pastoral - empowerment
“As education editor of The Sunday Times I am fed up with hearing about Generation Snowflake. Here at last is a book that disproves that label. I loved reading these stories of 50 teenagers who have literally changed the world for the better through their efforts. Hurrah for BESTSELLER
the next generation - Generation Sunshine!”
12–18 years
– Sian Griffiths, Education and Families Editor, Sunday Times
* £12.99 * Jun 2019
‘A beautiful tribute to the power of youth and
* PB
their driving passion to see and make change
* ISBN: 9781785925023
in the world. What we gain from these active
* Rights sold: Russian
young voices is that hope, not despair is on the
* B &W photos of teen contributors and B&W spot illustrations throughout
move, and one small change sparks another. – Amie Williams, Co-Founder and Executive Director, GlobalGirl Media
You Can Change the World!
Everyday Teen Heroes Making a Difference Everywhere
Margaret Rooke Foreword by Taylor Richardson and Katie Hodgetts The experiences of over 50 teenagers interviewed for this book show the practical and positive changes it’s possible to make in the world around us. If you want to tackle today’s tough issues: body image, cyber-bullying, environment damage and more, these positive role models show it’s possible to build resilience and transform the lives we live. Joint Gold Winner of the Moonbeam
Multicultural Non-Fiction Award 2019
Helping Others
Demanding Change
Helping Others
Maryam and Hadiqa,
winner was a group who wanted to alert people that they may be sending a message that could upset someone. It was a pop-up to make you think before you write something, which questioned, ‘Are you sure you want to write this? It could be hurtful.’ Our group thought this was a good idea, but not the winning idea. We wanted to tackle the problem that someone puts something nasty on social media and then says to the teacher, ‘It
17,
wasn’t me. Someone hackedLancashire, my system.’ TheEngland idea of one of the Nelson, hackers was for something that proved this wasn’t true. People
an make t a p im c
amazed at how interesting she was. I noticed how complex these
happened to meet a flock of hens on a farm. I became
particularly attached to one specific hen, who was injured. I was
other and with people. I had never realized any of this before. We started calling her Mrs Hen. I carried her around a lot and
our own.
50
C
17, Sheffield, England
“I worded a petition about banning eggs from caged birds at Tesco. In the end I collected 280,000 signatures. It was terrifying – but good terrifying!”
his idea would help us most, so we gave him a special prize of
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Lucy,
animals are and was fascinated with how they interact with each
bully people and then hide behind technology by lying. We thought think this would be a really important development for our “We We have tackled online generation. There are so many people online who feel they can be opinionated. They arefor teenagers and they think they can say what hate, pushed Fairtrade they want. And they can do this without revealing their identity. is cyberbullying. andThisworked in our Positive Voices has given us both a lot of confidence. There is a stereotype that if you are from a deprived community, you will communities. Young people amount to nothing. We both want to amount to something. Maryam wantsrealise to work in clinical neuropsychology don’t how big anfor children and adolescents. She suffers with anxiety so will be able to understand and communicate them.make.” It is an important time to go into this impact theywith can
Demanding Change
hickens didn’t massively interest me until I was 12, when I
We feel that a lot of young people are interested in clothes and what they look like and they haven’t looked beyond that. It can be good to indulge yourself, but looks aren’t forever. The Kardashians are not always going to look like they do. Young people don’t realize how big an impact they can make. Before Peacehack we didn’t think we could make big impact. We didn’t think we could
spent a lot of time with her, hoping she would soon recover. Purely out of interest, I started looking at how hens are treated commercially, and I began to learn about the different tiers of farming. I found out about the conditions experienced by caged hens: farming behaviour that seemed so stark compared with the life of the flock I had got to know. I started writing letters to supermarkets and politicians about these terribly cramped conditions. Quickly, I realized how little the letters were being taken notice of. Still today I have these folders full of letters with answers that would say something along the lines of ‘Sorry you are unhappy’. The more I found out
speak in public. Since then we’ve been involved in a conference
about the issue, the
on radicalization with university students. We were 15- and
harder it was to think, ‘I
16-year-olds talking to students. We work with the local town
can’t be bothered.’ The
council. We push for Fairtrade. It’s amazing what you do when you
more they said, ‘No, we
– everyone is discussing mental health issues in young people.
try. You can get involved with groups, or just continue with your life
can’t help you,’ ‘No, we
Hadiqa wants to become a barrister. Working in criminal law will be
and think about the world and live in a good way. Your life is well
are not interested,’ the
her way of having an impact on the world, through a system
spent if you help your community and help put everyone on the
more I was fuelled with
created to maintain order and peace.
path to happiness. This is what makes us happy.
this need to do something.
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#NoMoreCages
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