Publisher's Weekly Review
Three years ago, when he was a 12-year-old Toronto schoolboy who had never taken the subway alone, Kielburger saw a newspaper story about a 12-year-old Pakistani boy who had been shot dead, presumably for his outspoken criticism of the Pakistani carpet industry's use of child labor. The story changed Kielburger's life. More importantly, it made him committed to change the lives of other people. He founded a human rights organization called Free the Children, which is run by children to combat child labor around the world. Shortly after starting the organization, Kielburger realized that, in order to make his points stick and his efforts effective, he needed to know much more than he did. So he set out, in the company of a chaperone, on a seven-week trip to South Asia, visiting Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi and other cities. This book, written with Major (an author of YA books, including Hold Fast), is an absorbing account, in the form of a travelogue, of a young man's awakening not only to injustice and bone-crushing poverty but also to the beauty and diversity of the world and its cultures. Kielburger's story of moral outrage followed by extraordinary dedication and action is inspirational. It will make great reading for both parents and their children, who, on the cusp of adulthood, will see in Kielburger proof that they can make a difference. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Not since Anne Frank has a child so effectively borne witness to the madness of adult reality. This volume retains the language and voice of 15-year-old Kielburger, its young co-author, while its subject matter achieves the status of an important work on grassroots political organization and international human rights. Inspired at the age of 12 by a newspaper article about the assassination of Iqbal Masih, a freed child laborer and international rights activist from Pakistan who was reported also to be 12 years old at the time of his death. Kielburger, a Canadian, began to research the issue of child labor in South Asia. He enlisted the help of schoolmates and began spreading the word about conditions in factories in such distant countries as India, Pakistan, and Thailand. Free the Children, which he founded, grew into an internationally recognized organization and has raised awareness of labor conditions in South Asia as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars for the cause. Kielburger convinced his parents to allow him to travel to South Asia accompanied only by a young activist named Alam. He returned with reports of children beaten by their masters; hung upside down by their feet for punishment; poisoned in fireworks factories. He told of wounds from carpet knives dipped in hot oil or cauterized with match chemicals; of both boys and girls sold into prostitution at very young ages; of 18-hour workdays; and of lives cut off from future possibilities. Kielburger's message is ultimately one of hope that the youth of South Asia may be set free from their inhuman labor. He hopes equally that the youth of the industrialized world will be set free from feeling they are cut off from the ability to get involved and make real changes in the world in which they live.
Booklist Review
The enduring tension between profit maximization and social responsibility figures in all three of these studies. Ex-journalist and congressional counsel Diaz is a senior policy analyst for the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., so it's no surprise that his history of the gun industry is less than admiring. Yet most Americans don't know much about the companies that manufacture the firearms they either own or fear or both, and Diaz's portraits of manufacturers, dealers, and promoters are enlightening. The author critiques "the spiral of lethality" as manufacturers have increased their products' "killing power," as well as the industry's marketing campaigns. The book closes with suggestions for "cleaning up the mess." Teenager Kielburger is clearly the youngest of these authors: in 1995 the Canadian was shocked by the murder of 12-year-old Pakistani child labor activist Iqbal Masih (himself a child-labor escapee) and formed the group Free the Children to get young people around the world involved in opposition to child labor. With the help of writer Kevin Major, Kielburger tells how the group was formed and describes his seven-week journey, with a young human rights worker, through Bangladesh, Thailand, India, Nepal, and Pakistan to see child labor conditions firsthand. Kielburger also discusses his efforts to define a role for young people in child-focused movements (and child-focused charities like UNICEF), and his 1998 return to India with eight other Free the Children members to participate in the Global March Against Child Labour. An appendix spells out how kids can get involved. Journalist-historian Tate has an interesting story to tell in Cigarette Wars: the first antismoking battle in the U.S. between 1890 and 1930. Tate examines the legal and social restrictions cigarette smokers faced a century ago; studies the arguments cigarette opponents used (including virtually all the positions current antismoking activists use); considers the impact of World War I and cultural trends such as urbanization and new roles for women after that war on the popularity of cigarettes; and discusses the multiple reasons, from internecine bickering to the need to replace government revenue once liquor sales were prohibited under the 18th Amendment, that this early antismoking movement fell apart. A fascinating sidelight on current controversies. --Mary Carroll
Library Journal Review
Not only has Canadian Kielburger campaigned hard to eliminate child labor worldwide, but, more remarkably, he is himself only 15 years old. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
