As the movement grows to ensure that U.S. young people experience the rights of all other children in the world, middle school students in Minneapolis have been developing picture books about child rights for younger students.
Click on the links below to hear the students read their books in their own voices.
See also the lesson plan that enables you to help this movement for child rights continue to grow!
About the Books
City Above the Clouds was written and illustrated by Gabriel Shen, then a 7th-grader at the Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the book, Lulu helps other creatures learn about their rights while making a city child-friendly.
From Our Hearts explores the relationship of three friends who are determined to help one another—and learn about their rights in the process. Written and illustrated by then 7th-graders Roisin Amador Fitzgerald and Amelia Colburn of Blake Middle School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the students have shared their book with their Early Learning Center and other reading buddies.
Notes for the Narwhal: This engaging story about an adventurous narwhal out to learn about child rights was written by then 7th-grader Gabriel Shen and English teacher Erica Boulay-Ali, both of Blake Middle School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They involved sixth-graders as illustrators, who were also learning about their rights, so the book features a range of the younger students’ original drawings.
Books (PDF)
Video Recordings
City Above the Clouds: https://youtu.be/5iqPijtmq34
From Our Hearts: https://youtu.be/GAUCCQmIIyI
Notes for the Narwhal: https://youtu.be/bmFyKuFjYmI
The Curriculum: Child Rights Picture Book Making Project
Book Club List: Children’s Rights and Anti-Racist Book Club list
About the Project
Middle and High School Students Develop Picture Books on Child Rights for Younger Students
Many people don’t realize that the U.S. is the only country in the United Nations (of 193 member states) not to have adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely adopted U.N. treaty. To ensure that U.S. students are not left out of this global movement, an option to participate at the city level now exists in a handful of cities across the U.S. This initiative is “Child Friendly Cities” and Minneapolis is one of the first in the U.S. to make this commitment, joining approximately 3,000 other cities around the globe.
To help advance this cause, middle school students at the Blake School in Minneapolis have developed and illustrated books that illuminate the idea that all children everywhere exercise their rights. These books were created through Service Club time during after school hours. The entire process took nearly a year as the books were published in January 2026. Support from both Blake Middle School and the Van Sloun Foundation enabled the three books to be printed.
In March 2026, the three Children’s Rights books were brought to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Library to be added into the Human Rights Education Collection in Geneva, Switzerland. They will soon be posted here – https://searchlibrary.ohchr.org/
The next phase of this Children’s Rights Book Project included dissemination through reading to younger buddies and distribution throughout the Reach Out and Read (ROR) family literacy program to Minneapolis pediatric health clinics.
This program makes the books accessible to 2-5 year olds in the “well child” visits at Minneapolis clinics and hospitals.
Link to English/Language Arts Standards: The book-writing and -illustrating process is a “whole language” strategy, incorporating English/Language Arts skills in reading, writing, listening, speaking, viewing, and exchanging ideas. It is grounded in the writing process – the idea that students learn how to plan and draft multiple versions of a piece of writing for an intended audience, revise, and edit before publishing. Please see the lesson plan for further details.
Next Steps: While the pilot program has had a successful launch, next steps include:
- Translating the current (pilot) books into multiple languages;
- Fundraising for further printings; and
- Offering training to other educators in book development.
Show Your Support For the CRC!
As part of the Every Child, Every Right Campaign in celebration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), HRE USA invites you to upload and share a short video answering the question:
Why is the CRC important to you and/or your community?
or
What actions are you and/or your community taking to support the CRC?
Please share any thoughts, actions, or ideas that will inspire others to promote children’s rights! Videos should be no longer than 2 minutes.