Rosemary McCarney

An Excellent Addition to Middle School Libraries

(Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through NetGalley.)

Because I am a Girl Manifesto

Because I am a girl...
I watch my brothers go to school while I stay home.

Because I am a girl...
I eat if there's food left over when everyone is done.

Because I am a girl...
I am the poorest of the poor.

AND YET

Because I am a girl...
I will share what I know.

Because I am a girl...
I am the heart of my community.

Because I am a girl...
I will show more pull my family out of poverty if you gave me the chance.

Because I am a girl...
I will take what you invest in my and uplift everyone around me.

Because I am a girl...
I can change the world.

###

An initiative of Plan International, Because I am a Girl organizes and funds projects "that create better lives for girls, young women, and their communities around the world. Girls in different environments have different needs, so these projects cover everything from clean water and nutrition to education and microfinance." Some of the current projects include improving accessibility to primary and secondary education in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia; combating child labor in India; and improving prenatal health care in Indonesia.

Because I am a Girl: I can change the world introduces children (grades six through eight) to the myriad issues facing girls and young women around the globe; everything from poverty, clean water, access to education, natural disasters, human trafficking (including sexual slavery), child marriage and rape, family planning, and gender discrimination are addressed - but gently, in a way appropriate for a younger audience.

McCarney (who also penned Dear Malala, We Stand with You) and Albaugh use the Because I am a Girl Manifesto as a jumping off point for their discussion; each declaration is brought to life with a profile of a young woman who has persevered in the face of overwhelming odds. The authors allow the women to speak for themselves, imparting a feeling of intimacy to the project. The stories are at once heartbreaking and uplifting; the many facts and figures sprinkled throughout, depressingly bleak - yet essential to elevating the conversation.

The continued emphasis on improving the lot of girls and women for their families' and communities' sake niggled a bit - aren't girls deserving of basic human rights regardless? - even as I understood the need for it: incentivizing the issue for those who might not otherwise care.

Nevertheless, Because I am a Girl would be a valuable addition to middle school libraries and classrooms.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/10/23/because-i-am-a-girl-by-rosemary-mccarney-an... show less

This is a great book to read to children who are learning about, hearing about or asking questions about the plight of refugees. I taught at a school that has over 50% of the population who had immigrated from various nations. This would have been a great tool to use with those classes to continue the conversations and to assist with understanding about their classmates as well as the children that had been arriving as refugees in the area.

The photographs in this book are mesmerizing. They show more show children and families in various situations, living in refugee camps, escaping on boats, wandering and dealing with having no home. The simple narrative, explains the plight of these scared weary refugees who feel lost and hopeless and just want to obtain a normal life once again. Their lives are difficult, they are constantly on the move and never know what they will face the next day. The parents are worried about the family's safety from wars, corrupt officials etc. However, through all this, the children play, make friends and have hope that they will find a home. They wonder what it will be like and what their new lives will bring. The book ends on a high note, which unfortunately is not the way all their lives and struggles will end, but it is for children so there is some sugar coating. One of the things I really like about this book is that all profits will go to refugee organizations to help those who are in this situation.

This book will teach children about the plight of others, how they live and what they deal with on a day-to-day basis. It will also help to teach them how to be grateful for their own country, and most of all compassion to enable them to reach out and help those less fortunate. I highly, highly recommend this book to all schools and public libraries. It's timing with the current situations around the world is perfect. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. show less

Photographs of girls from around the world are paired with a letter to Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for daring to publicly pursue an education. Written by Rosemary McCarney, who works with the Canadian branch of the international non-profit, Plan, the letter here is from the perspective of the girls in the photos, explaining how they identify with Malala's struggle, setting out the challenges they face, and their determination to overcome those challenges. show more The letter concludes with the declaration that every day is Malala Day, and that girls will achieve great things. Quotations from Malala's speech to the United Nations on June 12th, 2013 are included at the rear, as is a list of ways that young children can help...

Originally published in Canada as Every Day Is Malala Day, and here in the United States as Dear Malala, We Stand with You - I really have no idea why the title needed to be changed - this is an engaging snapshot of the state of girls' education, worldwide. The text is very simple, ranging from a word or two to a sentence per page, but the themes explored - poverty, discrimination, violence - are quite mature. One of the things I appreciated was that there was a country label for each of the photographs included, so I was very puzzled that the only photograph to omit such a label was the one of the child bride. Leaving that one critique aside, I think this book could work very well as a companion to any one of a number of picture-book biographies of Malala - Raphaële Frier's Malala: Activist for Girls' Education, Lina Maslo's Free as a Bird: The Story of Malala, Malala's own Malala's Magic Pencil, etc. - as well as a title to read on Malala Day, or during any discussion of the importance of education for girls. show less

I don’t really know how to rate this book. On the one hand, readers will find the photos of refugee children from all over the world absolutely riveting. The accompanying text is written simply enough that elementary-aged children could read it themselves. The topic not only is extremely pertinent at a time when the country that once raised its lamp to the tired, the poor, the huddled masses now demonizes the religion of one-seventh of the planet and dismisses the suffering of men, women, show more and children whose only crime is to be trapped in a civil war or be the object of authoritarian persecution. Rosemary McCarney’s slim book moved me very, very much.

On the other hand, I, a sensitive child, would have been absolutely terrified to discover that children in other lands were so insecure about where they would be sleeping. I can imagine a like-minded child bursting into tears, worried that they would be forced from their own home. I wish this had been either a photo-laden book for adults or a picture book with a happy ending for children. As it is Where Will I Live? is too simplistic for adults and too fearsome for children.

I feel terrible saying this, as Canadian humanitarian Rosemary McCarney has stepped into a void at a pivotal time. There are very few books on refugees for children — The Arrival, Playing War and How Many Days to America?: A Thanksgiving Story come to mind. In my home city of Louisville, every school has its share of refugee children, and a different book would have been so welcome. But I think that Where Will I Live? won’t fit the bill.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Second Story Press in exchange for an honest review. show less