November 3 is quickly approaching and what better way to celebrate than incorporating voting books to educate and empower our little ones! Here are books that I loved for my smalls and myself. I am so interested in the Voting Rights Act and women’s suffrage and I think each topic deserves a deep dive. On my to-do list…
Please share voting books you’ve loved as I know this important topic has new book additions added frequently!
Littles
Around America to Win the Vote by Mara Rockliff was straight up FUN! This book was cute and cheery and informative – no easy feat! I hadn’t heard of Nell Richardson and Alice Burke before (eeks, bad on me) and this was a lovely way to spark my interest in their lives and cause.
Ben Clanton’s Vote for Me felt like every mom watching a verbal throw-down between her kiddos. Both think they are right. Neither will back down. Buuuuuut, since no one is hitting or crying yet, you kinda avert your eyes and keep busy. Oh, just me. Moving on. This is a great book with super sweet illustrations!
Hold on to your heartstrings here. Lillian’s Right to Vote by Jonah Winter and Shane W. Evans is a freaking show-stopper. This picture book tells of slavery, the 15th Amendment, the 19th Amendment, Selma and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Evidently my history lessons didn’t include what Lillian and other black people had to endure to cast their votes. This was equal parts informative and beautiful. Most definitely a book to educate and empower!
Learn about Elizabeth Cady Stanton as she worked towards women’s right to vote in Elizabeth Leads the Way by Tanya Lee Stone. The illustrations are awesome (think folk art) and the text really builds the case for how cray the thinking was back then about women’s place. Loved this!
Red, white and get your paws on this! I cannot adore these Monster books more! Monster Needs Your Vote by Paul Czajak is a dang delight! The text is witty and real. The characters are bright and ask good questions. And Monster is a big, cuddly lover. Adorable! I like how Monster finds his real passion at the end of this book. Go, go, go!
Miss Paul and the President by Dean Robbins is not only beautifully illustrated (Nancy Zhang is seriously talented!) but this picture book shares such an interesting side of Alice Paul’s battle to gain the right to vote. Woodrow Wilson’s daughter, Margaret, helps sway Wilson to open up his ears to the idea of the 19th Amendment. Amen to that. Women supporting women!
If Citizen Baby My Vote by Megan E. Bryant and Daniel Prosterman was any cuter, I’d cry. This is a delightful board book that helps explain the importance of getting out to vote and getting involved. Yes! Start these babes young!
Gahhhh! Go Vote Baby by Nancy R. Lambert is pure perfection for chubby little hands! The board book includes sliders on each page for the reader to make a vote about what to play with, what to eat and so on. What an incredible concept to introduce voting!
Diversity ✔ Empowering messages ✔ Rebuttals against reasons to not vote (nothing changes, I’ll be away, etc.) ✔ Vote for Our Future by Margaret McNamara is absolutely the A+ standard and I’m in love! Get this book pronto! Educate and empower!
Don’t let the seemingly large size of this book put you off. The Next President by Kate Messner is packed with pint-sized factoids about the President and the presidential office. The message is simple and empowering: the next handful of presidents are likely alive and contributing to society right now. Cool thought, eh? If your kiddo isn’t interested in the election, you might be able to hook him/her with these history snippets.
Rachel Ruiz, you talented maven! When Penny Met POTUS is the perfect marriage between sweet picture book and empowering message. I freaking LUH-HUV this book. Penny’s mama works for POTUS and Penny gets to spend a day at the White House. She imagines what POTUS looks like, and it’s nothing like she expected. Get. This. Book.
This book will capture your heart. I adore the illustrations. The creativity (a list of secretaries is included – both real and made-up – so fun). The bossiness of this little president. Madam President by Lane Smith is absolutely a gem. More, please. His work is some of my favorite for sure.
If I Ran for President by Catherine Stier features the sweeeeeetest little kiddo and I so badly want this Ben character to be a series. Any book that features a woman or a minority in a leadership position is my giddy spot and I loved this book!
Emerging Reader
How Women Won the Vote by Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an insanely beautiful and thorough look into history. I’d say that this is an emerging reader book because of the length (70+ pages) and the amount of detail. The photographs included are inspiring and give me all the feels. This is a keeper!
I grabbed this Ready-to-Read Level 3 book Susan B. Anthony by Deborah Hopkinson and found this SUCH a great supplement to our gal Susie B’s impact on women’s right to vote. I had no idea that one of her eyes was crossed for life. This gal was one smart cookie and forged an incredible uphill battle for others (who finished the fight after her death).
This book is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Blast Back Women’s Suffrage by Nancy Ohlin is my freaking jammmmmm. The illustrations are pure delightful perfection. The chapters are short. The history lessons here are fresh and use current terminology. I just couldn’t love this series more.
Middle Grade
When You Grow Up to Vote by Eleanor Roosevelt and Michelle Markel was reissued in 2018 and it is a stinkin’ d-light! The illustrations are charmingly sweet and the font is nice and big, so I would normally throw this in the emerging reader category. However, the text is actual detailed enough that I believe middle grade readers might better understand the book.
The writing is positive and inspiring and, in turn, portrays the true honor of voting once an individual turns 18. I love that. I don’t take for granted that opportunity.
Young Adult
This book is ‘mic drop’ in page form. If I had any say in the required reading for middle or high school history curriculum, this would be a part of it. Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom by Lynda Blackmon Lowery is a must. Lynda was the youngest marcher from Selma to Montgomery. Her mama had passed years prior. Lynda had participated in a LOT of marches prior to the Montgomery march and had been jailed over 10 times. By age 14, peeps. To say this little activist was courageous is a gross understatement. To say her father trusted his daughter and her convictions is also something special. The font, the pictures, the illustrations, the language. It leaves an important impression.