Roam your local children’s bookshop and you will quickly find a lack of diversity and meaningful, empowering stories for your girls and boys. The team behind ‘Little Champions of Justice’, a Kickstarter campaign running until December 11, decided to take matters into their own hands.
They searched for true stories in history that represented a diverse range of protagonists, whose sense of justice, courage, and determination would inspire children today. One year later, they bring us their stunningly illustrated book, titled ‘Little Champions of Justice’, written by Shirin Taherzadeh and illustrated by Alyssa De Asis.
The book tells stories of four girls and four boys around the world who stood up for justice and equality. They include the revolutionary poetess Tahirih, astronaut Ron McNair, women’s rights activist Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize, and environmentalist Richard St. Barbe Baker.
The stories were not easy to find. For example, whilst researching about one of the protagonists, they came across the name Nhlumba Bertha Mkhize simply in the footnote of an article, even though she had played a central role in promoting women’s rights in apartheid South Africa. The team couldn’t help but wonder how many other Berthas exist, women who did incredible things but whose names are merely footnotes of history books.
Although the stories are written with 5-10 year old children in mind, the team has found that they often spark conversations between parents and children about racism, gender equality, or environmental sustainability.
It’s clear the project is striking the right note with backers, as the creators’ original goal of raising $6,756 has well and truly been surpassed, with the current (at the time of publishing this article) amount raised being over $28,000!
So far, over 2000 books have been ordered in the last three weeks alone, and the campaign is the “Most Popular Children’s Book” on Kickstarter. If you want to get yours, get in quick as the Kickstarter campaign runs only until December 11 and the book will only be sold once.
Click here to get your own copies of ‘Little Champions of Justice’.
