‘The Three Sunflowers’ Blooms Again for Ukrainian Children

Initially inspired by a desire to bring comfort and help children make sense out of the world “in the wake of 9/11, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, Hurricane Katrina, and the La Conchita mudslides,” writer Janet Lucy and her team at the nonprofit Seven Seas Press have recently turned their award-winning book The Three Sunflowers into a bilingual Ukrainian-English edition dedicated to the children of Ukraine. They are working in collaboration with the Stand with Ukraine Foundation in Los Angeles, which offers global and local support, to help get books directly into the hands of children affected by the war. 

After publishing the first book, a bilingual English-Spanish edition featuring illustrations by Colleen McCarthy-Evans, more than a decade ago, Lucy said that, “along the way, what I discovered, and I didn’t know this at the time, but sunflowers are an international symbol of peace.”

The story of The Three Sunflowers revolves around a turbulent day in a garden where this trio of sunflowers — the tall, wise Gloria; and the newer arrivals, Sunny and Solomiia (named for the daughter of translator Iryna Demchyshyna, who fled the war in Ukraine with her then-4-year-old daughter in April 2022, and stayed with an American host family for five months) — learn to face a series of unexpected and chaotic events that they have no power to stop. 

“The whole idea of the book is to teach children how to find peace within themselves, especially during frightening events. It’s teaching them the value of resilience in difficult times,” said Lucy. 

“I couldn’t imagine a more timely and relevant book to create for Ukrainian children,” said Lucy. She outlined a serendipitous series of events where, as she became aware of the sunflowers’ significance and began discussions with McCarthy-Evans about finding a Ukrainian translator, “about a month later, Colleen called me and she said, ‘You’re not gonna believe this … my sister opened her home [in Los Angeles] to a Ukrainian mother and daughter who fled the war. And Iryna — that’s her name — is a professional translator.’”

“I teared up when Colleen and Janet asked me to translate the book,” said Demchyshyna in a statement. “It was my dream to translate again, and sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine.”

She continued, “When Solomiia read the book, it made her feel stronger and gave her hope. This book reminds us that everything will be all right. Don’t give up! Stay strong!”

The book comes with a “Discussion and Activities Guide” to help children engage deeply with the story and explore the themes as they relate to their own lives. “I like to include discussion guides, and so it was really important to me that for this one, I was able to do that in a way that was sensitive, relevant, and meaningful for the children and Ukraine. So Iryna consulted on that — as well as the whole book, really — for the relevance of the content,” said Lucy. 

Prompts include questions like, “How do the three sunflowers take care of each other?” and “How do you and your loved ones take care of each other?” to easily help children draw parallels to their own lives and relate them to the story. 

Inspired by Iryna and Solomiia’s story, and in the spirit of their mission, Seven Seas Press is launching a campaign to send copies of Три Соняшники/The Three Sunflowers to Ukrainian children displaced by the war. Donations will go to funding books to distribute through organizations serving Ukrainian children locally and internationally.

To support this fundraiser, visit sevenseaspress.org/childrensbooksforukraine.