A first-of-its-kind children’s book in Lod, titled “The Hidden Secret,” was created by 15 families from the Ganei Ya'ar community center, with help from the “Connections” program of the National Community Centers Company. Instead of buying books for Book Week, the community chose to write one together, with each family contributing a chapter and passing the story to the next family without knowing how it would continue.
The result is an original children’s story centered on accepting others and mutual responsibility. Its main character, “Lazy Eye,” goes into the forest to meet new friends, and the group gradually grows to include characters such as a lion with a purple mane, a rabbit with a short leg and a hoarse swallow that could not sing. Together, they form a happy band and discover the forest’s secret, where the wolf lives.
The illustrations were also created in a community effort, with the families’ children drawing the characters themselves. One of the writers, Rotem Yehav Nahum, said the project grew out of a period when they were hearing daily about children struggling with other children, including ostracism, insults and abuse. She added that a new Haredi neighborhood near their area also increased the diversity in their playground and community.
Nahum said the family stories and videos about disabled people breaking barriers each day all fit with their message of a community that embraces everyone, and that animals were the easiest way to convey it because each one is different in its own way. Moria Dalal, who also helped write the book, called it “a special and moving experience” for the whole family and said the collaboration will leave them with a wonderful keepsake. Ortal Shagias, deputy CEO for content and community at the Lod Community Centers network and director of Ganei Ya'ar, said the story came from a dream she had for years, a shared book woven gently between the families of the community.
