Food banks used to be an aberration. Now they’re in children’s books | Aditya Chakrabortty

The release of Britain’s first picture book about families going hungry is a grim reminder of the issues at the heart of this election

I have just read a beautiful book about something truly obscene. Full of lovely pictures and occasional bits of text, it’s the kind you might read with your four-year-old. It shows a little girl and her mum as they visit a food bank.

It’s a No-Money Day is narrated by the daughter who sees how her mother worries over every penny, while shielding her from the painful stuff. “There’s no more cereal, so I have the last piece of toast. Luckily Mum isn’t hungry,” the girl says; and you know the biggest thing Mum will have for breakfast is her own little white lie. When they reach the food bank, the child tucks into biscuits and squash while her mother sags like a balloon from which the air has escaped.

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from Children | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2q8snTf