Small Places Close to Home: A Children’s Declaration of Rights
by Deborah Hopkinson; illus. by Kate Gardiner
Preschool, Primary    Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins    40 pp.
10/23    9780063092587    $19.99

Taking its title from Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1958 remarks delivered at the United Nations about the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights she had helped champion (“Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home”), this book informs young children of their own rights and responsibilities as humans. Hopkinson’s text (also inspired by that Declaration) uses active first-person language: “I am free to choose what I think and believe. And it’s up to me to listen and respect how others think and believe too.” Each assertion is direct and powerful, with sections starting with “Me” and then expanding to “My School and Community” and on to “My Country and World.” Gardiner’s gouache and pencil illustrations, assembled digitally, have a soft color palette with pops of yellow and tomato red and demonstrate human rights playing out across a variety of communities. Front and back matter pay tribute to Roosevelt’s work, including resources for learning more about her and the United Nations. This elegantly and accessibly presented book empowers the youngest humans and their accompanying grownups to recognize their rights and safeguard them by extending them equally to others.

From the September/October 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.