November 20th is World Children’s Day, an internationally recognized holiday by the UN. It was first celebrated in 1954 and also commemorates the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which came into effect on the same day. It is a day that advocates for togetherness in children, awareness of children, and children’s welfare worldwide.
Children are the future, yet often their voices are scarcely heard, so every year on November 20th, the UN aims to recognize children, their unique voices, and their rights. The UN has youth advocates every year that it champions and encourages to raise their voices on issues that matter to them. After a few difficult years in a global pandemic, the UN is especially conscious in the ways that children and their rights were affected.
At WPL, we are staunch believers in the power of children and acknowledge their rights to living and growing up in safe, happy, and healthy environments. To celebrate, we have cultivated a list of books that showcase the uniqueness of children and their lived experiences, because they are brave, creative, fearless, imaginative, strong, and diverse.
The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do is all about courage in the face of failure, and trying something new.
What Do You Celebrate? is a junior nonfiction book all about the different and diverse celebrations that children from around the world celebrate.
Told in rhyme like Dr Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go, The Magical Yet is all about when children feel like they’re not old enough to do things and waiting for that magical yet.
Whoever You Are is a cute, rhyming board book celebrates diversity and all the ways that children are different, and the fact that underneath we are all the same.
Where Are You From? As anyone with a unique name can tell you, getting asked this dreaded question can be very frustrating. This beautifully illustrated picture book grapples with the concept as a young girl travels with her Abuelo to understand where exactly she is from.
Both I Have the Right to Culture and I Have the Right to Be a Child celebrate the rights of children, and really simplifies the language of the UN Declaration so that it’s easy to understand for children, while also educating them on their rights.
Dreams of Freedom is another junior nonfiction book, but about freedom this time. It contains seventeen quotes about the different types of freedom that pertain to children, again in language that makes the concept accessible.
What is home? Where is home? All the Places We Call Home is a beautifully illustrated picture book that explores all the different places that children lay their heads to sleep at night, all around the world. It’s a book that celebrates community and family.
Check it out 