Our Rights!: Stories and Poems About Children's Rights - Hardcover

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Jake Hope is Chair of the Working Party on Diversity and Inclusion for the Yoto Carnegie Awards, the UK’s oldest and most prestigious book awards. Jake has curated exhibitions on children’s literature and written articles and chapters on children’s reading. He has spoken at book fairs and festivals around the globe and is passionate about libraries and reading. Jake has judged or chaired numerous awards, including the Costa Children's Fiction Prize, and has been a jury member on the Bologna Ragazzi award. He lives in Preston, Lancashire.

Ruthine Burton completed the Inaugural Pathways Into Children's Publishing in 2021. Her parents came originally from Dominica and French Guiana. She has a B.A. hons in Visual Art from the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, and also an M.Sc. in Software Engineering. She has worked as a pavement portrait artist and in the games industry. Ruthine is one of the three illustrators featured in Our Rights, edited by Jake Hope, and also illustrator of Spin! 10 Exciting New Voices in Poetry. She lives in south west London.

 

Habiba Nabisubi is a British Ugandan multimedia artist based in South London. Having lived in both Kampala, Uganda as well as the UK, she draws huge inspiration when creating new work from both sides of her heritage and lived experience.

Habiba is a visual storyteller who is drawn to lots of different mediums, from stop motion animation and painting to community arts projects and embroidery. But her biggest love however has always been illustration. In 2016 Habiba graduated from Camberwell College of the Arts with a BA(Hons) degree in illustration, then in 2019 went on to earn a place within the Arts Council funded incubator programme Pathways Into Children’s Publishing.

Habiba makes work that she feels is relevant, usually rooted within topics that are bigger than herself with the hope that they evoke emotion. She would describe her illustrations as highly detailed, inclusive, conversation starters and an opportunity for learning (often by using subtle elements of humour or some sort of social commentary). She thoroughly enjoys the process of creating characters, conjuring up refreshing narratives and trusting her imagination to execute her vision powerfully. Everything she creatively sets her mind to is a labour of love.

Chih-An Chen is a freelance Taiwanese illustrator based in London. Chih-An is passionate about graphic novels and considers herself an experienced Japanese manga nerd; she loves making comics and usually finds her inspiration from all the small, lovely things in everyday life. Her works are full of quirky, funny, and heart-warming elements.

She thinks pictures and smiles are the two things that can make the world a better place without complications.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

If you were asked to list the things which help to keep you safe, healthy and make sure your voice and views are heard, what would you choose? Perhaps you might mention the people that are important to you — your friends, and your family? Possibly you would think about the importance of where you live, or access to clean water and food? It might be you think about the things you learn and the way this helps you to better understand the world and your place in it. It may even be that you think about your right to think and feel, and to be who you are.
    Human rights help to protect us and make sure that we are treated equally and fairly. Our rights are a set of principles or freedoms that should apply to all people everywhere, no matter where they are from, the language that they speak, the religion they follow, their background or gender. Whoever people are, whatever they might have done in the past, people have rights that ensure they are treated properly.
    Children have special human rights because they need extra care and protection as they develop and grow. Children’s rights are written in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (see page 230). The Convention has been used since 1989 and 196 countries from across the world have come together to sign up to it.
    Perhaps you have heard of, or read about, people who have not been treated well. You might have seen things on the news which seem unfair. People often have different ideas about what treating people fairly means. Our rights help to guide us when disagreements like this happen. They also help us to recognise when we see others being treated unfairly and to know when this is happening to us. Knowing our rights can be a good way of helping to protect them.
    Stories and poems are a powerful way to think about our rights and feel how important they are. Before each story and poem in this book there is a little bit of information that introduces some of the main rights that are explored within it.
    All the authors, poets and illustrators who have generously contributed to Our Rights! are massively exciting. After reading some of their work you may like to explore more books by them. You will likely find that many of their other stories also explore aspects of children’s rights and what happens when these are denied. Enjoy the book and happy reading!