"This is more than do-goodery for the digital age. Even those too jaded to want to save the planet or make people happy can be intrigued by the process that is supposed to be at work here. It also happens to channel the optimism and pragmatism of childhood to practical ends."
The Times, Saturday 20 September 2008
In a unique collaboration between the social change organisation We Are What We Do and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), thousands of children were invited to come up with simple, everyday actions that we can all do to make a difference to the biggest problems facing the world today.
The best 30 actions, which tackle issues ranging from climate change and social exclusion to obesity and animal rights, are featured in a groundbreaking new book, entitled Teach Your Granny to Text & Other Ways to Change the World.
This book is the latest project from We Are What We Do - the organization behind the bestselling Change the World for a Fiver and the "I’m not a plastic bag" project with designer Anya Hindmarch - and has been produced with their trademark originality, creativity and wit. It includes contributions from some of the biggest names in children’s books: Anthony Horowitz who has provided an exclusive Alex Rider short story to encourage kids to read with a pal; Sam Stern, who has provided a recipe to enable kids to cook a meal from scratch; and Where’s Wally? who makes an exclusive guest appearance to get kids to look closer. The interactive book also includes seeds, maps, stickers and much more.
As part of its partnership with We Are What We Do, the DCSF is making one copy of the book available to every maintained school in England - around 22,000 schools in total. The book will be delivered to schools in the first week of October to coincide with the national launch.
We Are What We Do co-founder Eugenie Harvey said today: "We’re really excited about our new book and cannot wait for it to arrive in schools this October. We know that the next generation is going to inherit some huge challenges. This project has provided an opportunity for children to speak up about what matters to them and the small actions that we can all take to make a big difference to them."
Erica Ritchie, aged 10, who contributed the title action "Teach your granny to text" explains where her idea came from: "It's nice for grandparents and children to keep in touch in an easier way than e-mail and writing a letter and quicker and cheaper than a phone call - especially if they live far away like mine!"
Omar Bynon, aged 11, who came up with the action "speak football" says: "Me and my family went on holiday to Tanzania and I saw some boys outside our hotel kicking a sponge wrapped in plastic like it was a ball. I had a football with me so I took it down so that we could all kick it round.
"Every day when I came back to the hotel the boys were waiting for me to play football. With a ball you can make new friends even though they don’t speak the same language."
Teach Your Granny to Text is published in a joint venture arrangement between two of the UK’s leading independent publishers, Short Books which published We Are What We Do’s two previous bestselling titles and specialist children’s publisher, Walker Books home of the Alex Rider series, Where’s Wally? and Guess How Much I Love You?.
Nick Stanhope, We Are What We Do’s Head of Education said today: "The simple ideas these children have come up with are amazing and challenge every one of us to do more. The role of this book and of We Are What We Do is to give these new social and environmental actions the widest possible platform and make sure that people of all ages get to hear about them - and get doing them."
The book’s launch is supported by the We Are What We Do’s Young Speaker’s Programme which will see 200 young people going into primary schools in the North West and London to deliver presentations about We Are What We Do using exciting animated content based on the new book. The Programme, which aims to reach as many as 250,000 over the next two years, is delivered in partnership with TimeBank and funded by the Aldridge Foundation and national youth volunteering agency, v.
Teach Your Granny to Text & Other Ways to Change the World, Published 2nd October by Short Books and Walker Books, Price £10