Stories Celebrating Human Rights
A celebration of human rights.
To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Walker Books and Amnesty International have joined together to create a short-story collection for young adults, celebrating what it means to be free. Hosting a variety of talented children's authors from all around the globe, the anthology embraces such themes as asylum, law, education and faith in a way that will both inspire and entertain.
April 19, 2010
In this collection of 14 imaginative short stories, writers including Eoin Colfer, Roddy Doyle, Ursula Dubosarsky, and Margaret Mahy come together to celebrate the United Nations' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In her introduction, Jacqueline Wilson writes, “So many brave writers have drawn attention to the horrors of repressive regimes, even though they've suffered as a result.... Life isn't
fair—but we can do our best to right the wrongs.” Differing widely in focus and style, the stories eloquently illustrate specific articles in the declaration. In David Almond's tale, a boy who's part of a group of neighborhood “mischief-makers, pests, and scamps” has his perspective changed by an iconoclastic German youth, who plants the seed of freedom through independent thought. Theresa Breslin offers a suspenseful piece about a young daydreamer who stumbles upon a child-labor factory. Written in verse, Rita Williams-Garcia's story is a somber look at the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, while Patricia McCormick presents a harrowing account of those who fled Zimbabwe in 2008 after a disputed election. Frequently thought provoking, the stories adeptly highlight the universal importance of human rights. Ages 10–up.
October 25, 2010
Ranging from the surreal to the subtle, this sweeping anthology illustrates the tenets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and features a contributor list that reads like a who's who of leading writers from across the globe, including David Mitchell, Joyce Carol Oates, Paulo Coelho, Mahmoud Saeed, Yann Martel, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In Kate Atkinson's "The War on Women," Britain passes a law requiring women to stay home and wear the burqa. A group of neighbors in a housing project takes justice into their own hands in Walter Mosley's "The Trial." The protagonist of James Meek's "The Kind of Neighbor You Used to Have" discovers how little risk his neighbors are willing to take to avert injustice. Banana Yoshimoto's "A Special Boy" delves into the effects of a mother's abandonment of her son. The narrator of Ali Smith's "The Go-Between" occupies the space between oppression and freedom—literally—as he attempts to move from Morocco into Spain. Vibrant and often chilling, these stories paint a rousing picture of the continuing battle to ensure basic human dignity.