Irene Herz

Paul Harris, Grow Up!: a Book for Children About the Founder of Rotary Irene Herz

Paul Harris was not a perfect child. He and his friends got into a great deal of mischief when he was growing up in Vermont. He spent his young adult years wandering from one job to another -- cowboy, actor, fruit picker - Paul Harris tried them all. But then he settled down and became the founder of the premier service organization, Rotary International, which boasts over one million members in over one hundred countries. Harris' story is inspiring, not only for the great achievements of the organization he founded, but also for the fact that he was a flawed figure. As a boy who overcame faults in himself, he serves as a model for children who might feel that a hero like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln is too perfect for an ordinary child to be able to emulate.