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Cover Story

Cover Story - Spanish Version

Mini-Lesson

Comprehension Quiz

Teacher's Guide and Worksheets

To The Rescue

Whoosh! Baroom! Swoop! Exploding bombs, booby-trapped houses and kids in danger--sounds like a job for Superman! For more than 50 years, the comic-book superhero has battled imaginary bad guys. Now Superman is on a real-life mission. His job: to protect kids in Bosnia and Herzegovina from deadly explosives called land mines.

Last week half a million Superman comic books were shipped to Bosnia. The comic books will teach kids about land-mine safety. They were specially made by DC Comics and printed by the U.S. government. Several United Nations agencies will help hand out the comics in Bosnia.

The books are written in Serbo-Croatian and printed in both the Cyrillic alphabet used by Serbs and the Roman alphabet used by Croats and Muslims. Superman was chosen to spread the message because "he is a citizen of the world," says DC Comics president Jenette Kahn.

In the comic, Superman swoops down and stops two boys from stepping on a land mine. He teaches the boys how to avoid risky places and look out for signs of mines. "Children need to stay smart and strong," he says. "The only superpower they need is the power of knowledge."

Kids At Risk
For almost four years, the people of Bosnia fought one another in a cruel war. The fighters buried deadly land mines in the ground. The war is over, but mines and other leftover weapons are still a serious danger.

There are 3 million mines planted in ball fields, parks, roads and villages throughout Bosnia. Some 16,000 minefields have been identified. Thousands more of the hidden killers have not been located.

Bosnia is not the only country where land mines put kids at risk. There may be as many as 110 million unexploded mines worldwide. They kill 26,000 people every year. Many of these victims are children. Of those hurt or killed by land mines each year, 85% are from Afghanistan and Cambodia (in Asia) and Angola (in Africa). U.S. officials say if Superman's Bosnia adventure is a success, the superhero may be sent on missions to other mine-infested countries.

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