PEACE CHILD INTERNATIONAL | THE BOOKS - PEACE CHILD INTERNATIONAL

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THE BOOKS
Having empowered young people to create different versions of the musical play, it was a natural transition to empower them to create books on complex global issues. Some of them were almost more successful than the musicals and, though books do not command the same attention that they did in the past, all the Peace Child books are a remarkable testament to the skills, talent and creativity of young people.
Peace Child - The Books
INTRODUCTION
Having had such success with young people creating different versions of the Peace Child Musical, it was natural that, coming to prepare publications, we should empower and enable young people to do the leg work. And they did: for our first book, Children’s State of the Planet Handbook, they selected every question they wanted answered and did all the interviews; they did the illustrations, wrote up the answers, designed and laid out the book - all on cardboard templates we used in the days before desktop publishing.

For our next Book, Rescue Mission : Planet Earth, we decided to prepare a little better – but not too much better: one NGO partner we talked to urged us to do a feasibility study and spend a year raising a 6-figure budget. Young people aren’t like that: they want to get started immediately!  So we tossed together a “Contributors’ Guide” – assembled a Task Force of 100+ students from around the world, and set to work. The book was finished at an Editorial Meeting at a British Youth Hostel in the Cotswolds and published in time for a launch at the United Nations with James Grant, the legendary head of UNICEF. It went on to be translated into 23 languages and sell over 500,000 copies.

We did a similar launch at UNESCO in Paris and the diplomats were so impressed, they took the two young editors and I to present the book to the celebrity diver, Jacques Cousteau. As we sat outside his office, we heard him exclaiming to his assistant: “This is a fake!  Children could have never created this…”  The two editors would have put him right but, sadly, they never got to meet him.  His assistant showed us the door.

Very few people believe me when I tell them quite how magnificently Peace Child Intl. has been youth-led: any success we have had has been almost entirely due to the trust we have put in them. One such believer was Jane Grisewood, the Publisher of Rescue Mission.  She believed to the extent that, though she had hired a professional editor to design the book, when a young Chilean, supported by the rest of the young editors, said he didn’t like the template and suggested another, she accepted without question – embarrassing though this must have been for her. The success of the book proved the rightness of her decision, as does the fact that the young designer has now gone on to manage the biggest and most successful design agency in Santiago de Chile!

All the books featured here were written and illustrated, designed and edited by young people under 20. We archive them here as they remain an abiding testament to the exceptional creativity of youth and contain some moving insights and answers to problems that have never been fully resolved – and maybe never will be.
Enjoy – and Learn!  [Note: some books are heavily illustrated and are thus very large files. We have split these books into two parts to ensure quicker loading from this website.]

The Books
A Free Resource from Peace Child International

Children's State of the Planet Handbook

This is Peace Child's first and - in some ways - still its best book. Researched and written by 2000+ young people around the world, asking their questions of experts in their countries, it represents the timeless hope of young people for their future

Rescue Mission Planet Earth

The original, and best-loved, children's edition of the United Nations' Agenda for the 21st Century. It was a considerable success when published in 1995, selling many times more copies than the UN's original.

A World in Our Hands

A Children's History of the Past, Present and Future of the United Nations

Our Island Your Island

Nature knows no boundaries. This book is an expression that young Greek and Turkish Cypriots both care about the environment of the island they will inherit and that they want to work together to preserve it.

Stand Up for Your Rights

A Children's Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a Forward by Mary Robinson

Learn Your Rights

Lesson Plans to accompany the Children's Edition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Pachamama Part One

A Children's Edition of the UN Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook - probably the most elaborately designed book that Peace Child Intl. ever did.

Pachamama Part Two

The 2nd Part of the Children's Edition of the UN Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook - probably the most elaborately designed book that Peace Child Intl. ever did.

Be The Change

Youth Priorities for the 21st Century as compiled by delegates to the Millennium Young People's Congress in Hawaii in October 1999 from a survey of about 22 million young people around the world + their pictures, poems and stories

Create The Change Toolkit

Student-Teacher Guide to creating positive change in young people's lives

Rescue Mission 2002 - Part One

The 10-year progress report on the commitments made at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 - and what more we're going to do.

Rescue Mission 2002 - Part Two

The Second Part of this 10-year update on progress made - and not made - since the Rio Earth Summit of 1992

Stand Up Speak Out - Part One

A Children's Edition of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Stand Up Speak Out - Part Two

Children's Edition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Child Rights Contributors' Workbook

Each of Peace Child Intl.'s youth-created publications involved us creating a Contributors' Workbook to inform students, and their teachers, how to submit stories and illustrations to our books. This is a good example of one of them.

Sustainable Human Development - Part One

Young People's Summary of the First 10 x United Nations Human Development Reports 1992 - 2002. We wanted to call the book "Investing in Happiness" - because that is what the UN is doing. These reports describe their successes and failures.

Sustainable Human Development - Part Two

This is Part TWO of the Young People's Summary of the First 10 x United Nations Human Development Reports 1992 - 2002. We wanted to call the book "Investing in Happiness" - because that is what the UN is doing. These reports describe their successes and failures.

Youth - Led Development

Peace Child President, David Woollcombe, wrote a paper for the Schumacher Society to explain exactly what we mean by the concept coined by youth at our Millennium Congress in Hawaii. He also explains why it is so important to the field of International Development and to the empowerment of youth themselves.

Water Rights and Wrongs

A Young People's Summary of the UN Human Development Report 2006 on the World Water Crisis

Two Degrees - Fighting Climate Change

A Young People's Summary of the UN Human Development Report 2007 / 2008

Every Journey Matters

Transport for London's youth-created book on how children travel to school in different parts of the world

Energy Revolution - How to Build our Post-Carbon Future

Prepared as a youth contribution to the COP process, this book outlines what we have to do to build a post-carbon future - and why.

Advocacy Toolkit - 1st Edition

Introduction to Youth Advocacy Planning

Advocacy Book Two

The 2nd Edition of Peace Child's Advocacy Guide is considerably more detailed than the first edition, with forms and questionnaires and step-by-step guides.

Gender Journey - Gender Empowerment Toolkit

How young women become empowered in different parts of the world

Co-Management Manifesto - Becoming Equal Partners

A detailed introduction, written by youth and elders from 5 European NGOs, to how intergenerational collaboration can work to great advantage

Casablanca Declaration

Statement of how young people can be mobilised to support the achievement of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

Nothing About Us Without Us

Student Manifesto created at the World Youth Congress, Scotland 2005 about how young people can lead changes in themselves, their families, communities, countries and their world.

World Class Lesson Plans

Student-Teacher Guide to raising global issues in the Classroom

Original Peace Child 1983 Study Guide

Historic analysis of the US-Soviet Cold War/Nuclear Crisis and how it was finally resolved

Peace Child 1987 Script & Study Guide

The Original Soviet-American Story with Bobby & Katya and the fishing trip at the end.

Peace Child Music Score

David Gordon's Songs form the Soul of Peace Child Shows, Selection Tailored to Fit Each Story

City at Peace Study Guide

The Script, Score, Study Guide and Production Notes for the original Washington DC production, co-written by the cast from many sectors of the city;

A Celebration of Youth-Led Development

Stories of youth-led development projects from around the world

Peace Child - The Conductors Score

Peace Child - Alpha Omega
1. I who Am I?

Peace Child - The Vocal Score

Peace Child - Alpha Omega
The Vocal Score - I who Am I?

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