Newswise — In a new book, a human rights scholar has explored through research how children's literature can, and does, provide kids a source of learning ethical principles -- fairness, justice and equality -- that underlie human rights law.
Jonathan Todres, professor of law at Georgia State University's College of Law, is the coauthor of Human Rights in Children's Literature: Imagination and the Narrative of Law (Oxford University Press, 2016).
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With coauthor Sarah Higinbotham, Todres researched human rights discourses in children's literature, and how children learn about and understand their own rights and their responsibilities to respect the rights of others.
"Before you can exercise and realize your rights, you have to understand what rights you have," he said. "Children's literature might not teach human rights law, but it can teach -- and is teaching -- the foundational values upon which we can build more rights-respecting, rights-fulfilling communities."
As part of the book project, the coauthors read to small groups of children and asked what they saw in their favorite stories -- providing some very keen insights, Todres said.
"They often saw issues that we as adults did not see," he said. "Equally important, they recognized rights issues in stories without being prompted.
"They are already seeing and engaging human rights questions, and doing so in the safe, imaginative world of children's literature," he continued.
Todres said that he hopes that the book helps to start many conversations around how we help children learn, confront and navigate human rights issues.
"Children are confronting often-complex human rights issues, in real life and in the stories they read and have read to them," he said. "The question for us as adults is whether we want to partner with children and help them learn about their rights and their responsibilities to respect the rights of others."
For more about the book, the project it details, and articles and audio interviews about the book, visit http://jonathantodres.com/human-rights-in-childrens-literature. For more about the Georgia State University College of Law, visit http://law.gsu.edu.
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