Today’s post comes to you from Leela Deo
Human Rights is a visually powerful and informative resource for classrooms and libraries. This illustrated non-fiction book will be of particular interest to budding activists and advocates passionate about human rights and climate justice, as well as history buffs.
Author Yayo Herrero and illustrator Luis Demano created an oversized book using bold text design, engaging graphics, and vibrant, colorful two-page spreads to illustrate the history of human rights, as well as the ideas, movements, and struggles that underpin both individual and collective rights. The book, translated from Spanish by Martin J. Perazzo with Paul David Martin, also sets out present and future challenges, emphasizing that human rights issues remain a constant work in progress.
Following an introduction to the topic of human rights, the book presents readers with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948. Seeing the text of this foundational document laid out in this way is especially effective, setting the stage for the rest of the book and making the document more accessible and real for young readers. The book goes on to detail Articles 1-30, using a combination of text and graphics to explain the various rights enshrined and protected in the UDHR.
Herrero and Demano go on to address the idea of collective rights, such as the right of peoples to self-determination and the rights of indigenous peoples, as well as the struggles and movements that have led to the expansion of human rights. For example, the book places the struggle for women’s rights, the worker’s movement, and the fight for children’s rights, among others, in the larger context of the fight for human rights, showing how rights are gained through a combination resistance, action, and advocacy, both individual and collective.
The final section of Human Rights lays out present and future challenges, acknowledging that many human rights issues remain unresolved and will require continued effort to make the idea of universal human rights and the ideals set forth in the UDHR a lived reality.
Human Rights is a comprehensive and informative guide for children (ages 9 and above) and young adults interested in learning more about the concept of human rights, as well as the key figures and historical events that have contributed to this ongoing and important conversation. A section on Creators and Advocates of Rights highlights activists and advocates who were essential in creating change.
In the classroom, Human Rights can be a valuable resource for both students and educators. As a teaching tool, this book has significant potential and is likely to inspire thoughtful discussion, critical thinking and analysis, and/or a starting point for further research. Younger children might be more interested in understanding these topics through the lens of specific people, while the more complex social and political themes offer key learning opportunities for older children.
However, Human Rights is more than a source of information. Rather it is a call to action, compelling readers to understand that human rights do not merely exist on paper; they must also be lived every day. “Our task is to imagine and implement a way of living that prioritizes fulfilling all rights for all living beings, one that celebrates the beauty of life and the joy of living it with dignity,” Herrero concludes.
YAYO HERRERO (Spain) is an anthropologist, social educator, agricultural technical engineer, lecturer and researcher in issues relating to social ecology and feminism. She has been a state coordinator of Ecologists in Action and has been an activist for decades in numerous social activities in defense of human rights, ecology, feminism and the social and solidarity economy. She runs the social justice nonprofit organization, Benéfico-Social Hogar del Empleado Foundation (FUHEM), coordinates the Complutense University of Madrid’s Centre for Environmental Studies and Information, and is a lecturer in Environmental Education and Sustainable Development at the UNESCO Chair at the National Distance Education University (UNED). Her research focuses on a critique of the capitalist development and production model as a threat to the planet and life, work which she combines with activism. Herrero regularly contributes to several critical and independent media, such as eldiario.es. She is the co-author of the illustrated book Canvi climàtic (Litera, 2019). [From the Seven Stories website]
LUIS DEMANO (Spain) is a teacher, cartoonist and graphic designer whose work has appeared in the media, on albums, posters, advertising, and in animation. Demanos is also the co-director of the Master’s Degree in Professional Illustration at the Barreira A+D Official Center for Higher Studies, in Valencia, Spain, where he currently resides. He is the illustrator of the books Human Rights and the Illustrated History of Rock, which has been translated into six languages. [From the Seven Stories website]
MARTIN J. PERAZZO is a translator of Spanish, French, and Catalan into English. He lives in Spain.
PAUL DAVID MARTIN is a translator of Spanish.
BOOK DETAILS
Title: Human Rights
Author: Yayo Herrero
Illustrator: Luis Demano
Translators: Martin J. Perazzo with Paul David Martin
ISBN-13: 978-1644214008 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Triangle Square (Seven Stories Press), 2025. Originally published in 2022 by Litera Libros in Spain.
You can buy a copy of the book here or find it in the library. (Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.)
Leela Deo is a writer and editor from the United States. She believes deeply in the universal power of storytelling to connect people across time and place. Leela enjoys sharing stories from around the world with her two young daughters, especially stories that inspire curiosity and imagination. Leela has written about Child Protection for UNICEF and before that worked as a financial journalist in New York City. In a previous life, she was a French and Spanish teacher.
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