A Picture Book About Children At The Border Aims To Spark Family Conversations
National Public Radio
Apr 12, 2021
In June 2019, Warren Binford, JD, Ed.M., traveled to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Clint, Texas. She interviewed dozens of children over a few days, and gathered stories so shocking — of hungry, cold and sick children sleeping on concrete floors under Mylar blankets — that they became international news. After that visit, she started Project Amplify, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening legal protections for children in custody. But Binford ran into a problem: She says the children's stories were just too harrowing to hold an audience. "People were so depressed. They would call me and say, 'I can't do it. I bawl my eyes out. It's too much.'
Her solution: a picture book. Hear My Voice/Escucha Mi Voz, published in both English and Spanish, features excerpts of the testimonies, paired with art by award-winning illustrators who are Latinx. "The children's book allows it to be a little kinder and gentler accounting of the children," she explains. "And by creating this mosaic from different declarations [it] helps to give a sense of who these children are collectively.” Read article>>
Professor Binford will talk about Escucha Mi Voz on Monday, May 10th at Noon. Details coming soon.
“Excerpted from Hear My Voice: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States Escucha mi voz: Los testimonios de niños detenidos en la frontera sur de los Estados Unidos Foreword by Michael Garcia Bochenek; Compiled by Warren Binford (Workman Publishing). Copyright © 2021."
Her solution: a picture book. Hear My Voice/Escucha Mi Voz, published in both English and Spanish, features excerpts of the testimonies, paired with art by award-winning illustrators who are Latinx. "The children's book allows it to be a little kinder and gentler accounting of the children," she explains. "And by creating this mosaic from different declarations [it] helps to give a sense of who these children are collectively.” Read article>>
Professor Binford will talk about Escucha Mi Voz on Monday, May 10th at Noon. Details coming soon.
“Excerpted from Hear My Voice: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States Escucha mi voz: Los testimonios de niños detenidos en la frontera sur de los Estados Unidos Foreword by Michael Garcia Bochenek; Compiled by Warren Binford (Workman Publishing). Copyright © 2021."
