Kalief’s Island
Davide Orecchio & Mara Cerri
- Original Title
- L'isola di Kalief
- Published
- Orecchio acerbo, 2021
- Genre
- Picture books
- Pages
- 32
- Tags
- Davide Orecchio, L'isola di Kalief, Mara Cerri, Orecchio acerbo
Kalief’s Island
Davide Orecchio & Mara Cerri
A girl is about to fly to school on her skateboard. The air is pure and free, the surrounding nature
is wonderful and she is happy. but it hasn’t always been like this on Kalief’s Island.
The girl looks back at the time when the air stank of fumes and all that existed on the island was
an enormous prison, Rikers prison, where one day Kalief, a young boy accused of stealing a bag, was taken.
Kalief insisted he was innocent. What he was fighting for was no more than a fair trial. But instead he was put in an isolation cell and treated with violence. Only after years in prison, a judge realized that there was no case against Kalief. When they released him, Kalief had lost all of himself, even the will to live.
In this story, Kalief’s tenacious struggle and ultimate sacrifice did serve to transform Rikers prison into a flowering garden where children aren’t afraid to live.
- Awards
- White Ravens 2021
The announcement in 2019 that New York City had decided to close its jail on Rikers Island made top headlines. The jail is one of the largest correctional institutions in the world, notoriously known for cases of abuse and official misconduct. This picture book relates the bitter and dramatic story of Kalief Browder, an underage African-American boy, who was wrongly accused of stealing a backpack filled with valuables. He was held for years without trial, repeatedly in solitary confinement, on Rikers Island and committed suicide two years after his release. The story of his criminal charges and the need for changes to the penal system and greater respect for human rights are depicted very impressively in pictures by the talented illustrator Mara Cerri and in the clearly written text by historian Davide Orecchio. »L’ isola di Kalief« also conveys the dream that even in a place where so much suffering occurred, it will be possible one day for young people to grow up full of hope for the future, without forgetting the past. (Age: 8+)