Cirrus

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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Why should any society listen to children? How can we, as adults, support children’s individuality and their creative expression? How can we make space for children as active cultural agents within their communities and on a global level? In the words of IBBY’s founder, Jella Lepman, “Let us set this upside down world right again by starting with the children. They will show the grown-ups the way to go” (qtd. in Said). In its twenty-year history, Kids’ Own Publishing has turned the publishing paradigm upside-down to give a platform for children’s voices in two countries.' (Introduction)

Notes

Epigraph:
Children need love because if we didn’t have love we wouldn’t learn how to love. … The Troubles have been part of my family history. My granddad was in the Order of Malta and he was shot at on Bloody Sunday. My dad was hit by a rubber bullet and it was very painful. My mummy and daddy used to hear a lot of gunshots. I’ve never heard gunfire in real life. I don’t think my mum and dad will ever forget about the Troubles but they don’t mention it.
(From Ding, Dong, Right or Wrong, Kids’ Own Publishing Partnership, Ireland, 2010)
When we were living in Africa, there was a lot of fighting all around us. When my mum was born and when she was growing up, there was a lot of fighting. When I was born there was fighting and it still goes on today. We never felt safe.
(“My Nice Uncle—The story of Nyakim Ruach,” Donkeys Can’t Fly on Planes, Kids’ Own Publishing, Australia 2012. Selected for the White Ravens catalogue, 2014)