Social Justice Resources

December , 2009
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
Books of Interest
Fiction and Non-fiction

Title Autho Comments

r
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 Taxi Deborah Diego lives with his mother and sister in a Bolivian prison. To help support his family,
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.

Sacred In Sacred Leaf, we follow Diego again as he is involved in disputes between local
Leaf farmers and soldiers. It shows the struggle of families to strive for their basic needs
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

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December , 2009
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
escape is not so easy. Once she leaves the camp, she has no money, no food - and
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.

Our Debra 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.

28 stories Stephani Canadian journalist, Nolen, brings us 28 stories of people fighting HIV/AIDS – one
of AIDS in e 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.

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
twenty-first century.

The Cow of Nina This is a collection of 23 brief stories intended to make readers ask themselves: What
No Colour Jaffe and would I do or say? What is fair or just? Each tale is told up to the point where a
Steve character makes a decision or takes action. This collection might appeal to teachers
Zeitlin 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 of thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle

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December , 2009
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
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.
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 Sarajevo Gallowa shells to play in the middle of a city street in Sarajevo every day at four o'clock for
y 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.

Teacher Resources – Websites – Organizations

www.commontheads.ca Common Threads is the name of the Ontario Secondary School

through OSSTF website Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) International Solidarity Program.

In collaboration with an international partner, the Common Threads

team travels overseas and conducts research on a critical current
topic.

Upon returning, the team designs comprehensive “classroom ready”

lesson plans in accordance with the Ontario Ministry of Education
curriculum. Each project includes a program video, CD-ROM and
supporting assessment rubrics. Course expectations are also
included in the material, making it easier to select the appropriate
courses.

http://bctf.ca/SocialJustice.aspx?
Programs/Resources
Guatemala and Sweatshops
South Africa and HIV/AIDS
Bolivia and Safe Water
Brazil and Food Security – should be out in about a year
BC Teacher’s Federation
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http://www.bp208.ca/
http://www.warchild.ca/news.aspx
http://www.msf.ca/en/index.html
http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.or
g • Grassroots newsletter
http://www.unaids.org/en/
http://www.worldvision.ca/Education-
and-Justice/Pages/Education-and-
Justice.aspx
http://www.acloserwalk.org/
http://www.friendsofwfp.org/
Social Justice Resources
December , 2009
karen.wilson@hwdsb.on.ca
• This database allows you to choose grade levels, subject areas
and themes in finding resources related to social justice
• Themes include: basic needs, environment, gender equality,
human rights, infrastructure services and private sector
developments
• Developed by BC teachers and supported by the federation and
CIDA
Butterfly 2008 (through the CIDA website)
• Teacher Zone provides resources for HIV/AIDS and other
classroom resources
• Eg. Millennium Development Goals and Emily’s story (showing
students their connection to the developing world)
War Child
• War Child Canada is a charity that provides urgently needed
humanitarian assistance to war-affected children around the
world. It also helps generate awareness, support and advocacy
for children’s rights everywhere.
• Keep the Beat is a group/school initiative which involves
students playing music to raise money
• The site also has stories and connections to resources.
Médecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders)
• MSF has been an organization that has spear-headed the
campaign for cheaper drugs.
• Provides pictures and letters of children living with AIDS share
their stories.
• Information and links to other programs and projects
Stephen Lewis Foundation
• Information about Grandmother’s campaign and website
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
• Recent press releases, news and statistics
World Vision (Education and Justice)
• Get Hungry Photo Challenge – where young Canadians add a
photo-message of why they hunger for change for the
government to fund development programs – a great project for
students to investigate the issues and add their messages.
• Issues of coverage include child poverty, HIV/AIDS and child
soldiers
• Many other resources available for download or purchase.
A Closer Walk (A file about AIDS in the World/A Story about the Way
the World Is)
• A Closer Walk is about people everywhere acquiring knowledge
about the realities of AIDS in the world, and then passing that
knowledge along to others
• A DVD is available to purchase for personal and/or educational
use
• There are also activities which include journals/stories about
people affected or infected with HIV/AIDS in various countries
including South Africa, Haiti, India and Uganda.
Friends of the World Food Program
• Shows the main causes for food crisis
• Includes video clips (YouTube) providing visuals connecting the
mains issues