One Person Can Make a Difference
Wendy Lukehart, Curriculum Connections -- School Library Journal, 3/3/2009
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Recalling the people along the way who suggested he couldn’t change the world, Barack Obama told a group of young people gathered in 2007 at Cornell College in Iowa: “I have no doubt that in the face of impossible odds people who love their country can change it.” This call to service, he said, would be a focus of his presidency. There’s no better time than now—while his message is fresh in our minds—to walk through our libraries and find material to inspire young people to serve their communities. Listed below are some fiction and nonfiction titles to introduce to your students.
Start the Discussion with Fiction
With minimal text and compositions that include black-and-white caricatures (and scenes), as well as colorful panoramas in a more realistic vein, Duncan Weller has created a fresh and visually rich environmental fable in The Boy from the Sun (Simply Read Books, 2007, Gr K-2). Preceded by dazzling yellow endpapers, the story opens to a spare white background and three sad, young figures, outlined in black, sitting on a sidewalk. Their backs are to a factory that is churning out black puffs of smoke. A fourth figure floats down from the sky; his head is yellow, and he is smiling. The newcomer proceeds to show them a bird, diverse groupings of people, grass, and finally—following the black-and-white sidewalk through the buildup of colorful page turns—a wonderland of natural beauty that bleeds off the pages as the children romp through them. Much of the story is wordless, but toward the end, the sunny figure recites a poem in which he tells his friends that change is possible. This title lends itself to discussion, and there is much to see, including hidden surprises.
Boxes For Katje (Farrar, 2003, Gr 1-4), a picture book by Candace Fleming, has the flow of a cumulative tale and the authentic flavor that comes from being grounded in an actual experience. (An author’s note provides the details.) Katje lives in post-World War II Holland, where resources are scarce and luxuries nonexistent. One day she receives a box from Rosie, an American girl who is participating in the Children’s Aid Society efforts. The small box contains soap, a pair of wool socks, chocolate, and a letter. The chocolate is shared with the postman and Katje’s mother, a thank you note is sent, and so begins a series of exchanges over the course of a year, in which the boxes grow in size as more people in Rosie’s community participate and a increasing number of Dutch neighbors benefit. Dressen-McQueen’s lively page designs are rendered in colored pencil, oil pastel, and acrylic with a folk art sensibility. Rosie’s generosity does not go unrewarded, and in the spring, she receives a box. The endpapers show her hometown before, and then after, the tulips Katje sends are planted. This book offers a joyful look at the impact of generosity.
Our children have learned of several major weather-related disasters in the last few years; the stories in the news have told of people who provided aid and those who were not so helpful. How do we discuss these events and opportunities to assist with children in ways that are inspiring, but not overwhelming—or didactic? Kimiko Kajikawa has wisely turned to a 19th-century story by Lafcadio Hearne, adapting it in Tsunami! (Philomel, 2009, K-Gr 3). With dramatic collages by Ed Young, this story of a wealthy and wise old rice farmer in long-ago Japan strikes just the right note. Ojiisan lives above a village near the sea, and one day while he watches a rice festival from his balcony, he is shocked to observe the ocean moving away from the land. He knows that can only mean one thing. He acts quickly to catch the attention of the oblivious crowds below by setting his rice fields on fire. This sacrifice that saves the lives of every person in the village, as they rush to help him, is memorably conveyed through Young’s art. Comprised of natural fibers, straw, handmade papers, and other materials, his compositions and perspectives evoke the textures of his subjects, as well as their force and vulnerability.
There is perhaps no more famous story about the potential in one small soul than The Lion and the Mouse, a classic tale that benefits from being retold every so often for the enjoyment of a new generation. You’ll find a number of versions on your library shelves, and a new one is in the works. Jerry Pinkney’s wordless interpretation, to be published by Little, Brown this fall (and on view at conferences), is well worth the wait. His glorious watercolors convey all the pain experienced by the ferocious lion and the industriousness of the lowly mouse. This wordless interpretation presents a wonderful opportunity for viewers to articulate what is happening and to more fully absorb its meaning.
Real Men and Women
To whet children’s appetites and assist them in selecting a figure to read about in depth, it can be helpful to introduce them to range of choices. Cynthia Chin-Lee’s Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World (2005, Gr 4-7) does just that. One-page 
descriptions provide interesting tidbits about the challenges and accomplishments of these risk takers. Helen Keller, Mother Teresa and Oprah Winfrey are among the more familiar names. New to a young audience may be Nawal El Sadaawi, a doctor and author who was imprisoned for writing about the difficult life for Arab women in her native Egypt. Each page includes a quote by the subject, as well as a mixed-media collage portrait by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy. These quirky designs arouse interest and add humor. The same team produced the handsome companion volume: Akira to Zoltan: Twenty Six Men Who Changed the World (2006, both Charlesbridge, Gr 4-7). Personalities in that volume include Jacques-Yves Cousteau, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Rudolf Nureyev. Single-volume treatments of most of the men and women are available.
One such title is Kathleen Krull’s Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez (Harcourt, 2003, Gr 3-6). With Yuyi Morales’s vibrant acrylics and Krull’s gradual build-up of the dramatic tension of this migrant worker’s life, the book succeeds in creating sympathy and admiration for this man with La Causa. The book details the journey from Chavez’s childhood ranch in Arizona to his new life as a laborer on the farms of California during the Depression. Readers learn that strikes and marches were the nonviolent forms of protest he employed to fight the terrible conditions and low pay of this work. The relentless rise and descent of Morales’ voluptuous hills and backgrounds propel the story forward to the climactic 340-mile march from the vineyards of the San Joaquin Valley to Sacramento and the first contract in America relating to improved conditions for farm workers. An author’s note covers Chavez’s death and the controversy that his name evokes even today.
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Planting the Trees of Kenya (Nivola) |
In Freedom Riders (National Geographic, 2006, Gr 5-9), Ann Bausum offers an unflinching view of the end of segregated bus rides in America by delving into the life stories of two men: one, an African American from the South, John Lewis, and the other, a Caucasian Midwesterner named Jim Zwerg. By examining how their paths diverged and converged, from childhood through participation in a common cause to the present, the message that one person’s resolve can truly make a difference is all the more powerful. Civil Rights songs, pull-quotes, and provocative black-and-white photographs enhance the compelling description of the young people who, by boarding buses in the 1960s South, risked their lives for justice. The writing is detailed, thorough, and never dry. Further insights are gleaned in an author’s note, partial roster of riders, and in an illustrated time line.
Sarah Thomson’s adaptation (Dial, 2009, Gr 6-8) of the adult bestseller Three Cups of Tea (Viking 2006), both by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, is an utterly gripping and inspiring account of Mortenson’s life, and it’s loaded with kid appeal. The story begins in Pakistan near the top of the world’s second highest mountain, K2. The year is 1993. Mortenson is climbing in honor of his deceased sister, but he stops to carry a sick companion back down to safety. In the process, he becomes lost and dangerously close to losing his own life, but a village chief finds and cares for him. Thus begins the relationship that will lead Mortenson to find his life’s mission: building more than 60 schools and a network of services for impoverished communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Filled with edge-of-the-seat adventure, unlikely friendships, romance, miracles, and insights into the daily life of a very different part of the world, the story will amaze children with its twists and turns and insights into a life lived in trust and compassion. Color photographs and an interview with Mortenson’s 12-year-old daughter, who has spent time traveling with her father and supporting his efforts in America, are included.
Even kindergarten students can learn about this remarkable man in the picture book version of this title by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth: Listen to the Wind (Dial, 2009, K-Gr 4). Through highly textured and colorful collages, created with found materials, fabric, and paper, Listen tells the story from the viewpoint of the children of Korphe, the village that Mortenson had wandered into and where he built the first school. Roth’s illustrated notes offer fascinating insights into the Pakistani artifacts that informed her art. Colorful photographs of Mortenson, the adults involved in this project, and the children doing their lessons make the book accessible for the youngest listeners.
Real Kids
So often, studying history seems to involve learning about what adults did. It is frequently a revelation to kids that children and teenagers were actively involved in our country’s story. Phillip Hoose’s We Were There, Too!: Young People in U.S. History (Farrar, 2001, Gr 6 Up) offers a wealth of characters, starting in 1492 and proceeding through the end of the 20th century. Readers learn about Phillis Wheatley, born in 1753 and taken from her parents in Africa at the age of 7; her first poetry was published in America when she was 12. Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13, when ignorance about the disease led to fear and discrimination in his community. His public battle to attend school, including testimony before a Presidential Commission in 1988, helped combat the ignorance and panic. Hoose fleshes out these stories with primary sources and portraits or photographs.
Susan Campbell Bartoletti’s work collecting oral histories and conducting related research on the contributions young people make to their families, communities, and to history is also well worth sharing. Her first such volume is Growing Up in Coal Country (Houghton, 1996, Gr 5-8) in which she documents the conditions and hardships surrounding the lives of Breaker Boys in the coal mines of Pennsylvania in the late 1880s and early 1900s. It’s eye-opening for contemporary children to read about the filthy, dangerous, and difficult world that children as young as seven endured to support their families before there were child labor laws. Boys of all ages were active in the unions that formed and strikes that were staged that eventually led to pay increases, an eight-hour work day, and other improvements. The abundant black-and-white photographs reveal much of the story; a bibliography provides the author’s sources.
Community Response
There is a growing collection of books dealing with how kids today can make a difference. One recent example comes from astronaut Sally Ride and science teacher Tam O’Shaughnessy. Mission: Planet Earth (Roaring Brook, 2009) employs color photographs, charts, diagrams, and a readable narrative to explain the causes and consequences of climate change. Who better to introduce this topic than someone who has “seen the thin, fuzzy blue line outlining the planet” as Ride has, and who quickly realized from this glimpse of our atmosphere “how fragile Earth is.” While this title describes the negative impact that humans have had on climate, a companion volume, Mission: Save the Planet, offers projects, surveys, and suggestions of things that kids can do to understand and fight global warming. Line art by Andrew Arnold and recycled paper give this book a different feel; it’s definitely intended to inspire kids to roll up their sleeves and investigate how green the rooms in their homes and schools are. Ideas are accompanied by examples, so readers can get a handle on what this all really means. For example, “If you replace 5 regular light bulbs with compact fluorescents, you’ll prevent 500 pounds of carbon dioxide from going into the air each year.” With these two books, Ride and O’Shaughnessy succeed in making a complicated concept and problem comprehensible and compelling.
The Teen Guide to Global Action by Barbara Lewis (Free Spirit, 2008) is one of several titles from this publisher that encourages youthful activism. Introductory chapters offer practical tools to help young people identify and research a cause of interest to them. The rest of the book offers information on and avenues toward the topics themselves: human rights, hunger and homelessness, health and safety, education, the environment, teen rights, and peace. Features within each chapter include profiles of a current and historic teen activist, Web resources, youth organizations to join, tips, statistics, and action-plan assistance. The profiles alone are enough to convince kids that they are capable of contributing, as 16-year-old Saul Alexander Torres did, when, in the absence of ambulance service in his city in El Salvador, he organized and trained a team of first responders in basic first aid. Some were as young as 12 years old. Saul’s group was among the rescue crew during Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
Of course, when one person trying to make a difference is joined by another, and still another, even more can happen. To quote President Obama, “Together, ordinary people can still do extraordinary things.” His message is powerfully interpreted by the line drawings of Kadir Nelson in Change Has Come (S & S, 2009). It’s a great place to start.
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