Surviving Childhood

Through first hand reporting, interviews, and moving black and white photographs, this revealing work of photojournalism follows the stories of street children in Brazil--young girls who have fallen into lives of prostitution as their only means of survival. Though every girl's story is unique, they share common ground: almost all of them come from abusive, poverty-stricken families or are orphans. Many of the girls suffer from drug or alcohol abuse, and some are as young as eight years old. Leaders in the struggle to fight this phenomenon have contributed to this important book in an effort to document and raise awareness of a dangerous and abusive practice that claims more than one million children every year.