Books to Help Build Solidarity
Cheap Raw Materials: How the Youngest Workers are Exploited and Abused, by Milton Meltzer. New York: Viking, 1994. A history of child labor in the USA and how the problem persists in certain industries today. 5th grade and up.
A Children’s Chorus: Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of the Child, by UNICEF. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1989. Beautifully illustrated picture books summarizes the 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child which speaks to issues of nutrition, housing, recreation, medical services, etc.
Exploitation of Children, by Judith Ennew. Austin, TX: Raintree Steck-Vaugn, 1997. An internationalist perspective that describes both the conditions and types of child exploitation along with efforts by people organizing against it.
Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Slavery, by Susan Kuklin. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1998. An excellent biography that sets the short life of Iqbal Masih in the context of the historic struggle against child labor. 5th grade and up.
Kids at Work, Lewis Hine and the Crusade Against Child Labor, by Russell Freedman. New York: Clarion Books, 1994. An impressive collection of Hine’s photos and an accessible description of his life work. Students will be amazed by his photographs.
Listen to Us: The World’s Working Children, by Jane Springer, Toronto: Groundwood Books, 1997. A beautifully done book with impressive photos that clearly lays out the story of child labor in the world and how people are fighting against it.
Sidewalk Story, by Sharon Bell-Mathis. New York: Viking Press, 1986. A nine-year old girl fights the eviction of her best friend’s family.
Stolen Dreams: Portraits of Working Children, by David Parker. Minneapolis, MN: Learner Publications Co., 1998. Striking black and white photos of children working throughout the world. Accompanying text includes many primary sources with children describing their working conditions, struggles and dreams.
The Streets Are Free (La calle es libre), by Kurusa. Scarborough, Ont.: Firefly Books, 1981. A wonderful story about how a group of children in a Caracas slum struggle to get a park.
