Stories for Boys Who Dare to Be Different

by Ben Brooks

BALDWIN IV

  (1161–1185)

  In the year 1174, Baldwin’s father died and Baldwin was crowned King of Jerusalem. He was thirteen years old. He also had leprosy, a disease that had no cure. People with leprosy tended to have shrunken fingers and toes, their hands and feet often needed to be cut off due to infection, and their eyes would darken until nothing could be seen out of them.

  King Baldwin didn’t let that stop him from riding out with his army. He always fought beside his men as if he was just as fit as they were.

  Their biggest enemy was a sultan named Saladin, who ruled over Egypt, and Baldwin had put together a plan to attack his base in Cairo.

  But the plan fell apart when Baldwin got sick and a lot of his allies left.

  Saladin knew then that Jerusalem was weak. He seized this opportunity and sent his army of 26,000 men to take the town.

  King Baldwin wouldn’t let that happen. Not without a fight. He dragged himself out of bed and on to a horse. He was so unwell, one writer at the time described him as being “half dead.” His bloody hands were wrapped in bandages and he could barely see through his swollen, cloudy eyes.

  With only 500 men, he rode out to meet Saladin. But seeing how small the king’s force was, Saladin ignored it completely and kept riding for Jerusalem. The people in the city were terrified, fearing for their homes and lives.

  Baldwin prayed.

  His men were afraid and outnumbered.

  But, rallying his soldiers, King Baldwin led them into battle.

  Somehow, they completely destroyed the invading forces: 500 men rescued their city from a force of 26,000. Jerusalem was saved.

  Over 800 years later, a Hollywood film was made about the young king’s triumph over Saladin. They called it Kingdom of Heaven.

  LOUIS BRAILLE

  (1809–1852)

  Louis was born in France in 1809, in a small house in the countryside, where his dad worked making saddles for horses. Louis loved watching him work. One day, he took down a tool and tried to copy what his dad was doing. The tool slipped and hit him in the face.

  Louis became blind in both eyes.

  He was sent to a school for the blind, where he proved that he was intelligent, but he got annoyed by how difficult things were for him.

  Louis stayed at the school after graduating, becoming a professor and working with blind children. He wanted to improve their lives and he wanted people who didn’t have eyesight problems to stop talking to them as though they were stupid or slow.

  “We do not need pity,” he said. “We must be treated as equals. And communication is how this can be brought about.”

  From a captain of the French army, Louis heard about something called night writing, which soldiers used to send messages without speaking on the battlefield. It was a series of raised dots and dashes that you could feel with your fingers.

  Louis had an idea.

  Using the very same tool that had blinded him, Louis began making small dots in paper. He created the system we now call Braille. It was easy to write, easy to read and easy to use in books.

  Braille is now used by blind people all over the world. Famous musicians have learned to read music using it. New books are published in it. And it’s been put on cash registers, museum exhibits, and traffic lights so that blind people have the freedom to live their lives like everyone else.

  EUGENE CERNAN

  (1934–2017)

  Eugene Cernan was the last man to walk on the moon. Before going to space, he was just a young fighter pilot with the US Navy. He didn’t apply for the space mission and hadn’t gone to advanced pilot school, but for some reason NASA chose him.

  At the time, he thought walking on the moon would be impossible. He’d never even considered going to space and he wasn’t sure he was up to the challenge.

  Ten years of training later, he got there. With his team, he roamed around the surface of the moon, staring back at the distant Earth while conducting experiments. They collected samples to learn about the moon’s history, covered over twenty-one miles in the lunar rover, and even broke the unofficial moon land-speed record by going at eleven miles per hour!

  The last thing he did before he left was to crouch and write his daughter’s name in the dust: Tracy Dawn Cernan. Now it will stay there for over fifty thousand years.

  Even though he was the last man on the moon, Eugene hoped it wouldn’t stay that way. He thought it was sad that countries were no longer interested in reaching the moon and hoped that the next generation would be inspired to keep pushing the limits of space exploration. He wanted people to keep asking questions, seeking answers, and wondering what unsolved mysteries are waiting for us out in the cosmos.

  “I’m quite disappointed that I’m still the last man on the moon,” Eugene said before he died. Hopefully someone will change that soon.

  FAVIO CHÁVEZ

  (BORN 1975)

  On the outskirts of Asunción, the capital city of Paraguay, lies a gigantic garbage dump called Cateura. Mountains and valleys made entirely of plastic bags and scrap metal stretch as far as the eye can see. Poor recyclers wander through those mountains and valleys, searching for small pieces of aluminium or plastic that they can trade in for a tiny bit of money.

  As part of his job, Favio was hired to go to Cateura and teach the recyclers which things they should and shouldn’t be looking for. While he was there, they got talking and he told them that he worked with a young people’s orchestra in another town.

  “Could you teach our children music, too?” the recyclers asked. “All they have to do while we work is hang around the dump. There’s nothing for them here.”

  Favio thought about it. The problem was, a house in Cateura was worth less than a single violin, so for any of the kids to have one would be dangerous. But there was no way the kids would improve if they didn’t have instruments on which to practice.

  He decided that he and the recyclers could build their own instruments out of things that were thrown away. They used oil barrels, oven trays, and pieces of pipe to build flutes, cellos, and violins. The children were overjoyed. They practiced for two hours every day, and the Cateura Orchestra of Recycled Instruments was born.

  The kids have now played in America, Norway, Palestine, and Japan, and the money they’ve made has been channeled back into their community built around a garbage dump. Through the power of music, Favio has brought hope into their lives.

  CONFUCIUS

  (551 BC–479 BC)

  Confucius said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

  He was born in China at a time when the country was being fought over by savage warlords who forced men into battle, others into work, and the rest into paying high taxes. As a teenager, he looked after farms nestled in the mountains. He spent his time thinking and coming up with ideas. When he became an adult, he left home to travel China, spreading his ideas.

  Confucius said, “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

  He taught that leaders should lead by doing what’s right and good, instead of chasing power or money. He said that those in power had a responsibility to look after their people. The warlords were against him, but their people felt like they had finally found someone who would speak for them.

  Confucius said, “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.”

  He returned to his homeland and opened a school, where he taught young people according to his beliefs: not just ethics and philosophy, but archery, calligraphy, and chariot-riding, too. His plan was to train the young men so that they could get jobs in government and change China for the better.

  Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

  Despite threats from vicious and violent warlords, Confucius never stopped speaking out for what he believed in. His teachings were so powerful and wise that people today still turn to them when they need guidance. You’ll find them everywhere, from classrooms in England, t
o temples in Japan.

  FREDERICK DOUGLASS

  (1818–1895)

  Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in America in 1818, which meant he was treated as property instead of a person. Slaves like Frederick were beaten, barely fed, and forced to work until they collapsed.

  They were also banned from learning to read or write. The people who owned them were afraid that if their slaves became educated, they would rise up and overthrow them.

  The wife of the man who owned Frederick ignored this rule, teaching Frederick how to read and write, until her husband found out and put a stop to it. He couldn’t stop Frederick, though, who carried on learning whatever he could from local white children and neighbors, even though it put him in danger.

  Once he could read, Frederick read everything: leaflets, newspapers, novels, the Bible. From reading, he learned about slavery and started to form his own ideas and arguments against what was happening. He shared these ideas with other slaves and his knowledge spread.

  Frederick tried to escape from slavery twice, but was recaptured. He was successful on the third attempt, when he was transported along part of what was known as the Underground Railroad: a secret network of routes used to smuggle slaves to freedom.

  As a free man, he married, had children, and traveled across America, speaking and campaigning, not just for the end of slavery, but for women’s rights, Irish independence, and other issues he was passionate about. He advised presidents and lectured students. He also published three books about his life, which went on to be bestsellers.

  Thanks in part to the work of Frederick, all slaves were declared free in 1865. Black people in America have been fighting for equality ever since.

  JESSE EISENBERG

  (BORN 1983)

  During his first year of school, Jesse cried every day. He hated it. He was nervous and sensitive and worried a lot about everything. Being at school just made it worse.

  “I don’t want to go,” he’d tell his parents every morning.

  But he had to.

  One day, someone asked if Jesse might like to try acting in a play. So he did. And everything changed.

  For the duration of the play, he wasn’t himself anymore. He was another character, lost in another world. He was Oliver Twist, darting through the grimy streets of London. Or the young Scrooge, helping the Ghost of Christmas Past teach his older self a lesson on Christmas Eve.

  And he wasn’t worried or nervous, because he was someone else. Being on stage and living out other people’s lives felt like an escape because, inside the world of plays, he had control. Everyone knew what would happen next. And Jesse didn’t feel so powerless.

  So he moved to a school for art, music, dance, and drama, where he could focus on acting. Now, he stars in Hollywood films, writes books, and still puts together theater plays.

  Jesse said that, when he grew up, he’d either be an astronaut or a banana. So far, he’s already been a supervillain, a zombie hunter, a street magician, and a rare parrot named Blu.

  Once, he was asked, “What would you tell the young Jesse about feeling worried and nervous?”

  “It’s not the worst thing in the world to have those feelings,” he said. “Even though it might feel like it.”

  Why not? Because those feelings can come with positive qualities, like being sensitive and seeing the world differently from everyone else.

  JAIME ESCALANTE

  (1930–2010)

  When Jaime went to teach math at Garfield High School, everyone said he was wasting his time. The school had a reputation for being violent and dangerous, and the students there often failed their exams or dropped out. Jaime didn’t listen.

  Both his parents had been teachers in Bolivia, where he’d grown up. He’d moved to America to build a better life for himself and he wanted to build better lives for his students, too.

  Once he arrived at Garfield High, Jaime didn’t start with simple math. Instead, he gave everyone the chance to learn complex equations. He told his students that education could be the key to their futures, if they only gave it a chance. If they would be patient and learn math, they could go on to get all kinds of jobs in electronics, computers, engineering, and science.

  “You do not enter the future,” he told them. “You create the future. The future is created through hard work.”

  The other teachers were distrustful of Jaime and his new methods. They thought he came to work too early and left too late. And they didn’t approve of him making every student answer a question before they were allowed into the classroom. They may have been suspicious, but Jaime’s methods showed amazing results.

  “If he wants to teach us that bad,” one student said, “then we can learn.”

  And they did.

  The first year, two of his students passed the advanced math test, which no one from Garfield High had ever done before. The next year, nine passed. The year after that, so many of Jaime’s students passed, the exam board thought they were cheating. They weren’t. They’d just been inspired by a teacher who’d finally believed in them.

  So many of his students got into the University of Southern California one year, they outnumbered all of the kids from the other local schools combined.

  THE FOUR CHAPLAINS

  It was 1943, and an old luxury cruise liner called the Dorchester was carrying American army personnel through the icy waters of the Atlantic toward Greenland. A war was on. The captain knew there might be German submarines lurking out of sight and had ordered all 902 passengers to sleep with their life jackets on. Most were ignoring him.

  They were spotted by a German U-boat. A few seconds later, three torpedoes tore through the ship. It rapidly began to sink below the arctic waters.

  Everyone panicked. There was chaos. People rushed to deck, where freezing winds lashed their faces as they hurriedly packed themselves into lifeboats. It soon became clear that there wouldn’t be enough room for all the soldiers.

  Four army chaplains, all from different religions, remained calm. They tried to organize everyone and help get them away safely. They found more life jackets and handed them out. When there were none left, the chaplains took off their own and gave them away.

  As the ship went down, the chaplains linked arms and stood on the deck praying. The people drifting away on lifeboats looked on in amazement and deep gratitude.

  “It was the finest thing I have seen or hope to see this side of heaven,” said one survivor.

  CHARLES FOURIER

  (1772–1837)

  When his father died, Charles inherited enough money to leave home and travel all through Europe. He was excited to travel because he was a philosopher, which meant he spent most of his time thinking and writing, and the more he saw, the more he had to think and write about.

  The point of all that thinking and writing was to try and make the world a better place for everyone in it. As he rattled through France in a horse-drawn carriage, Charles was thinking that an obvious way to do this would be to treat women better.

  In his time, over two hundred years ago, women were treated a lot worse than men. They weren’t allowed to own things or have jobs, or even vote in elections. Most of the time, they had to stay in the house, cleaning or cooking.

  Charles didn’t think this was right. He thought that we should all have the same opportunities in life, no matter what our gender. He wasn’t the first person to think that, but he did invent a word for it, and that word stuck. The word was feminism, which really just means that boys and girls should be treated equally.

  Since then, thanks to fights fought by a lot of brave women, we’re much closer to equality than we were two hundred years ago.

  Amazingly, though, we still have to use the word feminism because boys and girls aren’t always treated the same. If you think they should be, then you can call yourself a feminist.

  GALILEO GALILEI

  (1564–1642)

  Does the sun move around the earth? Or does the earth move around
the sun? How do you know? Could you prove it?

  Galileo could.

  When he was young, his dad sent him to school to study medicine. It was going well until Galileo accidentally wandered into a math lecture and decided right then that he was going to devote his life to that instead. He believed that math and science would finally help us explain the world.

  In Galileo’s time, philosophers who came up with theories didn’t really test them like the scientists of today. They’d simply come up with ideas, then announce they were true. One idea everyone believed in was that the earth was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around it.

  Galileo disagreed.

  Using a telescope he’d invented himself, Galileo had been studying our solar system. He’d discovered that the moon wasn’t a smooth white ball but was covered in dark craters. And that four large moons circled Jupiter. He also found proof for his theory about Earth moving around the sun.

  The Church wasn’t happy with Galileo’s findings, because they went against what was believed to be true. Galileo didn’t mind. He kept carrying out his experiments anyway.

  In one, he climbed to the very top of the Tower of Pisa and dropped two objects of different weights to the ground. Amazingly, even though one was far heavier, they both hit the floor at the same time. It went against what everyone believed.

  That was the last straw for the Church, who thought that Galileo’s ideas were making fun of God. They tried to sentence him to life in prison. When people protested, they put him under house arrest instead, which meant he wasn’t allowed to leave his house for the rest of his life.

  “We cannot teach people anything,” Galileo said. “We can only help them discover it within themselves.”