This project builds on a book I coauthored last year, Human Rights in Children's Literature: Imagination and the Narrative of Law (OUP 2016). I'm looking for diverse children's literature sources that explore human rights issues. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thank you.
Hello Jonathan Todres
please check the attachments
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/human-rights-in-childrens-literature-9780190213343?cc=in&lang=en&
http://jonathantodres.com/human-rights-in-childrens-literature/
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/07/09/should-books-for-childrens-be-political/the-portrayal-of-rights-in-childrens-literature-teach-important-lessons
Thank you, Nirmala. Those source are actually my work in the first stage of this project. I'm interested now in exploring global perspectives on human rights in children's literature. Nice to see that you found those sources.
I'm not sure what kinds of human rights issues you're interested in, but here are a few suggestions in different areas.
No Fear for Freedom: The Story of the Friendship 9 by Kimberly P. Johnson is about civil rights in SC.This book is unique because it is a children's picture book written in simple understandable language, but it also has a side panel of text on each page that is educational for older children or adults.
I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel is about transgender kids. It's about Jazz Jennings, who is a transgender girl. Born male, she has been living as a girl since she was very young, I think about four years old. There's probably a lot of good trans stuff available for kids today.
Another suggestion is Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids by National Geographic, and Free?: Stories About Human Rights by various authors and published by Amnesty International.
There are also several good books for children of different ages, even picture books, on Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani woman who advocates for human rights, especially the educational rights of women.
Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, is about struggles and rights of immigrant migrant workers from Mexico, as well as differences in how people are treated based on class. It's about a fourth grade reading level.
There are also many good books on different reading levels about the child soldiers of Sudan / Darfur. A few that come to mind are Brothers in Hope: The Story of the Lost Boys of Sudan by Mary Williams; They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benjamin Ajak, Benson Deng, and Alephonsion Deng; A Lond Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah; and War Child: A Child Soldier's Story by Emanuel Jal.
For other ideas, check out Zoe Weil, a humane educator who founded the Institute for Humane Education. You can learn a little about her and some of the children's and adult's books she's written here: https://humaneeducation.org/who-we-are/meet-zoe-weil/. You may also enjoy her Ted Talk video on that same web link.
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