Alice Walker, Stefano Vitale and Why War Is Never A Good Idea

Alice Walker is best known for being the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 for her novel Color Purple. Known for her race and gender activism, Ms. Walker has also been an active anti-war supporter since the early 1960. In March of 2009, Ms. Walker traveled to Gaza to help deliver aid and support the message of Egypt and Israel opening their boarder into Gaza.

Ms. Walker is the author of my favorite childrens book. Along with the amazing art work by Stefano Vitale this collaboration is titled Why War Is Never A Good Idea.
This book is a poetic swirling of words that evoke softly spoken images of the devistations of war. Through his art and illustrations Mr. Vitale’s vibrant folk-art style contrast mountain top villages and lush jungles with the thickly textured face of war with rusted metal, nails and tires. This face which “destoys thing that do not belong to it” and “eats everything in its path”. For both a child’s eyes and through the learned appreciation of an adult, this book is thought provoking.
Why War Is Never A Good Idea is a book of art, poetry and child entertainment I make it a point to give this as a gift with the same zeal I once reserved for Dr. Seuss. It is also a fantastic way to start the diologue with your monkeys. This book and Color Purple can both be found for under $4 in my Amazon store.

In the words of Sir S:

I have a dream that one day people will stop bombing Iraq. This is a BIG problem because our economy is bad. Everything will go bad with war because people die. No war will make it a better place to live.

Mr. Vitale's website of all his really cool art work.  He even designs wine lable art!http://www.stefanovitale.com/