One Peace: True Stories of Young Activists

by Janet Wilson (Illustrator)

One Peace celebrates the "Power of One," and specifically the accomplishments of children from around the globe who have worked to promote world peace. Janet Wilson challenges today's children to strive to make a difference in this beautifully illustrated, fact-filled and fascinating volume of portraits of many "heroes for today." Canadian Craig Kielburger, who started Free the Children to help victims of child labor at the age of twelve, has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. Farlis Calle, forced to identify the body of a young friend—a victim of her country's civil war—started the Columbia Children's Movement for Peace. At age ten, Kimmie Weeks, a refugee from the Liberian civil war, came within a whisper of being buried in a mass grave. Almost miraculously he survived and vowed to make a difference in the lives of other children. At thirteen he established Voices of the Future, Liberia's first child rights advocacy group. Other portraits feature the accomplishments of children from Sarajevo, Japan, the United Kingdom, Cambodia, Afghanistan and the United States. These moving testaments to the courage and initiative of youth will inspire readers young and old.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cultural, Social Justice, Picture Books

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2008

Reviews

[Mrs. Ruigrok · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about young activists around the world. There is also a lot of information about situations in other countries and why these young activists feel the way they do. With a combination of illustrations and photographs. This would be a great book to share with students who are interested in making a difference.

[Vamos a Leer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Peace: True Stories of Young Activists, published in 2008, is a diverse collection. She profiles ten children who either engage in heroic activism, or who undergo hardship while harboring dreams of peace and love. Wilson highlights both familiar and new faces: for example, we see the famous story of Sadako Sasaki from Japan, but we also see Farlis Calle, a lesser known figure, from Colombia. Each child is described over a two-page spread as Wilson portrays their life and activism through photographs, illustrations, poetry, and statistics. The effect is at once inspiring and informative.

In regards to Latin America, Wilson features Farlis Calle from Colombia, a young girl who lost a friend to the persistent violence of her country, a country plagued by civil war, drug-trafficking, and guerilla fighting. After her friend’s death, Farlis’s grief soon transformed into “a blaze” of determination:

“Twenty six children organized an election to encourage the nation to listen to their plea for peace to give youth a vote for the right to life, family and freedom from abuse. Death threats almost stopped the election, but Farlis refused to quit. ‘You can’t kill the hopes of kids!’ With unwavering faith and courage, the children publicly asked the drug traffickers, guerrillas and soldiers for a cease-fire on Election Day. On October 25, 1996, nearly three million children voted for peace.”

Through this work, Farlis became one of five children to found the Colombian Children’s Movement for Peace, which established “peace zones” in schools and parks: “One year later, ten million adults voted for peace, pledging their support for the Children’s Mandate for Peace.” To learn more about Farlis’ story, see her profile on the MoralHeroes website.

Ultimately, the international, medley composition of Wilson’s book reflects the proverb on the very first page: “Individually they appear to be like snowflakes, small and fragile, but see what happens when they come together…” Her use of variegated information and media reflects values of diversity and co-existence while symbolically evoking the power of uniting and organizing as one. (Image to the right: Song Kosal of Cambodia who advocated for the need to ban landmines and was the first person to sign the People’s Treaty, “an agreement among citizens of the world to encourage their governments to keep their promises to sign the treaty to ban landmines.”)

For access to the full review and additional resources, check out our Vamos a Leer blog at teachinglatinamericathroughliterature.com

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilson, Janet. (2008). One Peace: True Stories of Young Activists. Victoria, Canada. Orca Book Publishers.

This is a collection of the stories of young activists and the difference they have made in their communities and the world. It includes stories of Craig Kielburger, Sadako Sasaki, and Mattie Stepanek. It talks about what some of these young people have done in their community to make it a better place and how they have reacted in the face of adversity.

I enjoyed reading the short clips of these activists. This book will be really appropriate for sharing with students in grades four and up. We have a Me to We club at our school and I will use this book to share with the students in that group.

[Vandy]

red cedar 2010

[Catherine Woodman]

Interestingly, this is not an artistically well laid out book--despite the fact the author is also the illustrator. Some great stories of children who became peace activists as adults.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great illustrations and some very moving stories.