As bombs rained down, Nikita fled his home. Now he’s written a grand interstellar adventure

1 day ago 4

On the surface, it’s a humble picture book about space travel, but it’s had far-out benefits for the Ukrainian refugee children who created it.

It’s not just that the book is now in the collections of the State Library of Victoria and the children’s local Bentleigh Library in Melbourne’s south-east.

Nikita Rozmosh, 9 (left), and Petro Lazoriv, 13, with the book they worked on, The Big Space Adventure.

It’s also that while writing and illustrating the book, one night a week for six weeks, the children and their parents connected with people in the same situation — those who survived the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The bilingual book, called The Big Space Adventure, is among 250 titles that have been published in Australia by not-for-profit organisation Kids’ Own Publishing.

Kids’ Own Publishing is celebrating 20 years of making books with Victorian children, 65 per cent of them from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Titles have included A Quack in Time, about a time travelling duck, made by Aldercourt Primary School students in Frankston North, and The Book of Sudanese Cows, written by Sudanese pre-school children and their parents in Fitzroy.

Anna Dollard from Kids’ Own Publishing (left) at Bentleigh Library with Karolina Bogachova, 10, and Karolina’s parents, Sergiy and Tetiana Bogachova.

Kids’ Own Publishing is funded by philanthropy, government grants and commissions.

“To still be here and having so much potential for the future, I think it’s great,” said Anna Dollard, the organisation’s creative director. “I’m very proud.”

The community groups Compass Community Care and Evolve Help Ukraine helped organise the Ukrainian children’s project, which began a year ago at Compass’ Bentleigh premises.

Artists supported children to dream up the story, about kids and creatures from Ukraine and Australia deciding to quit school and head to Mars.

The cover of the book The Big Space Adventure.

Nikita Rozmosh, 9, of Bentleigh East, painted a riot of images, from a witch flying to Mars on a broomstick to a flying green and yellow dinosaur.

Three years ago, in real life, Nikita and his family fled their home city, Odessa, in fear for their lives because of the deadly bombings and rocket attacks raining down on the city.

His mother, Anna Rozmosh, said the Kids’ Own Publishing book connected Nikita with other Ukrainian children and with the images and language of his culture.

“This project helped children from Ukraine to talk and play,” Anna said. “I think this was a beautiful idea.”

Petro Lazoriv, 13, drew vivid images of a wolf, a pineapple planet, and a smiling blob of dough called a kolobok, from a fairytale.

His father, Taras Lazoriv, said the project distracted the children from the war. When writing and drawing “they were not thinking about that. It was a different track, that’s why it was so important. It was separated from real world.”

Petro “was so energised” creating the book, Taras said. “He’d tell us a story about how they were drawing something and about their ideas. So for us, it was very nice to hear.

“It was good for him to relax, a little bit.”

Kids’ Own Publishing’s 20th birthday will be held at Abbotsford Convent on Sunday from 12.30pm, with a free workshop on making books, and from 4pm there will be speeches, food (including kolobok biscuits) and drinks.

The sessions are open to the public, but registration is required. The details are on Kids’ Own Publishing Instagram and Facebook pages.

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