Books in Women Changing the World series

Now there is a series designed especially to introduce young people to women whose heroic lives have helped to shape our world. Informative, inspiring, and engaging, the series tells of extraordinary achievements women have made throughout the world and introduces younger readers to the realities of other countries and cultures. Grades 6 and up. This unique biography series is designed to introduce young readers to the achievements of women around the world. The books tell the dramatic life stories of courageous women who have overcome adversity and discrimination to make extraordinary contributions to the global community. Each book contains contextual information about the geography, politics, and culture of its subject's homeland and introduces, on an accessible level, concepts such as the global economy, environmental preservation, and human rights. By providing role models, Women Changing the World serves as a source of inspiration for future world changers.Titles in the Series include:Aung San Suu KyiStanding Up for Democracy in BurmaPB $9.95, 1-55861-197-5HC x 19.95, 1-55861-196-7Ela BhattUniting Women in IndiaPB $9.95, 1-55861-228-9HC x $19.95, 1-55861-229-7Mairead Corrigan and Betty WilliamsMaking Peace in Northern IrelandPB $9.95, 1-55861-201-7HC x $19.95, 1-55861-200-9Mamphela RampheleChallenging Apartheid in South AfricaPB $9.95, 1-55861-226-2HC x $19.95, 1-55861-227-0Rigoberta MenchuDefending Human Rights in GuatemalaPB $9.95, 1-55861-199-1HC x $19.95, 1-55861-198-3

This first-ever biography of the courageous leader of Amazonia brings young readers into the life of an inspiring woman role model.Born in the Amazon rainforest of Acre, Brazil, Marina Silva spent the days of her childhood walking through the forest collecting the sap from rubber trees to earn a meager living. For indigenous people, education was unattainable, health care nonexistent, and equality unimaginable. Even worse, the rainforest, so essential to their livelihood and culture, was being destroyed to make way for cattle ranches. Marina traveled to the city to get an education, where she learned that the rainforest did more than support the rubber tappers; it is a precious ecosystem necessary to the survival of the world. Marina soon joined the party of Chico Mendes, the legendary environmental, labor, and land reform leader, and later campaigned and was elected to Brazil's senate, where she fought for environmental protection and sustainable development.Marina's work generated worldwide recognition, including the Goldman Environmental Prize and Ms. magazine's 1998 Woman of the Year award.

Now there is a series designed especially to introduce young people to women whose heroic lives have helped to shape our world. Informative, inspiring, and engaging, the series tells of extraordinary achievements women have made throughout the world and introduces younger readers to the realities of other countries and cultures. Grades 6 and up. This unique biography series is designed to introduce young readers to the achievements of women around the world. The books tell the dramatic life stories of courageous women who have overcome adversity and discrimination to make extraordinary contributions to the global community. Each book contains contextual information about the geography, politics, and culture of its subject's homeland and introduces, on an accessible level, concepts such as the global economy, environmental preservation, and human rights. By providing role models, Women Changing the World serves as a source of inspiration for future world changers. Titles in the Series include: Aung San Suu KyiStanding Up for Democracy in BurmaPB $9.95, 1-55861-197-5HC x 19.95, 1-55861-196-7Ela BhattUniting Women in IndiaPB $9.95, 1-55861-228-9HC x $19.95, 1-55861-229-7Mairead Corrigan and Betty WilliamsMaking Peace in Northern IrelandPB $9.95, 1-55861-201-7HC x $19.95, 1-55861-200-9Mamphela RampheleChallenging Apartheid in South AfricaPB $9.95, 1-55861-226-2HC x $19.95, 1-55861-227-0Rigoberta MenchuDefending Human Rights in GuatemalaPB $9.95, 1-55861-199-1HC x $19.95, 1-55861-198-3

Rigoberta Menchú was born into a remote and impoverished corner of Guatemala where her people, the Quiche-Mayan, suffered as second-class citizens and where few children, particularly girls, went to school. Working as a coffee-picker and later as a maid, she educated herself and learned Spanish, the language of her oppressors, in order to lead her people in a fight for their land and their rights. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992 and the Prince of Asturias Award in 1998.

When Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she was unable to accept the prize from prison. The military dictatorship controlling her country, Burma, had placed her under house arrest for her efforts to establish a democratic government.Aung San Suu Kyi grew up as the daughter of a slain national leader, but did not dream that she herself would one day lead her people in their struggle for democracy and human rights. Despite threats and violent attacks against her, Aung San Suu Kyi has continued to teach nonviolence, following in the footsteps of such leaders as Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Her leadership, determination, and quiet courage have united a country and inspired the world.

Since her girlhood as a poor rubber-tapper's daughter in Amazonia, Marina Silva has understood that bulldozing the rainforest for development hurts not only the indigenous peoples living there, but destroys natural resources needed by Brazil and the whole world.Overcoming extreme prejudice, Marina attended university. She joined the reform party of Chico Mendes and demonstrated against deforestation. Elected to Brazil's Senate, the "miracle of Acre" successfully legislated rainforest preservation, defending her people against poverty and protecting their way of life.Marina's work has generated worldwide recognition, including the Goldman Environmental Prize. This first-ever biography of the courageous leader introduces children to another inspiring woman role model.Marina Silva: Defending Rainforest Communities in Brazil won a 2002 Skipping Stones Honor Award for Best Ecology and Nature Books.Ziporah Hildebrant is author of numerous books for children.

This biography of Maíread Corrigan and Betty Williams, winners of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, proves that ordinary people, united in a common desire for peace, can transform their nation and their world.Born into hard-working families in the Catholic section of Belfast, Corrigan and Williams grew up amid the suspicion and bloodshed familiar to most residents of Northern Ireland. But when the violence that had torn their country apart for decades touched their own lives, these two "ordinary" women knew they had to fight for peace. The grassroots movement they led brought Catholics and Protestants together in nonviolent marches and demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people and showed the world that Northern Ireland was yearning for peace.

Overcoming discouragement from white teachers and classmates, Winona LaDuke became outspoken at an early age about the disproportionate difficulties faced by Native Americans, including massive pollution of reservations.Winning acceptance to Harvard, Winona pursued environmental research and activism, becoming the youngest person to address the United Nations, and at age twenty-nine winning the Reebok Human Rights Award. At home at White Earth reservation in Minnesota, Winona founded the White Earth Land Recovery Project, fighting poverty and pollution by reclaiming treaty lands.Winona’s remarkable vision was recognized by the Green Party, which chose her as their vice-presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000. Her achievements show young readers the positive impact of one person’s determination to change her world.Michael Silverstone is an elementary school teacher and author of Rigoberta Menchú, among other biographies for children.

Despite her own privileged upbringing, Ela Bhatt decided to dedicate herself to improving the lives of India's poorest and most oppressed citizens—especially it's women. In the midst of India’s bustling economy, hundreds of thousands of poor women work in unsafe or unstable environments for little money and no benefits. The organization founded by Bhatt, the Self-Employed Women’s Association, functions as a union for 250,000 self-employed women, operates a women’s bank, and helps empower women to help themselves. Her vision inspired thousands of poor women to join together to transform their lives—and their world.

This tireless fighter's vision of justice catches the imagination, showing young readers the positive impact of one person's determination to change her world.When Winona LaDuke's parents brought her from LA to White Earth reservation in Minnesota to experience powwows and to see her grandparents' home, she began to understand who she was. Winona became outspoken at an early age about the disproportionate difficulties faced by Native Americans, including large-scale pollution of reservation lands. At seventeen, she became the youngest person ever to speak before the United Nations. At Harvard University Winona studied the destruction caused by unsound development. Later she received the Reebok Human Rights Award and used the money to found the White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP). WELRP built sustainable, traditional livelihoods, while establishing reservation schools and education in the Anishinaabeg language.

This South African activist's story introduces children to the injustices of apartheid and to real-life heroism. In 1977, when Mamphela Ramphele was banned to a remote corner of South Africa, the nation’s white apartheid government was inflicting some of the worst repression in its history. Yet she, like millions of black South Africans, continued protesting against the government’s system of racial segregation and injustice. Years earlier, when Mamphela had decided to study medicine, many people told her that her dreams were unrealistic: after all, she was black and a girl. Mamphela proved them wrong. As a doctor, educator, and leader in the fight against apartheid, she would face hardships and suffer the loss of loved ones, but she would also see the birth of new dreams as freedom was achieved at last in South Africa.