By Judy Carmack Bross
Candice Klopfenstein, a Chicagoan who puts together pieces of glass and stone into multi-colored mosaics has proven this holiday that she is equally talented in putting together children of many backgrounds into her first book, one that speaks for where we are right now in our city’s refugee crisis.
The Place Where I Belong, a book for children released in English and also recently in both English and Spanish, speaks to the different kinds of loss families currently are experiencing and the author’s hope for safe places for them to live and dream.
Klopfenstein told us she wrote the book in part so that the children who read the book or hear it read by their parents will develop empathy and understanding and learn about the different kinds of loss that refugees and other homeless families are experiencing.
Through working with refugee organizations, volunteering at St. Chrysostom’s Closet, which serves the local refugee population, living in countries with diverse populations, and tutoring a mother in English, she has come to better understand the fundamental desire of people everywhere to have a secure and peaceful place to have a home. “I want to bring hope to children and their families who have experienced loss,” she said. “The dream for my book has grown to be that children from all kinds of situations will feel seen and find hope in this story.”
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“The global crisis of displaced people—refugees, asylum seekers and others, continues to evolve and change. At this time there are more people who have been displaced from their homes than at any other time in modern history. They have fled their homes because of issues like war, internal conflicts, human rights violations, environmental disasters and economic hardships. It is estimated that one half of these individuals are under the age of 18,” she shared.
She invites readers to visit the website of the UN Refugee Agency: www.unhcr.org as well as with other groups working worldwide to learn more.
Her first book in English became available in June of this year, and the edition in both Spanish and English was just released on December 12th. She hopes to publish it in other languages including Ukrainian and Arabic in the near future.
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More information about the book and links to purchase can be found at candiceklopfenstein.com.
The author chose the painter Antonia Ruppert who grew up in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood to illustrate the book. Ruppert has been an artist for 25 years and remembers as a child being given pink paper at her dentist’s office and filling it with pictures of horses and people. Today her works are on canvas, panels and paper, and this is her first book illustration.
Klopfenstein told us more about her goal for the book:
“I hope that kids feel seen. I want them to know that no matter what they go through, this doesn’t take away from their value as a human being. A home represents a place of safety which they share with their family, and is where they first start forming their identity. There can be quite a bit of uncertainty with change. The book shows that the affirmations that are experienced within the home, I am loved, I have joy… can take place outside the home when making new friends, being with family, seeing nature around them and having hope on the way to a new home.”
The author gives much credit to refugee families: “From what I have observed, they have risked so much for their children in order to see them thrive.”
Growing up outside Detroit, Klopfenstein loved reading as a child and remembers in particular Anne of Green Gables. “I loved her spirit and how she overcame so many challenges.”
We share as well a few of the mosaics she has created:
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