Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Book Summary and Reviews of Free? by Amnesty International (editor)

Free? by Amnesty International (editor)

Free?

Stories About Human Rights

by Amnesty International (editor)

  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Apr 2010, 224 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

What does it mean to be free? Top authors donate their talents to explore the question in a compelling collection to benefit Amnesty International.

A boy who thinks that school is "slavery" learns the true meaning of the word when he stumbles on a secret child-labor factory. A Palestinian boy, mute from trauma, releases kites over a wall to a hilltop settlement, each bearing a message of peace. This inspiring, engaging anthology gathers an international roster of authors to explore such themes as asylum, law, education, and faith — from a riveting tale of an attempt to find drinking water after Hurricane Katrina; to a chilling look at a future where microchips track every citizen’s every move; to a hilarious police interrogation involving the London Tower, the Crown Jewels, and a Ghanaian boy with a passion for playing marbles. Features an introduction by British writer Jacqueline Wilson.

With stories by:
David Almond
Ibtisam Barakat
Malorie Blackman
Theresa Breslin
Eoin Colfer
Roddy Doyle
Ursula Dubosarsky
Jamila Gavin
Margaret Mahy
Patricia McCormick
Michael Morpurgo
Sarah Mussi
Meja Mwangi
Rita Williams-Garcia

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"A mostly solid volume for a good cause." - Kirkus Reviews

"Sure to spark discussion and perhaps participation in Amnesty International. Grades 7-10. " - Booklist

"Our book Free? is a reminder of what a huge leap was taken when someone wrote down our rights and the world agreed. And we want children to realize that the rights most of us can take for granted were won and struggled for." - David Almond

"This timely collection contains some very moving and well-written stories that inform as well as inspire the reader." - VOYA

"...highly readable. Don't let the cause or political weight of the title scare readers away." - School Library Journal

This information about Free? was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Mad is

Good book
This book makes you think about how sad life really was for a lot of people

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Information

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

More Recommendations

Readers Also Browsed . . .

more short stories...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket
    But the Girl
    by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
    Jessica Zhan Mei Yu's But the Girl begins with the real-life disappearance of Malaysia Airlines ...
  • Book Jacket: Patriot
    Patriot
    by Alexei Navalny
    On the 17th of January, 2024, colleagues of Alexei Navalny posted a message to his Instagram account...
  • Book Jacket: Rental House
    Rental House
    by Weike Wang
    For many of us, vacations offer an escape from the everyday — a chance to explore new places, ...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Who Said...

Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.