Social Justice Resources

July, 2010
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
Books of Interest
Fiction and Non-fiction

Title Author Comments

Chanda’s Allan Chanda lives in the small city of Bonang, a fictional city in Southern Africa. When her
Secret Stratton youngest sister dies, the first hint of HIV/AIDS emerges. In this sensitive, swiftly paced
story readers see how Chanda must confront undercurrents of shame and stigma. Not
afraid to explore the horrific realities of AIDS, Chanda's Secrets also captures the
enduring strength of loyalty, friendship and family ties. Above all, it is a story about the
corrosive nature of secrets and the healing power of truth. Through the artful style of
acclaimed author Stratton, the determination and resilience Chanda embodies will live
on in readers' minds.
*Teacher’s guide for the book available at www.annickpress.com

Chanda’s Allan When her mother dies, Chanda promises to take care of her younger brother and
War Stratton sister at their home in the city. A recurring dream causes her to go visit her mother's
estranged family in the village of Tiro, hoping to make amends. Instead, the
headstrong Chanda deepens the rift when she refuses her families' plans of wedding
her to their neighbor's son, Nelson. When rebels attack the village and steal all of the
children as slaves, including Chanda's siblings, she dares to go and rescue them, with
Nelson as her only help.

Teaching guide available on author website.

http://www.allanstratton.com/strattonyoungfic2.html

Debra Ellis books tend to relate to social justice issues – most have follow the life of a
child in another country
Heaven Deborah Binti's father and her mother before him, dies of AIDS. Binti, her sister, and brother are
Shop Ellis separated and sent to the home of relatives who can barely tolerate their presence.
Ostracized by their extended family, the orphans are treated like the lowest servants.
Binti always believed she was special, now she is nothing but a common AIDS orphan.
The Heaven Shop puts a very real face on the African AIDS pandemic, which to-date
has orphaned more than 11 million African children. Inspired by a young radio
performer the author met during her research visit to Malawi, Binti Phiri is a compelling
character that readers will never forget.
*Royalties donated to Unicef.

I am a Deborah Diego lives with his mother and sister in a Bolivian prison. To help support his family,
Taxi Ellis he works as a ‘taxi’ running errands for other prisoners. In order to help his family
more, he takes a job deep within the heard of the Bolivian jungle.

In Sacred Leaf, we follow Diego again as he is involved in disputes between local

Sacred farmers and soldiers. It shows the struggle of families to strive for their basic needs
Leaf such as food that comes into conflict with the politics of the country.

Deborah http://www2.ucdsb.on.ca/gec/Work%20Sheets/breadwinner.pdf provides a pdf file

Ellis resource that teachers may use to enhance the understanding of the experiences in
the book

Breadwinn Parvana's father is arrested and taken away by the Taliban soldiers. Parvana, her
er mother, and sisters must stay inside. Four days later, the food runs out. So Parvana
must pretend to be a boy to save her family. In fear she goes out - and witnesses the
horror of land mines, and the brutality of the Taliban. But even in despair lies hope.

Shauzia is Parvana's friend from The Breadwinner. Now Shauzia has fled from
Mud City Afghanistan, to a refugee camp in Pakistan. But Shauzia has a dream. She dreams of
getting away from the refugee camp and travelling to France. There she knows she
would find a better life, away from the war in her home country of Afghanistan But
escape is not so easy. Once she leaves the camp, she has no money, no food - and

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July, 2010
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
only her dog Jasper for company. But Shauzia is determined to find a new future for
herself This is another deeply moving story from Deborah Ellis, which casts light for
readers on the ongoing human situation in Afghanistan.

Parvana is alone. Her father is dead. A refugee in a land full of dangers, she must
Parvana’s travel across Afghanistan to find her mother and sisters. As she travels, Parvana finds
Journey friends - a starving, orphaned baby; a strange, hostile boy; a solitary girl who darts in
and out of the minefields to find food. Perhaps, with their help, she may one day be
reunited with her family.

Bifocal Deborah There are 2 sides to every story. You just have to listen.
Ellis and
Eric An incident happens in a high school in the GTA. These 2 authors tell the stories of
Walters Jay and Haroon and how they experience the same situation differently based on their
religion, heritage and appearance.
Our Deborah Ellis has traveled to Malawi and Zambia to talk with children touched by AIDS. You’ll
Stories, Ellis meet children who have been bounced from home to home and children who live on
Our Songs: the street. You’ll meet children who work for every meal, children who are in jail, and
African children who nursed their dying parents and now care for younger siblings. And you’ll
Children meet children like you – who love nothing better than to laugh and better than to laugh
Talk About and hang out with their friends. Interspersed with facts about AIDS and quotes from
AIDS authors and public figures, Our Stories, Our Songs is about the power of human spirit
to endure and hope for a better tomorrow.
TRUE STORY
Children of Deborah Voices of Iraqi Refugees
War Ellis TRUE STORY
Off to War Deborah Voices of Soldiers’ Children
Ellis TRUE STORY
Some Other Good Reads with a Social Justice Twist
28 stories Stephanie Canadian journalist, Nolen, brings us 28 stories of people fighting HIV/AIDS – one
of AIDS in Nolen story for each million of the 28 million people living with the disease in sub-Saharan
Africa Africa today. The stories help us understand the enormous scope of the problem -
whether she is shadowing a doctor who treats AIDS in the middle of Congo’s brutal
war, a 14 year old boy fending for himself in the slum streets of Addis Ababa, a HIV-
positive nurse in Malawi, or talking to Nelson Mandela and his wife about his own
son’s death from AIDS. The book could be used as a compilation or each individual
story stands alone.
TRUE STORY
1 World Story by Fifteen year old orphan Rei survives by his wits and guts on the mean streets of the
Manga: Annette world. His fortunes seem to look up when he meets a stranger who offers to help him
Battling Roman achieve his dream of becoming the greatest martial artist in the world…But Rei’s
HIV/AIDS! Art by trainer is more interested in mind, spirt and heart than fighting moves. His journey
Leandro takes him to the big city, where he meets guys with smooth moves and falls head-
Ng over-heels for a feisty young cocktail waitress, who has a terrible family secret.
Ink by *Graphic novel
Walden
Wong
Pedro and Judd This story is a tribute to Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive AIDS educator who appeared
Me Winick in MTV”S The Real World. He taught millions of viewers about being gay and living
(MTV’s with AIDS. Judd Winick, a cartoonist, was Pedro’s roommate on the show. Pedro and
Real Me is a book of words and pictures to honour Pedro.
World) *Graphic novel

Race Stephen Lewis bears witness to the desperate plight of so many in Africa and elsewhere by his
Against Lewis unique, personal, and often searing insiders’s perspective on our ongoing failure to
Time help. The United Nations Millennium Summit (2000) was to focus on fundamental
goals such as education, health and cutting poverty by 2015. Lewis shows why and
how the international community is falling short of these goals. Lewis probes the gap
between vision and current reality. But he also offers attainable solutions to help us
avoid what will otherwise be a terrible stain on the record of human achievement in the

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July, 2010
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
twenty-first century.

The Cow Nina Jaffe This is a collection of 23 brief stories intended to make readers ask themselves: What
of No and Steve would I do or say? What is fair or just? Each tale is told up to the point where a
Colour Zeitlin character makes a decision or takes action. This collection might appeal to teachers
and counselors, religious educators, storytellers, and youngsters.
A Long Ishmael Beah, now twenty-six years old, tells a riveting story. At the age of twelve, he fled
Way Gone: Beah attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By
Memoirs thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle
of a Boy boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. Eventually released by the army
Soldier and sent to a UNICEF rehabilitation center, he struggled to regain his humanity and to
reenter the world of civilians, who viewed him with fear and suspicion. This is, at last, a
story of redemption and hope.
TRUE STORY
The Bite of Mariatu Mariatu led a carefree life in rural Sierra Leone until she was taken by armed rebels
the Mango Kamara solders no older than her twelve year old self. Among other horrors that occurred that
with day, the young rebels cut off her hands. This true story tells of her survival and
Susan journey to freedom.
McClellan TRUE STORY
d
Far from Robert
Here Munsch
Say You’re Uwem To get a free download of a song inspired by the book, go to
One of Akpan http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/features/sayyoureoneofthem/content/index.asp
Them Akpan's stories humanize the perils of poverty and violence so piercingly that few
readers will feel they've ever encountered Africa so immediately.

In the second of his stories published in a New Yorker special fiction issue, Akpan
takes us far beyond what we thought we knew about the tribal conflict in Rwanda. The
story is told by a young girl, who, with her little brother, witnesses the worst possible
scenario between parents. They are asked to do the previously unimaginable in order
to protect their children. This singular collection will also take the reader inside Nigeria,
Benin, and Ethiopia, revealing in beautiful prose the harsh consequences for children
of life in Africa.
The Cellist Stephen The is the story of the cellist, Vedran Smailovic, who defied enemy snipers and mortar
of Galloway shells to play in the middle of a city street in Sarajevo every day at four o'clock for
Sarajevo twenty-two days to honor twenty-two of his neighbors who were killed on that spot by
mortar shells while waiting to buy bread. Galloway presents three different
perspectives on the siege of that city - a young sniper assigned to defend the cellist, a
father attempting to cross the city to get clean water for his family, and a bread-factory
employee just trying to cross one of the more dangerous intersections to get to work.
Each comes across the cellist and pauses as his unexpected music momentarily
transports them to a better time. Then the reality of their impossible situation returns
and they resume their struggle to survive. The cellist in this novel plays only a minor
role, being primarily a device to link together the stories of all the characters as they try
to deal with the bizarre reality in their own ways.
Prisoner of Marina Most Americans have some memory of the 444 days the world waited to see if Iranian
Tehran: A Nemat revolutionaries would release 52 American hostages seized at the American Embassy
Memoir in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. But to the Iranians who lived -- and loved -- through it, it
was as if the world had gone mad. Books were frowned upon. Public displays of
affection became a crime. Schoolchildren were arrested and held prisoner. Many were
executed. In Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat chronicles some of what it meant to
come of age during this social upheaval.
TRUE STORY
Does My Randa A young girl in high school choose to wear a hijab to reflect her religious beliefs and
Head Look Abdel- heritage. The story takes you inside her experience of questioning and identity.
Big in This Fattah
This would be a great read for HIF.
The These books are based in Turkey in the early 1900’s during and after the Armenia
Hunger Genocide.

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 Social Justice Resources
July, 2010
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca

Nobody’s
Child

Daughter
of War

The Book Lawrence Based in the 1800’s, this is tells the journey of a young girl taken from her West African
of Negoes Hill village as part of the trade to America. Eventually, she has the chance to register her
name in the ‘Book of Negroes’, a historic British military ledger allowing m 3 000 Black
Loyalists passage on ships to Nova Scotia.
The Yasmina Khadra follows two couples, survivors of Afghanistans’ educated middle class and how
Swallows Khadra their lives intertwine. We are allowed to see the experience of women within their
of Kabul different situations.
Elijah of Christoph Elijah (13 years old), lives in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves near the
Buxton er Paul American border. Elijah is seen as a fragile young boy until a former slave steals
Curtis money from Elijah’s friend who has been saving to buy his family out of captivity in the
South. Now it’s up to Elijah to track down the thief.
Three Greg (Adult or Young Reader’s Edition)
Cups of Mortenso Greg Mortenson tried to climb K2, but became lost in the mountains of Pakistan. He
Tea n & David wandered into a poor village where he was cared for. He returned and had a passion
Oliver- and promise to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Relin TRUE STORY
Wanting Rukhsana When Jameela’s mother, Mor, dies, she learn to live in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Mor Khan TRUE STORY
Sold Patricia A young 13 year old girl lives in a poor village in Nepal. In an effort to help her family,
McCormic she is sent to the city to send money back. Glad to help, she journeys to India only to
k learn that she has been sod into a list of prostitution.
The Kite Khaled This book follows the lives of 2 young boys growing up in Afghanistan under increasing
Runner Hosseini ethnic, religious and political tensions during the last years of the Afghan monarchy.
A Khaled Set in Afghanistan over the last 30 years, this story follows 2 generations of characters
Thousand Hosseini brought together by war where they struggle to survive. We see the details of a girl’s
Splendid life as she grows into a woman in a political and religious climate that is changing
Sons dramatically for these women.
Eric Wounded When Marcus’ dad finally returns home from Afghanistan, they family is so excited and
Walters releaved. But, as the days pass, they realize that there is something different about
their father. He doesn’t sleep, he is obsessed with news from Afghanistan and his
moods are erratic.
Sarah’s Tatiana At age 10, Sarah and her parents are taken by the French police as they arrest Jewish
Key De families in the middle of the night. In trying to protect her little brother, Sarah locks him
Rosnay in a cupboard and promises to come back when they are released. Sixty years later,
Julia is given the assignment to investigate the roundup for her newspaper. Julia
stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah and her own future.
My Name Ting-Xing This is the true story of Ting-Xing’s young life turned upside down by China’s Cultural
is Number Ye Revolution. After the death of both of her parents, she and her four siblings endure the
4 brutality of Red Guard attacks on their school and homes as they struggle against
poverty and hunger.
TRUE STORY
Kissing Lauren Kate and Lissa were best friends Then one night last summer at a party, Kate leaned
Kate Myracle in to kiss Lissa and Lissa kissed her back. But now, Kate is pretending Lissa doesn’t
exist leaving Lissa confused and wrestling with her own identity.
Geography Brent Russel is still going on dates with girls. Kevin would do anything to prevent his
Club Hartinger teammates on the team from finding out. Min and Terese tell everyone they’re just
really good friends. Eventually, they form the ‘Geography Club’.
Someday Peter James is a young many with an appreciation for the world with no idea of how to live in
this Pain Cameron it. The book takes place in the summer of 2003 as James confides in his sympathetic
will be grandmother, his therapist, and devised a fake identity to pursue a much older co-
Useful to worker.
You