Around the World in Books / Kenya

How Kenyan Children Helped America After 9/11

A picture book tells the story of a moving gesture of support

An illustration by Thomas Gonzales from “14 Cows for America” / Credit: Peachtree Publishers

This is the 13th post in the “Around the World in Books” series that is reviewing 30 books from 30 countries in the first 30 days of March. Tomorrow: Laos

Not long after 9/11, I met a group of Scottish children who — for reasons I’ve forgotten — had stopped at my B&B in Edinburgh. I asked if they knew about the terrorist attacks, and an older girl spoke with deep feeling about the tragedy and with pride that her school had shown its sympathy for America by observing a moment of silence for the victims.

That moving conversation drove home a point often overlooked in discussions of children’s responses to 9/11: The desire offer comfort has no age limit or national boundaries. In Britain I’ve often seen an anti-Americanism in adults that clearly hadn’t trickled down to the Scottish children I met after the attacks on the World Trade Center.

For decades American children have raised money for nonprofits such as Heifer International, which gives cows and other livestock to residents of poor countries — but the recipients of the aid may want to help the United States, too. Anyone who’d like evidence of needs only…