It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us is a book published in 1996 by the then First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton.
[1] Eleanor Roosevelt was the first First Lady to write books while still in office, with the publication of It's Up to the Women in 1933, This Troubled World in 1938, and The Moral Basis of Democracy in 1940, among others.
[2] Carolyn Reidy, head of Simon & Schuster's trade books division, said: "We have all known that Hillary Rodham Clinton has devoted most of her career to issues of children.
"[8] Criticism of Clinton's notion would continue to be made by American conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Andrea Tantaros, and Jonah Goldberg through the next two decades.
[12] The book emphasizes the shared responsibility that society has for successfully raising children, by looking at a number of angles as indicated in the chapter titles noted above.
Clinton describes herself in the book as a Moderate, which is evidenced by a combination of advocating for government-driven social reforms while also espousing conservative values.
Clinton observes in the book many institutions responsible in some way for raising children, including: direct family, grandparents, neighbors, teachers, ministers, doctors, employers, politicians, nonprofits, faith communities, businesses, and international governmental groups.
Some of the goals and institutions that Clinton advocates for in the book include: the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, Community Policing, the Brady Bill, Amber Alerts, immunizations, State Children's Health Insurance Program, financial regulation, expanded Child Tax Credits, Minimum Wage increases, Universal health care, personal responsibility, uniforms in schools, Goals 2000 academic framework, music warning labels, sexual abstinence, Plan B contraception, family planning, and marriage.
The saying previously provided the source for the title of a children's book entitled It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen-Fletcher, published in 1994.
In Kijita (Wajita) there is a proverb which says 'Omwana ni wa bhone,' meaning regardless of a child's biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community.
[19] In 2001, The Wall Street Journal reported that "New York literary circles are buzzing with vitriol over Sen. Clinton's refusal, so far, to share credit with any writer who helps on her book.
"[20] Later, in a 2002 article for The Writer's Chronicle,[21] Barbara Feinman Todd (now using her married name) related that the project with Clinton had gone smoothly, producing drafts in a round-robin style.
A 2005 Georgetown University web page bio for Barbara Feinman Todd states that It Takes a Village was one of "several high-profile books" that she has "assisted, as editor, writer and researcher.
[23] In 2006, It Takes a Village was republished as a 10th Anniversary Edition with a new cover design and a new Introduction by the author that reflected on the continued meaning of the book in the Internet era and following the September 11 attacks.
It also includes a new Notes section at the end that provides updates for scholarly studies that had been conducted in the intervening ten years.
Her pencil-and-watercolor art is vibrant and action-packed, the story told entirely through her illustrations of the everyday ups and downs of the people working together to create something new and beautiful.