States Parties recognize the important function performed by the mass media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health. (Art. 17)
Art. 17 of the Convention encourages the dissemination of publishing material fit for children. In this section we suggest some books, illustrated books, brochures, that help describe their rights to children. All such materials can be a starting point to reflect and make younger people reflect, alone or together with a parent, an educator or a teacher.
The titles in bold characters indicate the documents stored in the Biblioteca Innocenti Library A.C. Moro, available for consultation and loan.
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Breaking down gender stereotypes
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Ada la scienziata (De Agostini, 2017)
Author: Andrea Beaty; illustrator: David Robert
Ada Twist has a great imagination, is curious and loves science. Day after day, her head fills with questions that she tries to answer with her experiments. One day, however, her mission to discover the why's of things and her complicated scientific experiments cross the line. Her exasperated parents send her to the Thinking Chair for punishment. However, will punishment stop her hunger for knowledge? Inspired by the story of Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), a mathematician who is considered the pioneer of today's computer science, and Marie Curie (1867-1934), twice Nobel Prize winner (in 1903 for Physics and in 1911 for Chemistry), the book promotes the concept of gender diversity as a resource and conveys a fundamental message: intelligence and perseverance are the key to achieving one's dreams.
Eugenia the ingenious (Sinnos, 2014)
Author and illustrator: Anne Wilsdorf; reading age: 6-12 years
Eugenia lives in isolation with her family on the island of Nascondoni. One day, with her brother Nicolla, she saw the island of Nonsodove far away in the sea. Eugenia would like to get to that mysterious island, even though the adults tell her it is only a childish mirage. However, the girl is sure that the island exists and hatches a plan to reach it. First she tries a wooden bridge, then a floating bridge .... In the end, after many experiments, she will make it. In other words, a child engineer!
The declaration of women's rights (Lo stampatello, 2015)
Author: Elisabeth Brami, Estelle Billon-Spagnol; illustrator: Estelle Billon-Spagnol; reading age: 6-12 years
Girls, like boys, have the right to be rugged, dishevelled, to climb trees and to be good at maths. In short, they have an inalienable right not to be princesses.
The declaration of the rights of men (Lo block letters, 2015)
Author: Elisabeth Brami, Estelle Billon-Spagnol; illustrator: Estelle Billon-Spagnol; reading age: 6-12 years
Boys, like girls, have the right to cry and be cuddled, to pick flowers and be good at Italian. The right to be clean and fragrant and not necessarily be superheroes.
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All rights, rights for all!
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Discovering Children's Rights: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child told to children (Piemme, 2019)
Author: Geronimo Stilton; illustrators: Walter Leoni, Daria Cerchi, Serena Gianoli; reading age: 7 to 12 years
Based on an idea by Elisabetta Dami and brought to life with the collaboration of the Guarantor Authority for Childhood and Adolescence, the book is designed to help people learn about the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to understand the rights of children and young people.
Dowload: https://www.garanteinfanzia.org/sites/default/files/geronimo-stilton-viaggio-scoperta-diritti.pdf
The road to rights (Fatatrac, print 2018)
Author: Janna Cairoli; illustrator: Andrea Rivola; reading age: from 3 to 6 years.
Born of a project in collaboration with Amnesty International, the book consists of twenty-one factsheets, each of which is dedicated to an event that has marked a step forward in human rights (from 1786 with the abolition of the death penalty in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to 2013, in Pakistan, with Malala Yousafzai and her appeal for the right to education).
The twenty-first factsheet is completely blank, and invites each child to express themselves with words and drawings to contribute personally to the progress of this journey.
Children are born to be happy (Fatatrac, 2016)
Author: Vanna Cercenà; illustrator: Gloria Francella; reading age: from 3 years
Nursery rhymes and a jigsaw puzzle to introduce even the youngest children to the content of the "Convention on the Rights of the Child".
Themes include identity, family, participation, education, protection, health, information and rule implementation monitoring.
Each nursery rhyme is preceded by a short statement of the article from which it takes its inspiration.
Children's rights in simple words (Italian Committee for UNICEF, 2014)
Authors: Lorenzo Terranera, Italian Committee for UNICEF; age: from 4 years
First published in 2001, the booklet aims to explain the principles enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the very young, using simple words and fun drawings.
Browse online: https://issuu.com/unicef.italia/docs/i_diritti_dei_bambini_in_parole_semplici
The big book of children's rights (Sonda, print 2010)
Author: Amnesty International
Produced in collaboration with Reggio Children and Daniele Novara, the story is based on Alice's journey through Wonderland.
Alice sets off to discover the rights of children in the World (Wonderland). Each chapter takes the main character to a place where the law takes shape and allows her to discover real treasures: children's rights.
The book also contains games, educational insights, teaching activities.
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Come on, let's play!
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Closed for holidays (Topipittori, 2006)
Author: Maja Celija; reading age: 0-7 years
Something magical happens in our house when we go on holiday. The old black and white family photographs come out of their frames and grandparents, great-grandparents and children from other eras go wild and can finally use the microwave as a tanning salon, the sink as a swimming pool, the shirts as a volleyball net, the balls of yarn as a soft bed.
Facciamo che (Orecchio Acerbo, 2016)
Author: André Marois; illustrator: Gérard DuBois; reading age: 6 to 12 years
Two angelic-looking children, having met for an afternoon of play at home, are "momentarily" left alone in the house by their mother, while she goes to pick vegetables in the garden. Despite the promise to be good, the two friends, left alone, go up to their room and thanks to a real magic spell "let's pretend ...." enter a world where fantasy and imagination make the law and anything can happen. So there are no longer two quiet-looking children, but rather two solitary and fearless warriors, two castaways on a desert island, where there are "huge rocks", "hairy monsters", "towers", "drawbridges", "bad enemies" that they decide to overcome with "special weapons".
Curtains, bedside tables, cupboards, tablecloths, dogs, parrots, fish, saucepans, bowls, beds, wardrobes... every object is transformed into the world of the imagination! How will the mum react when she returns from the garden?
Preview https://www.orecchioacerbo.com/editore/index.php?option=com_oa&vista=download&file=Facciamo%20che_anteprima.pdf
The Liszts (Rizzoli, 2017)
Author: Kyo MacLear; illustrator: Júlia Sardà; reading age: 6 to 12 years
"The Liszts made lists. Scritch scratch. Very normal lists. And very strange lists. Mum made lists of terrible illnesses and the greatest footballers of all time. Dad made lists of dreaded chores and small winged insects". The illustrated book presents a family where everyone spends their time putting the world on endless lists: of fun things and boring things, of friends and enemies, of tasty cheeses .... One day, the unexpected happens: a visitor with thick hair and a bunch of coloured balloons enters the house through a door deliberately left open by little Edward. Even the child makes lists, but his lists are not for planning and organising, but for understanding, reflecting and imagining; in his lists there are "empty" spaces and times that can be filled by the unexpected, by fantasy or even by boredom.
Baby Elephant Goes to China (Orecchio Acerbo, 2016)
Author: Sesyle Joslin; illustrator: Leonard Weisgard; reading age: 0-7 years
An illustrated book about Mother Elephant playing "let's pretend..." with her child, Baby Elephant. A hole in the sand takes mother and son to China, to the land of the dragon, where people use rickshaws to get around, junks to navigate, ideograms to write ...
Without leaving the stands and rides of the beach, accompanied by his faithful bear, Baby Elephant has an exciting adventure thanks to his and his mother's vivid imagination.