Children’s Books About Peaceful Protests
Particularly in the past 2 years, the United States has been boiling with violence and hate. Watching the news and social media is devastating. This devastation is compounded when watching peaceful protests ending up in arrests and even deaths disproportionately affecting people of color and marginalized communities.
However, hearing about and seeing what is going on can be even more confusing and scary for children. Today, I want to help you turn the helplessness you are feeling into action… starting by simply reading a book.
Turn the helplessness or anger you are feeling when you watch the news into action... starting by simply reading a book. #peacefulprotest #goodtrouble Share on X
Disclaimer: For many of these books, I was given a copy of by the author/publisher to facilitate the review. As always, all opinions are my own.
New Children’s Books About the Power of Peaceful Protests
Woke Baby
Woke babies are up early, raise their fists in the air, cry for justice, and grow up to change the world.
My favorite line from the book, “Like a good revolutionary, you never, ever sleep”. Children hearing the words of this book hear that they can dream big, fight back, and create a bright future for themselves without asking anyone for permission. This beautiful anthem of hope is available as a board book or hardcover picture book.
Order Woke Baby on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
Someday is Now: Clara Luper and the Oklahoma City Sit Ins
60 years ago, Clara Luper and a group of students led the first sit-in at an Oklahoma City business, Katz Drug store. They simply wanted to enjoy their milkshakes like any other kid while feeling all grown up sitting at the counter. Instead of just enjoying a meal, Clara led a group of students to learn the 4 steps of peaceful resistance:
- Investigation
- Negotiation
- Education
- Demonstration
Clara will inspire kids from pre-school to high school to make sacrifices for justice one small act at a time. Furthermore, Someday is Now for ensures Clara’s and other stories about black women and children don’t go ignored or untold.
Order Someday is Now on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
If You’re Going to a March
Not only are more children attending marches, children and teenagers are LEADING marches all over the country. From climate change to gun sense, this cheerful guide serves as a great reference tool as well as a conversation starter for youthful participants.
Inspired by author Martha Freeman’s own experiences, this picture book addresses many of the questions kids might have:
- What should I wear?
- How will I get there?
- Where will I be able to go to the bathroom?
- Is it okay to dance? (Spoiler: of course it is:))
This book clearly guides children to exercise 1st amendment rights to assemble no matter what your political standpoint.
Order If You’e Going To A March on Amazon |Shop your local indie bookstore
People of Peace
Dreamers, leaders, fighters for our rights… meet 40 amazing activists for peace!
From Martin Luther King’s dream to Gandhi’s protest to Nelson Mandela’s struggle, discover how each of these people dedicated their lives to making the world a better place in their own unique, and peaceful, way.
Learn how these heroes from history changed the world in this inspiring book packed with hundreds of incredible facts. 
Order People of Peace on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
We Rise We Resist We Raise Our Voices
Fifty of the foremost diverse children’s authors and illustrators–including Jason Reynolds, Jacqueline Woodson, and Kwame Alexander–share answers to the question, “In this divisive world, what shall we tell our children?”
What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices is filled with 96 lavishly designed pages of original art and prose from fifty diverse creators who lend voice to young activists.
Order We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality
This non-fiction novel in verse is the story of the 12 students at Central High School in the small town of Clinton, Tennessee who caught the nation’s attention. This never been told, first-hand account will enrapture readers, young and old, of what happened when Clinton High School was integrated after the Supreme Court passed Brown v. Board of Education.
The Promise of Change was done in part by one of the 12 students, Jo Ann Allen. I have been a long time fan of author and historian Debbie Levy, so I feel strongly this collaboration is a beautiful gift to all of us.
Jo Ann was just 14 years old when she was pushed into the national spotlight as the spokesperson to discuss the struggles Black children faced at newly integrated high schools. From local newspapers, all the way to interviews with the Attorney General, Jo Ann exudes poise and inner strength clearly visible through the white space on the page.
Telling the Story in Real Time
Also within each chapter are copies of the news articles and headlines chronicling the story in real time. Chilling details of the wrath and vitriol spewed each time Jo Ann and the 11 other classmates attempted to go to school each day gives new perspective to civil rights history.
The account Jo Ann gives of one particular teacher that showed kindness while her own neighbors who borrowed sugar turned their backs shows young readers how closely hypocrisy and decency go hand in hand. Much like today’s generation with child activists such as Mari Copeny or Emma Gonzalez, the brave voice of a child insisting the adults and lawmakers give them their basic human rights of an education and protection from harm is extremely powerful.
This incredibly moving story of the Clinton 12 shines a necessary light on a dark place and worthy of it’s place in our history books.
Order This Promise of Change on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
This historical fiction picture book presents the story of nine-year-old Lorraine Jackson, who in 1968 witnessed the Memphis sanitation strike–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final stand for justice before his assassination–when her father, a sanitation worker, participated in the protest.
In February 1968, two African American sanitation workers were killed by unsafe equipment in Memphis, Tennessee. Outraged at the city’s refusal to recognize a labor union that would fight for higher pay and safer working conditions, sanitation workers went on strike. The strike lasted two months, during which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was called to help with the protests.
Inspired by the memories of a teacher who participated in the strike as a child, author Alice Faye Duncan reveals the story of the Memphis sanitation strike from the perspective of a young girl with a riveting combination of poetry and prose.
Order Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women
You might know the stories of Malala Yousafzai, Anne Frank, Jazz Jennings, and Joan of Arc. But have you heard about Trisha Prabhu, who invented an anti-cyberbullying app at age 13? Or Barbara Rose Johns, whose high school protest helped spark the civil rights movement?
In Rad Girls Can, you’ll learn about a diverse group of young women who are living rad lives. Whether it be excelling in male-dominated sports, speaking out against injustice and discrimination; expressing themselves through dance, writing, and music; or advocating for girls around the world.
I had the honor of attending an event with this dynamic author/illustrator duo. Kate Schatz interviewed Mary Beth Tinker who is known for her protest during the Vietnam War. By wearing a black armband to school, it resulted in the Supreme Court guaranteeing students their first Ammendment rights even while at school.
During the event, illustrator Miriam Stahl used her razor edge to complete an example of her signature and dynamic paper-cut artwork for the audience. This brilliant and bold artistry has resulted in the Rad Girl series becoming mandatory reading for every child in my opinion.
Order Rad Girls Can on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
What Can a Citizen Do?
In the past two years, we have watched as burgeoning student activism take place. When we read about the children in the Civil Rights movement, they were insistent and unwaveringly fierce in demanding their rights. However, we also see joy and hope on their faces.
Very timely when youth led marches, rallies, sit ins, die-ins, and protests are happening every week; this lovely picture book reminds kids that they have a responsibility for more than just themselves. We each have our part, and we are never too little to make a difference.
We’re part of a society, one full of joy and pain.
A land of latticed people, none of us the same.
And if we help just one, help one lonely soul,
we open doors, we bring in light. We bind us all, make us whole.
Order What Can a Citizen Do? on Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore
More Recommendations for Books About Peaceful Protests
Board Books
A Is For Activist by Innosanto Nagara
Feminist Baby by Loren
The Little Book of Little Activists by Penguin Young Readers
Picture Books
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Elizabeth Baddely
Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson and Frank Morrison
The Youngest Marcher: The Story of Audrey Faye Hendricks, a Young Civil Rights Activist by Cynthia Levinson and Vanessa Brantley-Newton
Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni and Bryan Collier
Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights by Rob Sanders and Robert Aaron Schorr
¡Sí, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can by Diana Cohn and Francisco Delgado
Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel and Melissa Sweet
Separate is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
We March by Shane Evans
Lillian’s Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by Jonah Winter & Shane W. Evans
Boycott Blues: How Rosa Parks Inspired a Nation by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney
March: Trilogy {+ Journal} by Congressman John Lewis,
Biracial Bookworms
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09/19/2018 @ 9:39 am
Very useful resources right here! Thanks for sharing. I’m running to buy If You Want To March, it sounds so incredibly meaningful and cute!
09/19/2018 @ 9:52 am
Yea! I am so excited you found these useful! Tag me on social media when you have your copy of IF YOU ARE GOING TO A MARCH so I can see! Thanks for your continued support!