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Children Books

Our Top 10 Children Books for Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking for 2021
There are so many great books out there to help children begin to learn and become aware of slavery and human trafficking in the world around them.  This is our Top 10 List for 2021 focusing on prevention, slavery and the underground railway, and two important historical heroes in this Fight For Freedom.  All these books can be purchased at Amazon.ca but we would also encourage you to shop locally and check your neighborhood bookstore.

Prevention Books - Children can be extremely vulnerable to traffickers and exploiters.  Therefore, we want to be actively developing skillsets and pouring knowledge into our children to help protect them from potential modern slavery and human trafficking situations.  This includes teaching and learning about topics such as consent, safe and unsafe touch, private parts (are private), secrets verses surprises, healthy relationships, healthy choices, and body ownership (just to name a few).  Below are some great children friendly books that can help with this.

Book cover of My Body! What I Say Goes! by Jayneen Sanders

My Body!  What I Say Goes!  By: Jayneen Sanders

This is a book to empower and teach children about personal body safety.  Topics included are feelings, safe and unsafe touch, private parts, secrets and surprises, consent, and respectful relationships.  Also included are discussion questions for parents, caregivers, and educators.

Book cover of Let's Talk about Body Boundaries, Consent, and Respect by Jayneen Sanders

Let’s Talk about Body Boundaries, Consent, and Respect  By: Jayneen Sanders

This book helps to teach children about body ownership, respectful relationships, feelings, emotions, choices, and recognizing bullying behaviours.  These are explored in a child-friendly and easily-understood manner, providing familiar scenarios for children to engage with and discuss.  Also included are discussion questions for parents, caregivers, and educators.

Book cover of Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr. by Kristen A Jenson

Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.  By: Kristen A Jenson

Young children deserve to be armed early against internet dangers. This book is an “easy-to-use tool for parents” to help protect their young kids (ages 3 to 6). Using gentle, age-appropriate messages, children will learn to “Turn, Run & Tell” when they are accidentally exposed to inappropriate content. It is a comfortable, effective way for proactive parents to empower their young kids with their first internal filter!

Book cover of Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr. by Kristen A Jenson

Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.  By: Kristen A Jenson

Good Pictures Bad Pictures provides a natural and comfortable way to talk about pornography with children ages 7 and up.  It is a read-aloud story about a mom who explains to her son what pornography is, why it’s dangerous, and how to reject it.
Featuring easy-to-understand science and simple analogies, this internationally-acclaimed book engages young kids to porn-proof their own brains based upon a 5-point CAN DO Plan.  Also included are "Let's Talk!" discussion questions at the end of each chapter; Tips for Parents and Caregivers section offering practical advice for raising porn-proof kids in the digital age; and the most up-to-date science provides kids with even more powerful arguments against pornography.

Slavery and the Underground Railway These books, while being historical stories representing truths about slavery during the Slave Trade in America, helps us to begin to gain a better understanding of challenges and themes still associated with slavery and human trafficking today.  These stories will help children to better understand what it would be like to be a slave and the trials they faced: oppression, separation from family, being controlled by another for the financial benefit of another, and their constant desire for freedom. 

Book cover of Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railway  By: Ellen Levine

Based upon the true story of a young slave named Henry who mails himself to freedom.  Henry Brown doesn't know how old he is. Nobody keeps records of slaves' birthdays. All the time he dreams about freedom, but that dream seems farther away than ever when he is torn from his family and put to work in a warehouse. Henry grows up and marries, but he is again devastated when his family is sold at the slave market. Then one day, as he lifts a crate at the warehouse, he knows exactly what he must do: He will mail himself to the North (Canada).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6rf9bxDK1o – provides video of this amazing book being read.

Book cover of Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter

Follow the Drinking Gourd  By: Jeanette Winter

This story begins with a peg-leg sailor who aids slaves on their escape on the Underground Railroad. While working for plantation owners, Peg Leg Joe teaches the slaves a song about the drinking gourd (the Big Dipper). A couple, their son, and two others make their escape by following the song's directions.

 Book cover of The Patchwork Path by Bettye Stroud

The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom  By: Bettye Stroud

A fictionalized account of a fascinating oral history, this book tells the story of two out of the thousands of slaves who escaped a life of slavery and made the dangerous journey to freedom — a story of courage, determination, and hope.

Now that Hannah’s papa has decided to make the run for freedom, her patchwork quilt is not just a precious memento of Mama — it’s a series of hidden clues that will guide them along the Underground Railroad to Canada.

Book cover of What Was the Underground Railroad? by Yona Zeldis McDonough

What Was the Underground Railroad?  By: Yona Zeldis McDonough

No one knows where the term Underground Railroad came from--there were no trains or tracks, only "conductors" who helped escaping slaves to freedom. Including real stories about "passengers" on the "Railroad," this book chronicles slaves' close calls with bounty hunters, exhausting struggles on the road, and what they sacrificed for freedom. With 80 black-and-white illustrations throughout and a sixteen-page black-and-white photo insert, the Underground Railroad comes alive!

Important Historical Figures in the Fight for Freedom Against Slavery These children friendly biographies of Harriet Tubman and Fredrick Douglass are just two heroes who join a long list of people who have fought for the freedom of others.  They are a great read to inspire and influence a new generation of Freedom Fighters.

Book cover of Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter by Nadia L. Hohn

Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter By: Nadia L. Hohn 

Harriet Tubman was a brave woman who was born enslaved in Maryland in the 1800s. After risking everything to escape from her slave master and be free, Harriet went on to lead many people to freedom in St. Catherine’s, Canada, on a journey known today as the Underground Railroad.  This book covers some of the amazing aspects and milestones of Tubman's life, a timeline and historical illustrations, and a rare photograph of her.

Book cover of Who Was Frederick Douglass? by April Jones Prince

Who Was Frederick Douglass?  By: April Jones Prince

Born into slavery in Maryland in 1818, Frederick Douglass was determined to gain freedom--and once he realized that knowledge was power, he secretly learned to read and write to give himself an advantage. After escaping to the North in 1838, as a free man he gave powerful speeches about his experience as a slave. He was so impressive that he became a friend of President Abraham Lincoln, as well as one of the most famous abolitionists of the nineteenth century.