for families and people around children to talk and process trauma, and how to hold onto the memories that mean something to us.

This beautiful book is to be shared and loved, one that will create empathy and understanding and allow children to be seen, to have their trauma understood by those around them. Peter’s gentle words are accompanied by Nisaluk Chantanakom’s emotionally charged illustrations that give insight into the world that children inhabit, and the worlds that they might be part of following a tragedy. It is also the kind of book that can be used to help children cope with seeing traumatic things on television, allowing them to understand that they are safe, and that even though some things are scary, there are always good things to hold onto to get you through those moments.