Washoe County Library System

Malala Yousafzai was a girl who loved to learn but was told that girls would no longer be allowed to go to school. She wrote a blog that called attention to what was happening in her beautiful corner of Pakistan and realized that words can bring about change. She has continued to speak out for the right of all children to have an education. In 2014 she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

"One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her story of fighting to belong in school and society -a powerful role model for young adults with a passion for activism. Paralyzed from polio and raised by her Holocaust surviving parents, Judy's fight for equal access began early in life. Judy fought her high school, who initially denied her a diploma because of her inability to participate in gym; she fought her college...

"All Amanda Jetté Knox ever wanted was to enjoy a stable life. She never knew her biological father, and while her mother and stepfather were loving parents, the situation was sometimes chaotic. At school, she was bullied mercilessly, and at the age of fourteen, she entered a counselling program for alcohol addiction and was successful. While still a teenager, she met the love of her life. They were wed at 20, and the first of three children followed...

A guide to becoming a good citizen provides ideas and tips on making the world a better place through activism, discussing self-care, public speaking, and organizing and funding campaigns for causes.

"For several years the Iranian government tried everything to silence Shirin Ebadi: They arrested her, bugged her phones, attacked her home, shadowed her everywhere she went, seized her office, and nailed a death threat to her front door. But nothing could stop Ebadi from her work as a human rights lawyer defending women, children, and the persecuted in Iran. After several years of harrassment and intimidation, the Iranian spy services turned their...

"In this intimate memoir of survival, a former captive of the Islamic State tells her harrowing and ultimately inspiring story. Nadia Murad was born and raised in Kocho, a small village of farmers and shepherds in northern Iraq. A member of the Yazidi community, she and her brothers and sisters lived a quiet life. Nadia had dreams of becoming a history teacher or opening her own beauty salon. On August 15th, 2014, when Nadia was just twenty-one...

London, 2027. Humanity has become infertile and no child has been born for 18 years. Science is at loss to explain the reason. Immigration is a crime and refugees are caged like animals. African and East European societies have collapsed and their dwindling populations are migrating toward England and other wealthy nations. Torn apart by nuclear fallout, rampant terrorism and political rebellion. In this climate of nationalistic violence, a London...

"A "courageous and revelatory memoir" (Naomi Klein) chronicling the life of the leading Indigenous climate change, cultural, and human rights advocate For the first ten years of her life, Sheila Watt-Cloutier traveled only by dog team. Today there are more snow machines than dogs in her native Nunavik, a region that is part of the homeland of the Inuit in Canada. In Inuktitut, the language of Inuit, the elders say that the weather is Uggianaqtuq--behaving...