Children's Peace Libraries

Tuesday, May 21, 2024
7:00 AM Hawaii = 10:00 AM Pacific = 11:00 AM Mountain
Click here to register.

Thursday, May 23, 2024
3:00 PM Hawaii = 6:00 PM Pacific = 7:00 PM Mountain
Click here to register.

What if children learned to read by reading about peace?

Born of the transformational Alternatives to Violence (AVP) work in Rwanda, Friends Peace Teams is establishing Children’s Peace Libraries in communities around the world. The libraries are small collections of children’s books that teach children to read while instilling concepts and skills needed for a just society.

One of the core ideas of the Children's Peace Libraries is to provide a community gathering place, not only to access peace-oriented children's literature (both printed and electronic), but also to bring people together through Read Aloud story sessions, Alternatives to Violence training, and other activities to build caring communities.

The English language Children’s Peace Library collection can be viewed on the website. The stories are also a means to teach English, which is used for communication across cultures. Providing examples by reading levels is intended to help librarians, teachers and parents select appropriate books in their home language.

Join these conversations to learn from Friends who are collaborating with the Rwanda Peace Libraries and other organizations to improve English language learning, critical thinking, and social skills.

Queries

• What are the Children’s Peace Libraries?
• Why were they started? How did they get started?
• What principles and practices apply to reading and to a peaceful, just society?
• How would Peace Library principles and practices apply in North America?
• How can we, as religious educators, use criteria that Children’s Peace Library working group has developed to curate libraries in our meetings?
• How can we use these collections to highlight books on peace themes in our public libraries?