Every one of us has imagined a world ruled by children at some point of our lives. What would happen if they took over the control? Would the world be a nicer place? Could permanent peace finally be established? In his book “The Children of Seven Climates”, Halil İbrahim Balkaş answers these questions. He thoroughly deals with such issues as science- religion dichotomy and sheds light on the problems as well as the destruction that the latest technology could ever give rise to.
In the book, it is implied that science has come to a certain point which has made it possible to create bombs that aim at a certain group of human or living beings. In this regard, Merrymaker – 15 has been designed and it turns out to be having an effect on only the people over 15 within its range and leave children under this age undisturbed. Interestingly, this death machine has no impact on the animals or other species, either. This bomb is first tried in the Sahara Desert as an experiment and its consequences are studied by the scientists. All of a sudden, the world faces up to the fact that all the children in this region wake up one morning and see that their parents are all dead, not answering their calls. While the public opinion in the whole world is trying to get over this tragic event, the inventor of this killer machine is held responsible, naturally because the main culprits have got their share from the lethal impact of the bomb and died in the first place.The tension in the world escalates and a war between Russia and the USA breaks out. Nothing on the blue planet will remain the same from now on. These two countries plant tens of Merrymakers – 15 in different places and change the fate of the world profoundly. Children will have to live on their own without the elderly. They need to learn how to share the jobs and duties and discover everything from scratch. İs this book a children’s book? Both yes and no. The book addresses children in that it preaches them to be aware of the possibility that the elderly might be passing down to them a world which has lost its innocence and suggest that they be prepared for it. On the other hand, it addresses the adults in that it discusses some of the controversial issues through the story and reminds them of the fact that their mundane and greedy endeavours and their harmful presence in the world might come to an end all of a sudden and they might have only a couple of hours to teach what they know to their children so that they can survive after on.
The Children of Seven Climates by Halil Ibrahim Balkas