I Have the Right by Reza Dalvand

"This book is particularly important to me because it carries the voice of children 

and makes their rights known. It is a tribute to all the children of the world, 

without distinction of language, ethnicity or religion"

I have the Right was originally published in French with the title; J'ai le droit. The author/illustrator blurb says: I have the right to have a name, a nationality, an identity. I have the right to be treated and protected from illness. I have the right to go to school. I have the right to have a roof over my head. I have the right to be protected from racism, the right not to be excluded because of my skin color or nationality. I have the right not to be rejected because of my religion, my family. I have the right to be surrounded, to have a family. And I have the right to be loved.

When you open this book the end papers are filled with the rights in multiple languages handwritten by children. My favourite pages are "I have the right to nutritious foods" where we see a huge table with males on every shape and size of plate you might imagine. On the page "I have a right to a home where I can thrive" we see a parent reading a book to a child - a power image that you could use for a poster or in a parent newsletter. And as you would expect the page "I have the right not to be forced to fight wars" has an image that is sure to linger with you long after you close the pages of this book.

In a previous post I explored work by internationally acclaimed Iranan illustrator Reza Dalvand. 

Mrs Bibi's Elephant

What could that be?

If I was still working in my school library, I would be tempted to create a permanent display of non-fiction books which focus on the UN Rights of the Child. These books are important and as a bonus they usually have scrumptious illustrations.

I discovered this book (I Have the Right) because I spent a little time last week looking through three of our Australian Standing Order services - Scholastic (Australian Standing Orders ASO); Pegi Williams (South Australia); and Lamont Books.

Here are some other favourite Rights of the Child books:

I've made a list of Australian and International Picture books released in 2023 that I would now like to read:

• Remarkable Remy by Melanie Hayworth illustrated by Nathaniel Eckstrom
• Cloudspotting by Samantha Tidy illustrated by Susannah Crispe
• Satin by Sophie Masson - previously mentioned here
• Little Treasure by Chanelle Gosper illustrated by Susannah Goldsmith
• The Useless Tune by Chris Uhlmann illustrated by Paul Uhlmann
• The World's greatest Tackle by Bruce Walker illustrated by Nettie Lodge
• Mizuto and the wind by Kaye Baillie illustrated by Luisa Gioffre-Suzuki
• Sunday Skating by Andrea Rowe illustrated by Hannah Sommerville
• Alice's Shoe by Julie Thorndyke illustrated by Jennifer Harrison
• The day the moon came to stay by Gary Eck illustrated by Nick O'Sullivan
• Every night at midnight by Peter Cheong
• Nightsong by Sally Soweol Han
• Raised by Moths by Charlie Archbold illustrated by Michelle Conn
• The New kid by Jennifer Bain illustrated by Deborah Brown
• The Kiss by Polly Dunbar
• Gigantic by Bob Biddulph
• That's Nice, Love by Owen Gent
• Henry and the Machine Isabelle Marinov illustrated by Olga Shtonda
• Salat in Secret by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow illustrated by Hatem Aly
• Anchored by Deborah Tidball illustrated by Arielle Li
• The Lucky Shack Apsara Baldovino illustrated by Jennifer Falkner
• When You're a boy by Blake Nuto
• The Little Things by Penny Harrison illustrated by Hannah Sommerville
• Downtown Sewertown by Tull Suwannakit
• Freckle by Catherine Jinks illustrated by Jennifer Goldsmith
• Blue by Sarah Christou

And here are a few middle grade novels:

• The Lost language by Claudia Mills
• Huda was here by H Hayek
• Indigo in the storm by Kate Gordon
• Temora and the Wordsnatcher by Kate Gordon and sequel Tamora and the Dreamers
• Safiyyah's War by Hiba Noor Khan 
• When clouds touch us (Verse novel might be YA).