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Children Growing Up with War

Photojournalist Jenny Matthews begins her book by discussing what it means to be a freelance photographer, how she got started and how she is able to go into conflict zones and do her job. She ends her introduction with the UN Convention Rights of the Child. She uses these rights as an organizational tool; each chapter is devoted to certain rights. Although it might seem disjointed to some, this method allows Matthews to cover a significant number of conflicts all over the world instead of just a few.

Matthews puts a personal face on conflicts. She discusses the expectation that journalists should be objective and neutral, but says she that tries to get as close as she can to her subjects. She tries to listen and observer; she wants to understand what they are going through. Trying to minimize the distance between herself and her subjects serves her well; her photographs are moving. While some of them depict the result of violence, they are not gratuitously violent. Some of them are hopeful.

There are charts with important data intermingled with the photos: how many people are displaced by war, the percentage of refugees who are children, or the percentage of children who are killed or maimed by land mines. At the end of the book, there is a map of countries referred to in the book, a short description of the major conflicts, a glossary and a list of websites for further information.