On My Own Way: Stories for Children About Dreams, Courage & Breaking Stereotypes

Description

On My Own Way: Stories for Children About Dreams, Courage & Breaking Stereotypes by Fatma Burçak and friends · Illustrated by Gözde Eyce · Translated from the Turkish by Nilufer Bose Archment It began with a drawing exercise in a primary school classroom. The boys filled their pages with racing cars, pirate ships, and superheroes. The girls drew houses with gardens and princesses waiting in castles. That quiet, painful pattern — the way children’s dreams are shaped long before they know it — became the spark for this book. On My Own Way is a collection of seven illustrated short stories written by six young volunteers under the mentorship of acclaimed Turkish writer Fatma Burçak. Born out of a desire to free children’s imaginations from the old moulds of gender, expectation, and “what girls do” or “what boys do,” each story follows a child standing at the edge of a dream — and finding the courage to step into it. Kevser wins a writing contest about a sea she has never seen, and discovers a future she never imagined. A girl asks why the kitchen must belong only to her mother. A boy named Bahadır watches Swan Lake from the wings and dares, against his parents’ wishes, to want the stage. Fire alarms, thick red curtains, wings that can’t fly, turning points whispered in the dark — across these seven stories, children meet the moment when a small private wish becomes a path to walk. Tender, brave, and quietly radical, On My Own Way is for every child who has ever been told that isn’t for you — and for the adults who want them to hear something different. Beautifully illustrated by Gözde Eyce and rendered into warm, readable English by Nilufer Bose Archment, this is a book about imagination as a form of courage, and courage as a form of love. Originally published in Turkish as Kendi Yolunda, this English edition brings a much-loved Turkish children’s classic to young readers around the world. Ages 8+ · Illustrated · Short story collection A new title from Dreamcatcher, an imprint of The Antonym Collections.