*Scroll down for English*
Oed diddordeb/interest age: 4+
Oed darllen/reading age: 6+
Trosiad gan/Welsh words by: Mererid Hopwood
Lluniau/illustrations: Laura Carlin
Dyma lyfr arall gan Nicola Davies sydd wedi’i drosi i’r Gymraeg, gan Mererid Hopwood y tro hwn. Mae’r stori hon wir yn hyfryd. Perthynas pobl efo’r byd sydd o’n cwmpas sydd dan sylw yn y llyfr yma, sy’n cynnwys neges bwysig iawn i blant ac i oedolion fel ei gilydd.
Merch ifanc sy’n adrodd y stori, ac mae hi’n dechrau trwy ddarlunio byd hyll a chreulon sy’n llwyd a llwm ac yn cael ei bortreadu’n wych gan Laura Carlin. Mae’r bobl hefyd yn hyll a chreulon.
Un noson mae’r ferch ifanc yn dwyn bag gan hen wreigen. Mae’r bag yn llawn a’r hen wreigen yn rhoi dipyn o ffeit cyn gadael i’r bag fynd. Dyweda wrth y ferch ifanc y caiff hi’r bag os wnaiff hi ‘addo eu plannu’. Dydi hyn yn golygu dim i’r ferch ifanc ac mae hi’n dianc efo’r bag gan freuddwydio am yr holl bethau y gall hi eu prynu efo’r holl arian sy’n siŵr o fod yn y bag mawr.
Mae’r hyn sy’n y bag yn newid bywyd y ferch ifanc yn llwyr. Mae’r cynnwys yn llawer iawn mwy gwerthfawr nac arian. Mes sydd yn y bag. Llwyth ohonyn nhw! Daw’r ferch i sylweddoli (yn eithaf sydyn i fod yn onest) beth ydi ystyr yr ‘addewid’ a wnaeth i’r hen wreigen, ac mae’n hi’n penderfynu bod rhaid iddi gadw’r addewid yna. Felly, mae hi’n mynd ati i blannu. Mae hi’n plannu’r mes ar hyd a lled y ddinas, yn yr holl lefydd llwyd a di-liw. Fesul tipyn mae’r mes yn tyfu, ac mae’r ddinas yn trawsnewid. Darlunir y cyferbyniad yma’n effeithiol iawn unwaith eto gan Laura Carlin.
Dyma stori sy’n berthnasol iawn i’r byd rydan ni’n byw ynddo fo heddiw. Mae’r pwyslais wedi bod, ac yn dal i fod i raddau, ar dyfu adeiladau yn lle tyfu’n coedwigoedd, ar dyfu ein gyrfaoedd yn lle gwyrddni, ac ar dyfu cyfoeth yn lle hapusrwydd. Daw’r awdur â hyn i’n sylw’n effeithiol iawn trwy gyfrwng y stori hon. Mewn byd lle nad ydi pobl yn edrych ar ôl eu hamgylchedd nac yn malio am fyd natur, does dim lle i hapusrwydd a does dim lle i liw.
Does dim ond angen un person i ddechrau newid hynny, fel yr ydan ni wedi’i weld efo gwaith pobl nodweddiadol fel Greta Thunberg. Does dim ond angen un person ac un weithred, a fesul tipyn mae’r newid hwnnw’n dechrau lledaenu. Mae’r stori’n gwneud inni feddwl am ein perthynas ni efo’r amgylchedd, ac yn berthnasol iawn i’r holl drafodaethau sydd wedi bod am gyflwr yr amgylchedd. Gorffenna’r llyfr ar nodyn o obaith, gyda’r dyfodol yn nwylo’r bobl ifanc.
Dyma lyfr gwych i addysgu plant am bwysigrwydd edrych ar ôl ein hamgylchedd ac am ein perthynas â natur. Dyma rai o’r prif themâu, ond fe sylwch fod na nifer o rai eraill yn cuddio o dan y wyneb hefyd fydd yn sbarduno trafodaethau lu.
Here’s another great book by Nicola Davies that has been translated into Welsh, this time by Mererid Hopwood. This story is really lovely and it’s about our relationship with the world around us, with an important message for children and adults alike.
A young girl narrates the story, and she begins by depicting an ugly, harsh and somewhat cruel world with it’s grey and bleak landscape brilliantly depicted by Laura Carlin. The people within the city are are as ugly and brutal as their surroundings.
One night the young girl steals a bag from an old lady. The bag is full and the old lady puts up a bit of a fight before eventually letting the bag go. She tells the young girl she will let the bag go if she 'promises to plant them'. This means nothing to the young girl and she escapes with her prize and dreams of all the material things she can buy with the money that is bound to be in the bag.
What is contained within the bag completely changes the young girl's life. The contents are so much more valuable than money – acorns, and lots of them! The girl comes to realise (somewhat suddenly) what the 'promise' she made meant, and she decides that she must keep that promise. She begins planting. Planting and planting all over the city in the grey, colourless spaces. Little by little, she transforms the city and the vibrancy of the colours and greenery contrasts effectively with the initial lifelessness and dullness, again, expertly done by by Laura Carlin.
This is a story that’s very relevant to the world we live in today. The emphasis has been, and still is to some extent, on growing buildings instead of our forests, on growing our ambitions instead of greenery, and on growing wealth instead of happiness. The author brings this to our attention very with this story and gets us thinking, providing a stimulus for great discussions and questions. In a world where people don’t look after the environment or care about nature, there’s no room for happiness and no room for colour and all it’s richness.
The book shows that you only need one person to start to make a change, as we've seen with the work of remarkable people like Greta Thunberg, for instance. One person, with small and simple acts, can make a change and spread the word. The story makes us think about our relationship with the environment, and is very relevant in today’s world where we face a climate and biodiversity catastrophe. Unlike some similar books. This one ends with some hope and optimism, with the future in the hands of our young people.
What a wonderful book to teach children about the importance of looking after our environment and our relationship with nature. Those are the main themes but you’ll find lots of other subtler ones hiding under the surface too.