In 2005, Michele Palmer of Storrs, Connecticut, established the Malka Penn Children’s Book Collection on Human Rights as part of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection. Each year, Ms. Palmer donates picture books, young adult novels and non-fiction works published in the previous year that address issues such as the Holocaust, racism and prejudice, war, and survival.  The books this year have some themes in common, such as  music and its curative powers in the face of conflict, and the presentation of the true story, whether through letters and photos or the memories of a young girl imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII.  

Silent music: a story of Baghdad, by James Rumford (New York : Roaring Brook Press, 2008).

The works on exhibit in the John McDonald Reading Room until November 30, 2009, represent twelve of the best books for 2008 chosen by Ms. Palmer, Terri J. Goldich, curator for the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, and Victoria Pryke, Human Rights Intern for Fall 2009.