Annotated Peace Resource List

"With insight, compassion, and a knack for telling a genuinely good story, Hugo and Doreen have gathered an engaging collection of suburban experience stories that could happen to anyone. What is especially appealing and potentially transforming is its honesty and vulnerability. When we hold our time and possessions lightly, we will discover the way of true freedom and joy…. " Marlene Kropf, Associate Professor in Spiritual Formation and Worship at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana

A history of pacifism and those protesting war in the US, from colonial days until anti-nuclear protests in the early '80s.

Seventeen stories from various places and among different faiths, of people who "overcome evil with good."

From Website: “Clara Estelle Breed, or Miss Breed, was the Children's Librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. Miss Breed was fond of all children, including the many Japanese American children and teenagers who frequented the East San Diego Branch Library… The day of their departure at the San Diego train station, Miss Breed distributed stamped and addressed postcards to her young friends, asking them to write to her and describe their life in camp.” A sample of those letters, information about life in the camps, and information about Miss Breed is found here. See also the book: Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During WWII and a Librarian Who Made a Difference.

This book is based on the postcards/letters received by San Diego librarian Miss Breed, who gave stamped self-addressed postcards to children she knew when they were forcibly removed to incarceration camps because of their ethnicity during WWII. See also the website www.janm.org/exhibits/breed/title.htm

This book tells the story of Vedran Smailovic through the eyes of a young boy named Alen. Vedran Smailovic played his cello for 22 days in honor of the 22 victims of a bomb blast in Sarajevo. He played in the streets in the midst of continuing shelling. It is a testimony to the power of music and to the courage of one person who saw the insanity of war. It is beautifully illustrated with paintings by Deryk Houston.

The sad tale of zoo keepers who have to kill their animal friends at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo during World War II.

Three half-hour stories of nonviolence in action: 1960 student sit-in at segregated lunch counters in Nashville, Tenn., the Salt March led by Gandhi and resulting successes in colonial India, and black township resistance in South Africa.

Coming out of the PBS documentary "A Force More Powerful," this book has twelve chapters that detail the rich history of nonviolent movements that overthrew dictators, obstructed military invaders, and secured human rights. Sections on Russia (1905); India; Poland; the Ruhrkampf (1923); Scandinavia (WWII); El Salvador (1944); Argentina and Chile; U.S. Civil Rights; South Africa; Philippines; the Intifada (1980s); China, Eastern Europe and Mongolia. Includes maps and photographs.
The accompanying website, www.pbs.org/weta/forcemorepowerful/ , was developed to support the documentary. It also shares background information on the film and 13 specific historical examples. Discusses what constitutes nonviolent action (as well as what it is not: passive, only for saints, dependent on the good will of others...).

Three half-hour stories of nonviolence in action: Danish resistance to the Nazis in WWII, resistance to dictator Pinochet in Chile, and the rise of labor solidarity in Poland.

(Cooperative Children's Book Center--CCBC, School of Education, University of Wisconsin). Includes sections: On the Job, Kids at Work, The Migrant Experience, and Labor Activists. Includes age ranges and thorough annotations.

From the Cooperative Children's Book Center--CCBC, School of Education, University of Wisconsin. Includes sections: Paths to Peace: Ideas and Actions for Change (picture books, fiction, and non-fiction) and Road of Heartbreak: The Costs of Conflict and Injustice (picture books, fiction, and non-fiction). Gives age ranges and thorough annotations.
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailListBooks.asp?idBookLists=77

Based on a true story from a Virginia plantation in the 1880's where a slave "riddled" his way to freedom.

Result of research into the role of Muslims in Paris, under the Vichy government, who provided sanctuary for those opposing Hitler’s forces and being sought they them. Soft oil paintings accompany the text, which is fairly detailed, so most suitable for older children. Provides new information on rescue activities during this time by Muslims.

Chapers focus on different aspects of peacemaking, with many suggestions and examples.

Stories from the actual experience of refugees from Russia after WWII, full of suspense, involving American soldiers, Russians officers and a midnight train ride.

Stories from around the world, most in the last couple of decades.

Stories of shalom--from all around the world, AD 39 to 1980--of people loving, caring and sharing in the name of Jesus.

During the terrible years of WWII, the French village of Le Chambon, led by pastor Andre Trocme, organized tosave thousands of Jews.

The invasion of Iraq reached Basra on april 6, 2003. With the help of freinds and neighbors, Alia Muhammed Baker, chief librarian of Basra's Central Library, managed to rescue seventy percent of the library's collection before the library burned nine days later. This is that story with bright acrylic illustrations.