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| It's Your World: Get Informed! Get Inspired! & Get Going! |
I bought It's Your World: Get Informed! Get Inspired! & Get Going! for our only grandson when he was 8 years old. He told me he would rather have an electronic game strategy book, so I made the exchange for him. I brought the book back home and decided to read it for myself, even though it's written for junior high students.
The bottom line for me is that I'm so glad I read this book! Chelsea Clinton is a highly-educated, well-informed, and passionate global citizen. In her comprehensive book, she explores global issues, ranging from the economy, to education, climate change, health, and endangered species. She highlights junior activists who are tackling these issues and growing many grassroots world-changing campaigns.
One campaign that caught my attention is Pencils of Promise (www.PencilsofPromise.org), an organization founded by a young man named Adam who asked a young Indian beggar what he wanted most in the world, and he replied, "A pencil." That's how Adam started backpacking through 50 countries handing out pencils, and he eventually started this organization. Pencils of Promise has already built 300 schools serving over 30,000 students, and they don't intend to stop until every child on the planet has access to a quality education.
This story is just one of many inspiring profiles shared by Chelsea Clinton in her best-selling book. In every case, a junior activist is prompted to be a change agent to make their world a better place today and for future generations. I was struck by a common characteristic of these young leaders, i.e., they don't see obstacles, they only see solutions.
Chelsea Clinton's book inspires me, a grandmother, to want to do more to support worthy global causes, such as Pencils of Promise. In fact, I just made a donation to that organization, when a colleague organized a Pencils of Promise fundraiser involving her clients. I immediately recognized the name of the organization to benefit in the fundraiser, because I had read Chelsea Clinton's book.
I believe this book belongs in every school's library and in every home with children age 10 and up. We collectively need to become more educated about the state of our world and do our parts to "get going" and tackle major world problems that are not solving themselves.
I'm going to visit my grandson (now age 10) again in a few weeks, and he's going to get It's Your World: Get Informed! Get Inspired! & Get Going! from me again. This time, I won't be convinced to trade it for an electronic game strategy guide! I look forward to encourage him to read it and discuss with me or his parents what he learned and what he thinks he can do with his new found information. I believe in him and his generation; they just need to be pointed in the right direction!
