[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]
_______
Global Issues Narratives is a really interesting idea. These books have three main features. First, they are stories about young people around the world. Second, the stories are about important social problems, like those connected to SDGs. Finally, they are written as “braid stories.” That means that each book has three stories about three characters, and that each character appears in the other stories. It may sound confusing, but it is really easy to understand.
One of the books, Identity, is all about Maori people in New Zealand. However, it is not about Maori tribes living in traditional ways. Instead, it is about Maori people living with the rest of New Zealand society. Sometimes they experience racism. Sometimes they are embarrassed by their history. But throughout the story, different characters with different pasts start learning good things about Maori culture, and it helps them come together as a community.
Trafficked is a story about human trafficking—in other words, when people are taken away from home and sold as slaves. Mine is about children forced to work in dangerous conditions digging up precious minerals.
My two cents: I like this series of books because it is not just fun stories, but stories that can teach you about important contemporary issues.
