ONE-OFF PROJECT · 2023
Stories of Hope
A book to read together. A conversation about care.
Mihai Mănescu · Bianca Anton · Humanitas Junior
Read the opening pages ↗
1,000
copies given for free in the HOSPICE and CONIL communities
3rd place
in the Humanitas Junior sales chart at Bookfest 2023
2nd prize
Cause Related Marketing, Romanian CSR Awards 2024
WHY WE STARTED
Sometimes it is easier to start with a story.
Five stories written by Mihai Mănescu and illustrated by Bianca Anton brought themes such as acceptance, friendship and support closer to children and parents. Around them, Susțin built an awareness campaign about the need for palliative care, for the benefit of HOSPICE Casa Speranței.
When a child is going through a hard time, the conversation does not always start with an explanation. It can start with a character, with a question about them, or with time spent reading together. Reading together gives children and adults time to listen, to ask and to find what brings them closer.
INSIDE THE BOOK
Stories with room for everyone.
5 stories
64 pages
ages 5+
Publishing details and age recommendation: Humanitas Junior.
Published in 2023 by Humanitas Junior, the book starts from the experiences of children cared for by HOSPICE. It speaks to readers about being different, about help and about the ways people can care for one another. Fiction and illustration carry these themes into a world children can reach, and discover alongside an adult.
The book can be read at home with a parent, or become the starting point for a conversation about friendship and inclusion.
Mihai Mănescu
Author · Susțin co-founder
Bianca Anton
Illustrations
FROM BOOK TO CAMPAIGN
Several ways of being close
01 / READING
A meeting with the public
Published and launched at Bookfest in 2023, the book carried the campaign's themes into bookshops and into the conversation with readers.
02 / ACCESS
Books that reach children
1,000 copies were given for free to children and parents from HOSPICE Casa Speranței and the CONIL centres.
03 / INVOLVEMENT
A cause made visible
The campaign brought the need for palliative care to public attention. At launch, the mechanism also directed part of the book's proceeds to HOSPICE.
What Susțin did
Susțin implemented the awareness campaign around the book, with the support of Up România and Humanitas Junior, for the benefit of HOSPICE Casa Speranței. Mihai Mănescu, a Susțin co-founder, is the author, and Bianca Anton created the illustrations.
A COLLABORATION WITH CLEAR ROLES
The people and organisations behind the project
Susțin
Implementation of the awareness campaign.
Mihai Mănescu
Author; Susțin co-founder.
Bianca Anton
Illustrations.
Humanitas Junior
The publisher and editorial support.
Up Romania
Support for making the project happen.
HOSPICE Casa Speranței
Beneficiary of the campaign; a community the books reached.
CONIL
A community that received books for free.
PUBLIC ECHOES
The book travelled beyond the campaign
HUMANITAS · BOOKFEST 2023
3rd place in the Humanitas Junior sales chart ↗
A chart published by the publisher and picked up by HotNews among others.
PRESSHUB · MAY 2023
The meeting with Mihai Mănescu, in the Bookfest programme ↗
A children's book, featured among the fair's events.
POSSIBLE CONTINUATIONS · PROPOSALS
What we could build next
The book offers a starting point for new collaborations. Here are three directions we could explore with partners.
01
Readings in small groups
Meetings in libraries and community centres, with time for reading, questions and drawing. A first format could be tested in a single location, together with its team.
02
A short guide for adults
A few open questions drawn from the book, prepared with the author and a specialist. A resource for parents and educators who want to continue the conversation.
03
Books for other communities
A new distribution through libraries or partner organisations, with a company's support. The number of copies and the locations are set for each collaboration.
These are proposals: they require partners' agreement and resources, and the calendar is still to be set.
Do you have a place these stories could reach?
A library, a school, a community centre or a company that wants to get involved. Let's talk about a concrete project.
Sources and credits
The cover and the portraits come from official Humanitas Junior materials; the rights remain with their holders. The results are those reported by Susțin and the publisher: 1,000 copies given for free, 3rd place in the Humanitas Junior chart at Bookfest 2023 and 2nd prize in the Cause Related Marketing category at the Romanian CSR Awards 2024.
HOW THIS LINKS TO OUR IMPACT AREAS
The book opens conversations about care and difference, and the free distribution took it to children in communities with limited access, in a collaboration between the association, the publisher and a company.