Books published by publisher Action International

Most children love pets, but not many youngsters have pet monkeys. Kelly's family had two! Tinker and Sassy were a lot of fun. But monkeys are also mischievous and can cause lots of trouble. Follow the antics of Tinker and Sassy as they make life exciting for the Kauffman family in Liberia. Children of all ages will enjoy the stories and pictures in this full-color book.

This child-friendly book is about being adopted from Colombia and is in English. The book teaches school-age children about what they can expect when living with their new family in the United States. The book highlights basic American culture and family life to help prepare children for international adoption. When reviewed and discussed with children prior to their adoption, it can help ease the stress and uncertainty children feel about the differences between their birth culture and the United States. Families can also purchase a Spanish version and bring the books with them to Colombia and review the books with their child before they travel back to the United States.

This book teaches children each letter of the Arabic alphabet and provides exercises in learning the shapes and sounds, each presented on one page to color and trace with colorful illustrations of objects whose names begin with that letter. The letter is then presented in stencil to provide practice in recognition and writing. Older students progress to learning the shapes in initial, medial and final positions. This exercise book instills independent learning as children learn to group, match, color, analyze and synthesize information through the well-tested and beautifully presented activities.

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand, a subject of endless discussion and controversy, and is at the centre of many of this nation’s major events, including the annual Waitangi Day celebrations and protests. Yet many New Zealanders lack the basic information on the details about the Treaty. Ross Calman’s book, first published in 2003 and reprinted by Libro International, provides a brief, balanced introduction to the treaty’s contents and signing, and how it has played a key role in the shaping of New Zealand/Aotearoa.

“WASH 4 ALL” (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All) comic book series is being produced by Horizon International, an NGO based at Yale University, U.S.A., in collaboration with the media service of Beautiful Feet International (MediaBFI), a non-profit organization based in Nigeria. The comics are being created to positively engage youths in the fight against diseases related to WASH. “Boys and girls in developing countries where WASH culture is relatively very poor, the health implications of which takes its toll on the lives and education of these children, are our main audience along with parents, schoolteachers, and community-leaders and health care workers through the world,” said Francis U. Odupute, Founder and President of Bfi and an artist for Horizon International who created and designed this comic.“Schoolchildren Battle Malaria and Other Diseases” draws upon the content of Horizon’s book and its accompanying DVDs, “Water and Sanitation Related Diseases and the Environment: Challenges, Interventions and Preventive Measures,” published by Wiley-Blackwell in collaboration with Horizon International. It was completed with comments and reviews from several of that book’s 59 authors, experts from the fields of public health, medicine, epidemiology, environmental health, climate change, environmental engineering, and population research. The link to a free copy of the comic book is: http://www.solutions-site.org/sites/default/files/WASH%204%20All%201%20090314.pdf “Through the comic book,” says Janine M. H. Selendy, Chairman, President and Publisher of Horizon International, “we employ simple stories with powerful graphics to convey complicated health concerns, devastating health problems destroying childhoods and killing millions of children, and to provide some examples of preventive measures that can be taken by families, schools, and communities.” In the school of Dan and Ann, “somewhere in a remote part of Africa,” their classmates are suffering from the symptoms of and dying from malaria. One of the comic’s side bars states: “Malaria is a dangerous disease caused by a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes, a disease vector, every year, over 600,000 people die from malaria…especially children under 5 and pregnant women in tropical Africa. 3.4 billion people, almost half the world’s population is at risk.”As the WHO says, “Better management of water resources reduces transmission of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.”“Every minute a child dies from malaria,” says Selendy. “We focus on various diseases while building on the knowledge of what can be done to prevent them. An estimated 2.4 to 2.6 billion individuals lack access to any type of improved sanitation facility according to WHO. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), half of the developing world, more than 35 % of the world’s population lack access to adequate sanitation. And, poor sanitation and hygiene are inextricably linked to water quality.” “With roughly 884 million people lacking access to an improved water supply, water that is protected from outside contamination, in particular from contamination with fecal matter, 1.2 billion individuals are exposed to water-related illness from their drinking water,” Selendy adds. “The lack of this most fundamental service contributes to an estimated 1.87 million annual deaths due to diarrhea- more than 90 % of which are in children under 5 years of age,” writes Jay Graham, Assistant Professor at the GWU School of Public Health and an author of the book. “…diarrhea remains the second leading cause of death in children under 5 years of age globally, and nearly one in five child deaths, around 1.5 million a year, is due to diarrhea. This equates to the death of one child every 15 seconds….”

Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, half Mexican and a dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, Cindy Lou Barraza is the original Mexiroo. She never had children, but volunteered for several years as a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters. She also became a C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocate) with the Child Abuse and Neglect Council. Working with these children, she came to realize that most came from multi-cultural/multi-ethnical backgrounds and that their confidence and self esteem was greatly missing. She created Mexiroo to give these children a positive role model they could relate to. The Mexiroo line of branded products and book are the proposed first of several animated characters by Barraza to introduce diversity education and awareness into the mainstream.