Shannen And The Dream For A School

The true story of Shannen Koostachin and the people of Attawapiskat First Nation, a native Cree community in Northern Ontario, who have been fighting for a new school since 1979 when a fuel spill contaminated their original school building. Shannen's fight took her all the way to Parliament Hill and was taken up by children around the world. Shannen’s dream continues today with the work of the Shannen's Dream organization and those everywhere who are fighting for the rights of Aboriginal children.

Based on the true story of Shannen Koostachin and the people of Attawapiskat, a Cree community just below the Arctic Circle, who have been fighting for a new school since 1979, when a fuel spill contaminated their original school building.

All Shannen wanted was a decent education. She found an ally in politician Charlie Angus, who had no idea she was going to change his life and inspire others to change the country. Children of the Broken Treaty is the story of the despair wrought upon Indigenous peoples. It is also a story of hope.

Severn Suzuki's speech at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio caught the attention of the world. As the daughter of environmentalist David Suzuki, Severn's concern for the environment was fueled by a trip to the Amazon rainforest at age nine. Back home in Vancouver, she and her friends started ECO, the Environmental Children's Organization, combining their efforts to raise enough money to travel to Rio. They couldn't have imagined the effect they would have on the adults gathered there. More than twenty years later, Severn's speech continues to receive thousands of hits on YouTube. Severn's story is about the power that children have to create change when they work together, and how their voices can stand out above the politics and cynicism of adults.

Profiles ten children around the world, from the United States to Yemen, who have taken on the role of social activist.

Shortlisted for the SYRCA 2013 Diamond Willow Award, selected as an American Library Association 2012 Notable Children's Book, a Booklist Editors' Choice, nominated for the OLA Golden Oak Tree Award, and a finalist for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Awards: Young Adult/Middle Reader Award, the Governor General's Literary Awards: Children's Text and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award There's not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her days are spent picking coal and fighting with her cousins, life in the coal town of Jharia, India, is the only life she knows. The only sight that fills her with terror are the monsters who live on the other side of the train tracks -- the lepers. Valli and the other children throw stones at them. No matter how hard her life is, she tells herself, at least she will never be one of them. Then she discovers that she is not living with family after all, that her "aunt" was a stranger who was paid money to take Valli off her own family's hands. She decides to leave Jharia ... and so begins a series of adventures that takes her to Kolkata, the city of the gods. It's not so bad. Valli finds that she really doesn't need much to live. She can "borrow" the things she needs and then pass them on to people who need them more than she does. It helps that though her bare feet become raw wounds as she makes her way around the city, she somehow feels no pain. But when she happens to meet a doctor on the ghats by the river, Valli learns that she has leprosy. Despite being given a chance to receive medical care, she cannot bear the thought that she is one of those monsters she has always feared, and she flees, to an uncertain life on the street. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3 Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.6 Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.