Suffolk Family Carers were pleased to welcome Onjali Q Rauf to our AGM in November 2024. Onjali is an activist and children’s author, her latest book, The Letter with the Golden Stamp, tells a story of a young carer in Swansea trying to save her family.
The Letter with the Golden Stamp by Onjali Q Rauf
‘I can’t remember how old I was when I first started collecting stamps. But I’ve got a whole shoebox full of them now.
Mam used to help me collect them … Before she got so ill that she lost her job, her friends…everything.
Now it’s my job to take care of her and protect her – and my little brother and sister too. But to do that, I have to make Mam a Secret. A secret no-one can ever find out about. Not even my best friends at school, or Mo, our postman.
Or the stranger living in the house across the street. The one no-one has seen, but who I know is spying on us.
Deep in the heart of Swansea, Wales, lives a small girl with some big secrets to keep. Secrets that make her one of the best actresses on the planet – because no-one would ever think that, away from school, Audrey is the sole carer for her increasingly sick mam and her two younger siblings … or a seasoned thief.
With her worlds threatened by the arrival of a mysterious, invisible neighbour, behind whose closed curtains and shut front door may lie a spy, Audrey must take matters into her own hands to save her family.
Inspired by her beloved collection of stamps, her friendly neighbourhood postman (and fellow stamp collector), and her two best friends, off Audrey must go: on an adventure that will lead her to places – and hearts – she never knew existed.
Celebrating the hidden army of Young Carers daily keeping their loved ones alive behind closed doors, and the everyday s/heroes that surround them, The Letter with the Golden Stamp delves into the fears and hopes of Young Carers everywhere, and the invisible sources of kindness knocking on all our doors.
This is only one of many books written about Young Carers. Reading such stories to your child or encouraging them to read the stories will help to realise they are not alone in their caring role and that there are other children experiencing similar lives. This can help to reduce feelings of being different or on their own. It also gives them pride in what they do, learning from the character’s in the story.
Stories can also give words to feelings that a child may not have. Stories can explore these feelings and what to do with them.
Other suggestions …
Big Ben, by Rachel Anderson
This is a moving story about Matthew, whose adored older brother Ben has Downs Syndrome. Matthew is horrified when Ben turns 16 and has to go off to a special school – he will miss him very much. Gradually Matthew comes to realise that it is best for Ben and that he will need to find his own friends. When Matthew’s teacher decides to focus on Ben for a class project on ‘Interesting People in the Community’ the class comes to recognise what an amazing person Ben is. An entertaining and amusing story about an area rarely tackled.
Caitlin’s Wish, by Victoria Taylor
Caitlin’s Wish is an enchanting and moving story based on real life events; an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity. It follows one little girl’s journey as she comes to terms with her father’s life-changing illness. Unable to accept all the changes in her life, Caitlin asks herself, “Why me? Why my family?” She hides her true feelings from everyone around her, only confiding in Rufus, a little robin who sits on her windowsill. She pours her heart out to him, completely unaware of his magic abilities. Rufus arranges a trip to an enchanted world where anything is possible. Join Caitlin on her magical adventure to Fairyland where she re-discovers her happiness and learns to see life from a new perspective. Once you’ve read Caitlin’s Wish, you’ll never see life in the same way again. Victoria Taylor lives in Wales with her husband and 2 children. She began writing as a way of helping her young daughter come to terms with her father’s rare brain condition, IH.
Red Sky in The Morning, by Elizabeth Laird
“I sometimes wonder if I would have loved Ben quite so much if Mum hadn’t shown me his feet first. She lifted up the edge of the coverlet, and I saw his tiny, perfect, miniature toes, pink as shells, pink as shells.
“I hadn’t seen anything so beautiful in my whole life.“
Anna adores her new baby brother. But when she tells her friends about him, Anna can’t quite bring herself to explain that he’s different. Ben is profoundly disabled – and he brings a joy to Anna’s life that changes it for ever.
Red Sky in the Morning is the only one of Laird’s novels that comes straight out of her own life. It’s based on the life of her little brother, Alastair, and everything that happened to Ben in the story happened to Alastair. The other characters are all made up, but Ben is as true to Alastair as she could make him.
Don’t forget to visit your local Library to rent any books. If they don’t have the book you’re looking for , they would be keen to organise for it to come from another Library. Any even better news… Libraries are free!
