[.ca] Be a Friend: Children Who Live with HIV Speak (ISBN 0807505919)

Good for Kids:
This is a good book for any classroom. It shares how children are affected by HIV - how they are still children, but with great weights. I have used it many times, not just for children, but as an awareness tool for adults.

Faces and Hearts, Not Merely Numbers:
This collection of pictures, stories, and thoughts from children who have AIDS humanizes an inhuman experience. These children are the children in our lives,the same as all children. Their artworks and statements bring home the human aspects of this disease and help to remove the distance that fear and misunderstanding cause. I was first introduced to "Be a Friend "in a training session for teachers working with special populations. Since then I have given it as a gift to friends and coworkers and have used it extensively with my class of Youth in Custody students. It is a non-threatening approach to a subject about which they have many fears and misconceptions. Hearing the voices of children helps lower the barriers and open the dialogue which promotes learning and understanding. Similar in approach to " I Never Saw Another Butterfly " the stunning work by children of the Holcaust, this books makes the experience of AIDS very real and human. I recommend it highly to anyone who knows and loves a child.