Aside from the smudgy pastel illustrations provided by Anne Sibley O'Brien, this mother-and-son effort earns high marks both for adding less-celebrated names to the pantheon of peacemongers and for noting that the nonviolent approach to civil protest doesn't always work—which makes the courage of those who engage in it all the more exemplary. Each of the 16 chronologically arranged chapters highlights a particular event, from the Gandhi-led mass burning of Indian registration documents in 1908 Johannesburg to the worldwide anti-Iraq war protest on February 5, 2003, then closes with a set of rubrics that add detail or historical background. Along with the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammad Ali and Csar Chávez, young readers will meet—and come away admiring—Vietnam's Thich Nhat Hanh, Australian Charles Perkins and the Students For Aboriginal Action, Belfast's Peace People, the Mothers of the Disappeared in Buenos Aires and others who understood that "nonviolence is the weapon of the strong." Might that admiration grow into emulation in some?

 

It's been a century since a young lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi peacefully defied the British Empire in support of Indian laborers working in South Africa. In this book, a mother-son team of social activists trace the impact of that seminal event, highlighting the subsequent, worldwide history of nonviolent resistance through understandable text and rich portraits and illustrations. The book does an admirable job of clarifying complex conflicts and conveying that the truth eventually prevails when persistently applied, even against the most malevolent regimes. Coverage includes dozens of examples profiling the durable courage of leaders like Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Václev Havel, and Wangari Maathai and ending with a chapter on the role of nonviolence in shaping the future.

 

If children are sometimes led to believe that nonviolent civil disobedience runs a straight line from Mohandas Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr., this effort by mother and son authors will expand their understanding. More than a dozen profiles of peaceful resistance movements and their proponents are highlighted here, spanning six continents and a century. Many names will be familiar--Gandhi, King, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez--while other activists, such as Charles Perkins (Australian Aboriginal rights), Aung San Suu Kyi (pro-democracy in Myanmar), Wangari Maathai (environmentalism and women's empowerment in Kenya) are probably lesser known among American children. Each entry opens with a few gripping paragraphs that capture the climax of a confrontation and readily hook reader interests; unfortunately, the several pages of context that follow seem fairly dry in comparison. . . The global scope of the title does, nontheless, establish its usefulness, both in opening readers' eyes to underexamined civil rights movements, and in raising awareness of resistance activities that may be quietly making waves in their own communities. Gray-tone pastel portraits and illustrations are included, as are an index and annotated bibliography.

 

Using Gandhi as its starting point, this large-format book traces the history of nonviolent resistance by looking at significant adherents from 1908 to 2003, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Charles Perkins, Cesar Chavez, Aung San Suu Kyi, Vaclav Havel, and Wangari Maathai and groups such as the student activists of Tiananmen Square and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo (Mothers of the Disappeared) in Argentina. Each of the 15 main entries includes a little background information as well as an account of significant events. Read individually, these entries offer basic intorduction to leaders of nonviolent protests on six contintents. Read together, they give a sense of the breadth of the nonviolent movement over a hundred years and its potential as a catalyst for change. There are no source notes, but a discursive, chapter-by-chapter bibliography is appended. The handsome design and striking black-and-white illustrations are strong visuals that complement the story of nonviolent resistance in action.

 

In 1906 Mohandas Gandhi was working as a lawyer for the Asian Indian community in South Africa. On September 11, 1906 Gandhi made his first speech to a large crowd calling for nonviolent resistance to the government's oppressive requirement that all Asian residents register and be fingerprinted. In the next two years a movement was born that Gandhi lead with growing understanding of the extraordinary power of nonviolent resistance.

In the past one hundred years leaders all over the globe have studied his ideas and methods and lead successful nonviolent movements against repressive, unjust governments. After Gandhi is a comprehensive study of the ideas taking shape in the lives of leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the United States, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu of South Africa, the Madres de Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, the Student Activists of Tienanmen Square in China, Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia, and Wangari Maathai of Kenya, among others. Each of the peace heroes is profiled and Gandhi's role in their education and development is highlighted. Particular emphasis is placed on the influences and opportunities they faced in childhood and youth, making these profiles interesting and relevant to young readers.

Although I lived through most of these movements and have heard this and that about them in my education, in the media and in my social circles, I was surprised at how little detail I actually knew about their lives and the successes of their struggles for peace, justice and change. I found reading this book to be delightful, encouraging and inspiring. Gandhi says;

"Be the change you want to see in the world.

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.

Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history."

Quotations such as these are set off in red sidebars for each of the profiled personalities. There is an opening scenario setting the scene, an essay recounting the life and work of the major figure, and a short biography summing up their life's work for each of the profiled world leaders. Their lives are truly inspiring and their words are phenomenal. This is a book that every young person should read and have on hand to re-read often.

The charcoal sketch illustrations throughout the book include portraits of the leaders of resistance and scenes of the protest meetings and marches. The one weakness of this book, in my opinion, is that these graphics are not particularly appealing to youth accustomed to full color, lively graphics. In our school library books illustrated in this style are often taken for old fashioned, tired dust collectors. It's a shame but I can't tell you how many great biographies have been weeded out of the collection just because the kids won't pick up black and white illustrations. I am afraid this failing will keep the book out of the hands and sight of youngsters browsing the shelves. The book will have to be presented and supported by teachers, librarians and parents in order to display it's treasures.

At the end of the book the authors tell a story of their own recent peace march as they joined The Veterans and Survivors March for Peace and Justice: "Walkin' to New Orleans" in 2003, just six months after Katrina. They petitioned the government to bring our troops home from Iraq and focus on rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Anne Sibley O'Brien is a member of Military Families Speak Out and her son Perry Edmond O'Brien is a former Army medic serving in Afghanistan and Iraq who received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector. He is the founder of www.peace-out.com, a website that helps servicemen navigate the conscientious objector application process.

Also noted: the final chapter is about the February 15, 2003 global peace protest promoted on the Internet.

"No one knows exactly how many people were involved, but estimates range from six to thirty million. The protesters were students,grandmothers, artists, businessmen and women, celebrities, nuns, veterans, children. In many languages, they spoke with one voice: "No War On Iraq!".... President George W. Bush and the US government didn't listen. On March 20th, 2003, American troops invaded Iraq."

March 20, 2003. March 20, 2009. Six years. Thousands (millions?) of lives in need of peaceful nonviolent protest.

Use this nonfiction, middle grade book of biographies in peace curriculum or to teach the Quaker SPICES of peace. (Quaker SPICES are the testimonies of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality and Service by which we live). The kidlit book blogger's nonfiction Monday roundup is hosted by L. L. Owens today. Go take a look!

 

 

About the Authors/Illustrators:

Anne Sibley O'Brien

"Throughout the process, I felt as if the story and the form were not being controlled by me,
but rather coming through me. I continue to be surprised and delighted by where this book takes me."

Anne Sibley O'Brien knew she wanted to be an artist by the time she was seven. Born in Chicago, she moved with her family to New Hampshire on her first birthday. Six years later, her parents were hired as medical missionaries and assigned to serve in South Korea. She was raised bilingual and bicultural, living in the cities of Seoul and Taegu, and on the island of Kojedo.

Returning to the U.S. at age 19, Annie attended Mount Holyoke College where she majored in studio art. She spent her junior year back in Korea at Ewha Women's University in Seoul, where she studied Korean arts, including Oriental painting. During college, she decided that she wanted to pursue a career in children's book illustration. The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea is the 25th picture book she has illustrated, and the 10th she has written.

She has illustrated more than twenty picture books, including the Jamaica books by Juanita Havill (Houghton Mifflin) and the Talking Walls books by Margy Burns Knight (Tilsbury). This is her first graphic novel. Anne lives on Peaks Island in Maine.

To learn more, visit The Legend of Hong Kil Dong website, or Anne's website.

Perry Edmond O’Brien

Perry Edmond O’Brien is a former Army medic who served in Afghanistan and received an honorable discharge as a conscientious objector. He is the founder of www.peace-out.com, a website that helps servicemen navigate the conscientious objector application process. Perry majored in political theory at Cornell University and now works as a labor organizer in New York City.