Eleven-Year-Old Raises $100,000+ for Gulf Cleanup

 Leap Books is always thrilled when we can highlight things tweens and teens are doing to make their world a better place. Have you heard about 11-year-old Olivia Bouler?

She wanted to help with the Gulf oil spill cleanup, so she offered her artwork to anyone who donated to the National Audubon Society. So far, she's raised more than $100,000.

To learn more about her efforts, visit AOL Artists (the source of this picture of Olivia) to watch a video and see her notecards. You can also find out more about her on her Facebook page, which has 23,719 fans, her AOL Artists page, or from this article at CNN. Olivia has also been featured on AOL's Good News Now.

For more about what Audubon is doing to assist with wildlife rescue during the cleanup, visit their website. You can also click here to donate.

Hot Topic: Russian Adoptions

Church On Red Square by Paul Martin Eldridge

"When I heard about the adoptive family who sent their 7-year-old boy back to Russia, I was saddened, but I wasn't surprised," said Josephine Ruggiero, parent of three Russian siblings and author of the article, "When Adoption Isn't Easy" (Newsweek, 4/26/10). Neither was Leap Books author Jackie Horsfall.

Jackie's soon-to-be-released novel, For the Love of Strangers (Fall, 2010), mirrors the attachment and behavioral issues faced by adoptive families, and now splashed across news headlines: "Shipping an Adopted Son Back to Russia" (New York Times 4/9/10) and "Why Won't Anyone Adopt These Kids?" (CNN, 4/28/10).

"It's a hot news item now," Jackie says, "but I wrote the first draft of my novel over ten years ago, after learning of a friend's trip to Russia to adopt two children.  I saw the adjustment struggles these kids were having right from the start."

But Jackie also saw glimmers of hope after traveling to St. Petersburg.  "Russia has many problems but also a powerful mythology, one I've allowed my 16-year-old protagonist to personify.  I hope every struggling Russian child, and his or her adoptive family, can identify with Darya's situation and have a conversation about it."