Vegbooks Blog - Jennifer Gannett
Rhonda Lucas Donald’s book Animal Rights: How You Can Make a Difference is an excellent guide for helping kids harness their desire to create positive change for animals. The book intersperses real-life examples of young folks who have been making a difference for animals with suggestions for brainstorming to come up with and research issues as well as thoughts on about mapping out and actualizing an action plan. I love this book’s examples of youth in action. The kids profiled in this book have helped pass animal-friendly legislation, ended school hatching experiments, created a website about the Canadian seal hunt, gotten vegetarian options implemented in their schools and actively participated in efforts securing petition signatures for a ballot initiative. These kids are incredibly connected and inspirational and will help other children see what a myriad of opportunities exist in the animal welfare arena. The book’s consultant Adam Fletcher is the founder of the Freechild Project, an organization about which some parents might be interested in learning. This book also has a short but excellent resource section as well as a Facthound number. I recommend this book for ages 8 and up. http://vegbooks.org/index.php/2010/11/15/animal-rights-how-you-can-make-a-difference/
November 15, 2010Bri Meets Books Blog - Bri
This is an excellent book for any child or classroom interested in animal rights. It’s not just a guide to how others make a difference, it emphasizes how anyone can. Throughout the book, there’s several stories of teens who saw an injustice to animals and fought to right it. As the book opens, we learn the story of Haley, who lost her dog due to antifreeze poisoning, and fought to get her home state of Tennessee to require manufacturers a bitter chemical. Her campaign paid off, and the bill she proposed became a law. Each chapter of Animal Rights illustrates a step towards activism. This format makes it a great classroom addition, as it goes through all the parts required for such a campaign: brainstorming, research, mapping out a plan, etc. Keeping its young audience in mind at all times, the book asks the reader to consider the reliability of any website (such as looking for university and government websites first), book, etc, to look out for bias and stereotyping. Also, when discussing online communication for their cause, it does remind children to use caution online and never reveal private information. Finally, the resources section of Animal Rights offers the Capstone Facthound service, where readers simply plug in the book’s unique ID number in the Facthound website, and will receive quality and kid-safe websites on the topic. With a kid-friendly approach towards a complex issue and a helpful guide for their campaign, Animal Rights is a must-have. Slim but loaded with information, plus tips, a glossary, and additional resources, it’s the perfect introduction to giving children a voice for a concern. http://brimeetsbooks.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/nonfiction-monday/
January 18, 2010
