A novel and a picture book have been selected as the two recipients of the 2024 Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature, presented by UConn’s Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs.

This year’s winning novel is I Kick and I Fly, by Ruchira Gupta and published by Scholastic Press.

Inspired by Gupta’s experience making an Emmy-winning documentary that exposed the sex trafficking of young women and children from villages in Nepal to the brothels of Mumbai, this story of 14-year old Heera – sold into an unimaginable fate by her father to help feed their family and repay his loans – is an unforgettable story about overcoming adversity.

This year’s winning picture book is Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Mexican Freedom Fighter, written by Aida Salazar, illustrated by Molly Mendoza, and published by Scholastic Press.

In this stunning and lively book, Salazar presents the remarkable true story of a little-known maverick Mexican heroine – her great aunt, Jovita Valdovinos – who disguised herself as a man and commanded a battalion of revolutionaries in a fight for religious freedom.

“I am honored to receive the Malka Penn Award for I Kick and I Fly,” says Gupta. “This recognition highlights the resilience of girls like Heera and the harsh realities of sex trafficking. Based on true stories of girls I have helped, it tells how a young girl transformed her life through Kung Fu and escaped being sold. I wanted to inspire young people by showing that someone fought back and won. It is a story of hope, courage, and community. My thanks to the Malka Penn Award committee and Scholastic Press for believing in this story and carrying forward my mission. Change is possible.”

“Given all the violations of human rights we are witnessing in the world and all those, much braver than me, whose work stands for justice, I am so honored and humbled to have been selected,” Salazar says. “I was unaware of the [Malka Penn] award and I am thrilled something of this importance exists. Thank you for doing this work for the children’s literature community. We desperately need to shine a spotlight on narratives that hope to make the world a better place. Our broken world needs that shift and healing.”

The Malka Penn Award is given annually to the authors of outstanding children’s books addressing human rights issues or themes, such as discrimination, equity, poverty, justice, war, peace, slavery, or freedom.

“In a world where human wrongs seem to outnumber human rights on far too many fronts, the importance of literature that promotes and protects human rights is more important than ever,” says James Waller, director of Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs and the inaugural Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice. “We are honored to recognize the authors and illustrator of two outstanding books for the 2024 Malka Penn Award. This award aims to draw attention to, and affirm, the remarkable children’s and youth literature addressing pressing human rights issues for young audiences.”

Named in honor of author Michele Palmer – who writes under the pseudonym Malka Penn – the award recognizes works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, memoir, or biography written for children from preschool to high school. Special consideration is given to stories about individuals who have been affected by social injustices and who, by confronting those injustices, have made a difference in their lives or the lives of others.

“I’m thrilled these two outstanding children’s books are the winners of the 2024 Malka Penn Award,” Palmer says. “Along with several of the winning honor books, they inspire young women and girls to empower themselves and overcome human rights abuses.”

In addition to I Kick and I Fly and Jovita Wore Pants, the Malka Penn Award Committee has recognized the following selections as its 2024 Honor Books:

• The Light She Feels Inside, written by Gwendolyn Wallace, illustrated by Olivia Duchess, and published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky – Maya learns how to create a brighter world by honoring her own glowing feelings, just like Black women have done throughout history.
• Traveling Shoes: The Story of Willye White, US Olympian and Long Jump Champion, written by Alice Faye Duncan, illustrated by Keith Mallet, and published by Calkins Creek – The untold story of the Black sprinter and long jumper Willye B. White, who went from picking cotton as a child in Mississippi to competing and winning in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics.
• A Long Time Coming, written by Ray Anthony Shepard, illustrated by Gregory Christie, and published by Calkins Creek – A lyrical biography of six important Black Americans from different eras – Ona Judge; Frederick Douglass; Harriet Tubman; Ida B. Wells; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Barack Obama – that chronicles the diverse ways each fought racism, demonstrating how much and how little has changed for Black Americans since the country’s founding.
• The Cricket War, written by Thọ Phạm and Sandra McTavish, and published by Kids Can Press – The gripping story of a boy’s escape from Communist Vietnam by boat, loosely based on Pham’s real-life experience as one of the Vietnamese Boat People – offering a story of hope, courage, and resilience.
• The Bodyguard Unit: Edith Garrud, Women’s Suffrage, and Jujitsu, by Clément Xavier, Lisa Lugrin, and Albertine Ralenti; and published by Graphic Universe – A graphic biography of Edith Garrud, a pioneering self-defense instructor who trained suffragettes in early twentieth century England to fight back against abuse and arrest while pursuing the right to vote.

This year, the Malka Penn Award Committee also recognized I Have the Right – an illustrated introduction to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, written and illustrated by Reza Dalvand and published by Scribble US – with a special certificate.

The Malka Penn Award presentation ceremony and related programming will be held at The Dodd Center for Human Rights in Storrs, Connecticut, on November 12 and 13, 2024.

The Dodd Center is home to robust academic programs and innovative external engagement in human rights, including the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, its Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs, the University Archives and Special Collections, and the Center for Judaic and Contemporary Jewish Life.

For more information about Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs, visit humanrights.uconn.edu/dodd-impact.