Pistes d'exploration

“Every action that you take, good or bad, creates a ripple effect.” In small groups, discuss this quote from Cheryl Perera. Reflect upon your own actions, both big and small.

Scan through the United Nations Convention articles, then create a poster illustrating one of the rights to which children are entitled.

Which of the organizations mentioned in the book strikes a chord with you? Look into it and write a persuasive text explaining why it’s important to support this organization.

Talk about the various child activists and their causes. In each case, refer to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to identify which rights have been violated. 

Research up-to-date information about the activists in the book. Find out what they are doing today and share your findings with the class.

Read the pages at the end: Kids Create and What YOUth Can Do. Be inspired to take action as an individual, a class or a school to help defend the rights of children.

As a group, prepare for your reading by examining an illustration of a young activist and considering ways to read the different visual texts. Use ideas generated in the discussion to make predictions about the content of the profile.

In small groups, discuss how reading about young people and war can change a person. How does personalizing war and activism change the way we respond to the stories?

Choose a section and research the young people profiled in it. Use a production process to create a multimodal presentation about the young activists and their work.

I Have the Right to Be a Child, Sister Anne's Hands, My Name Is Blessing, Every Day Is Malala Day

Mots-clés

Non-fiction , activism , around the world , children , children's rights , discrimination , human rights , justice , making a difference , United Nations

Commentaire descriptif

Twelve-year-old Craig Kielburger of Canada founded “Free the Children” when he discovered that someone his age, a carpet worker from Pakistan, was murdered for exposing the cruelty of child labour. Like the other child activists showcased in this book, from countries as diverse as Yemen and South Korea, Canada and the US, Craig dared to “create a better world by standing up and speaking out” for children “to be treated equally, to live in dignity and to have their opinions respected.” The ten young people featured in the main profiles, and over a dozen in the shorter sidebars, address issues such as child trafficking, homelessness and aboriginal rights. Penned in accessible, straightforward prose, the profiles incorporate direct quotations from the children themselves. Each short biographical spread includes both a painted portrait and a photograph of the social activist. The book begins with an adapted version of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and ends with an eye-catching, cleverly titled section “What YOUth Can Do” listing practical ways readers around the world can become catalysts for change.