I Can Make a Difference: A Treasury to Inspire Our Children

Edelman, Marian Wright

ISBN 10: 0060280522 ISBN 13: 9780060280529

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2005

Synopsis

Marian Wright Edelman has drawn from a variety of cultures and peoples to compile these timeless stories, poems, songs, quotations, and folktales that speak to all children to let them know that they can make a difference in today's world.

About this title

About the Author

Marian Wright Edelman is the founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, and eight other books. She is the winner of many awards for her work, including a MacArthur Fellowship, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, a Heinz Award, and a Niebuhr Award. In 2000, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her writings. Edelman is a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School. She and her husband live in Washington, D.C., and have three children and four grandchildren.

From Booklist

Gr. 2-4. Edelman takes that sturdy statement and breaks it down into 12 components, easily understandable by kids, and then decorates each with meaningful poems, stories, and memorable art. Ways to make a difference are stated in the personal affirmative: "I can make a difference by loving myself and others as God loves us and treating others respectfully and fairly"; "I can make a difference by being courageous." The section about making a difference by working with others begins with a Persian proverb about individual drops becoming a sea. A short tale from China shows how the same situation can be either heaven or hell, depending on whether people cooperate. There's also an except from Leo Lionni's Swimmy (1963), an Aesop's fable, and a saying from Sitting Bull. An oversize format allows Moser to mix full-size paintings, portraits, and spot art in artwork that ranges from utilitarian to effective to stunning. Edelman, a well-known children's rights activist and winner of such awards as the MacArthur Prize Fellowship and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, discusses her hopes for inspiring children to see their lives as a means of improving the lives of others. A strong package that will lead to fruitful discussions between adults and children. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0060280522
• ISBN 13: 9780060280529
• Binding: Library Binding
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 112
• Illustrator: Moser Barry