Free? by Rita Williams-Garcia, Ibtisam Barakat, Malorie Blackman, Meja Mwanji, Jamila Gavin
I've spent the last few days at the Hay book festival, and this is one of the books I got there (and went to the connected panel). 'Free?' is a collection of poems and short stories by children's writers, each one inspired one of the articles from the Declaration of Human Rights. The ones by POC authors are below.
After the Hurricane by Rita Williams-Garcia, inspired by article 13.
This is a poem, and since I know nothing about poetry and rarely read it I'm probably not much of a judge of how good it is. But if a good poem is one that creates an emotional response, then this is a very good poem. It's set in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, from the POV of a high school band member. It left me depressed and angry, as I'm sure Williams-Garcia meants it to. I thought the writing was beautiful, emotional without being overly dramatic.
Uncle Meena by Ibtisam Baraket, inspired by article 18.
This is a short story about a girl called Noora who lives in Ramallah. Her Uncle Meena is visiting from California. They swap information about their lives, Noora's stories of Palestine and Meena's of his American Indian girlfriend. It's a little 101, but this is aimed at children. There's a comparison between the situation of Palestines and American Indians, which left me a little uneasy as I never like comparisons like that. But the language was, again, beautiful, and again this left me depressed and angry - although the note of hope at the end, provided by Meena's relationship with his girlfriend, was lovely.
Searching for a Two-Way Street by Malorie Blackman, inspired by article 19.
Another poem, this one very different: set in a future where everyone has a microchip in their brain, relaying their thoughts to the government for 'security' reasons. Short, staccato thoughts go unnoticed, hence the style of the poem. It didn't get the emotional response from me Williams-Garcia's did, but I still enjoyed it.
Jojo Leans to Dance by Meja Mwanji, inspired by article 21.
The bird kingdom is having an election! Jojo, a young crow, doesn't know what is going on, so asks his grandfather to explain. Together the fly to parliament, passing ravens, eagles, vultures and chickens as they do. Jojo's grandfather explains how voting works and why it matters. Definitely for younger kids than the other stories, but still fun.
Wherever I Lay Down My Head by Jamila Gavin, inspired by article 22.
I have to admit to being a little biased towards this, as Jamila Gavin was one of the speakers at Hay. She read this and discussed the Declaration, and was very good. This story was apparantly inspired by her belief human rights need to start in the home.
It centres on Leela and Padma, her 'Aunty P'. They're the same age and very close, despite Leela living in England and Padma in India. Padma always wanted to go the university, but before she did was married off; a year later, her husband has accused her of being unfaithful, denied her unborn child is his, and become violent. She is forced to run away, but her family disown her because she has brought shame on them, and she disappears. Three years later, Leela is able to return to India to search for her. This was heart-breaking and sad. I loved Gavin's writing style, found some of the descriptions beautiful, and thought the ending perfect for the story. I'm definitely adding her other books to my wishlist.
Overall, I loved this and would recommend it to anyone, child or adult. Aside from the authors above it has stories from Michael Morpurgo, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Patrica McCormick, Roddy Doyle, Theresa Breslin, Ursula Dubosarky, Sarah Mussi, and Margaret Mahy. Almost all feature CoC. Also, it's published by Amnesty International, so by buying it you'll benefit them.
After the Hurricane by Rita Williams-Garcia, inspired by article 13.
This is a poem, and since I know nothing about poetry and rarely read it I'm probably not much of a judge of how good it is. But if a good poem is one that creates an emotional response, then this is a very good poem. It's set in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, from the POV of a high school band member. It left me depressed and angry, as I'm sure Williams-Garcia meants it to. I thought the writing was beautiful, emotional without being overly dramatic.
Uncle Meena by Ibtisam Baraket, inspired by article 18.
This is a short story about a girl called Noora who lives in Ramallah. Her Uncle Meena is visiting from California. They swap information about their lives, Noora's stories of Palestine and Meena's of his American Indian girlfriend. It's a little 101, but this is aimed at children. There's a comparison between the situation of Palestines and American Indians, which left me a little uneasy as I never like comparisons like that. But the language was, again, beautiful, and again this left me depressed and angry - although the note of hope at the end, provided by Meena's relationship with his girlfriend, was lovely.
Searching for a Two-Way Street by Malorie Blackman, inspired by article 19.
Another poem, this one very different: set in a future where everyone has a microchip in their brain, relaying their thoughts to the government for 'security' reasons. Short, staccato thoughts go unnoticed, hence the style of the poem. It didn't get the emotional response from me Williams-Garcia's did, but I still enjoyed it.
Jojo Leans to Dance by Meja Mwanji, inspired by article 21.
The bird kingdom is having an election! Jojo, a young crow, doesn't know what is going on, so asks his grandfather to explain. Together the fly to parliament, passing ravens, eagles, vultures and chickens as they do. Jojo's grandfather explains how voting works and why it matters. Definitely for younger kids than the other stories, but still fun.
Wherever I Lay Down My Head by Jamila Gavin, inspired by article 22.
I have to admit to being a little biased towards this, as Jamila Gavin was one of the speakers at Hay. She read this and discussed the Declaration, and was very good. This story was apparantly inspired by her belief human rights need to start in the home.
It centres on Leela and Padma, her 'Aunty P'. They're the same age and very close, despite Leela living in England and Padma in India. Padma always wanted to go the university, but before she did was married off; a year later, her husband has accused her of being unfaithful, denied her unborn child is his, and become violent. She is forced to run away, but her family disown her because she has brought shame on them, and she disappears. Three years later, Leela is able to return to India to search for her. This was heart-breaking and sad. I loved Gavin's writing style, found some of the descriptions beautiful, and thought the ending perfect for the story. I'm definitely adding her other books to my wishlist.
Overall, I loved this and would recommend it to anyone, child or adult. Aside from the authors above it has stories from Michael Morpurgo, Eoin Colfer, David Almond, Patrica McCormick, Roddy Doyle, Theresa Breslin, Ursula Dubosarky, Sarah Mussi, and Margaret Mahy. Almost all feature CoC. Also, it's published by Amnesty International, so by buying it you'll benefit them.