Demonstrators, protesters, activists—what’s the difference? All work to deliver a public effect. Demonstrators make a public stand among a group of like-minded people that may be against or for an element of the status quo in public life. Protesters, as the word indicates, also take a public role, usually within a group, against something that is, or which threatens to be, different from what they understand as “right.” They may protest in ways other than a demonstration, such as a boycott or other ongoing means of making their point. Activists may lead demonstrations or protests, or inspire them, or build upon them, or take on roles as individuals to create change locally, nationally, or even internationally.
Activists may be parents, children, teachers, librarians, politicians, shopkeepers, religiously affiliated, poor or rich. They have lived and done important work throughout history and you can meet them, in certain circumstances, in person today. If you have not yet met an activist in person—and certainly if you are looking to meet activists from the past—there are excellent children’s books that make activist inspirations and methods of working to ignite change available to all of us here and now.
The audiobook of BEFORE SHE WAS HARRIET has four narrators. Shown here, they include Lisa Renee-Pitts, January LaVoy, and Bahni Turpin.
Harriet Tubman is name familiar to almost every American. However, the full cast production of BEFORE SHE WAS HARRIET, created by Live Oak Media, brings new dimension to the picture book biography by Lesa Cline-Ransom. Polished and award-winning narrators Lisa Renee-Pitts, Bahni Turpin, January LaVoy, and SiSi Aisha Johnson speak as the 19th century activist at different ages and stages of her life: from her enslaved childhood, to her role as a spy and then as a General during the Civil War, to her activist leadership in the Women’s Suffrage movement. Live Oak’s audiobook is available in several formats, including editions that include the recording with the print book, allowing listeners to see James E. Ransome’s illustrations as they hear how she might have spoken as she grew and blossomed through her life, speaking to her own vision and determination for herself and for all for whom “equality” had been an empty piety. This audiobook won the Audie Award for Young Listeners, so it’s a great place to begin activating listening skills, too.
NO STEPS BEHIND: Beata Sirota Gordon’s Battle for Women’s Rights in Japan is a picture book biography of an international activist with whom you may well be less familiar. As a child in Europe between World Wars, she and her family moved to Japan. Her childhood love of language led her to a World War II career as an interpreter. However, it was after the war that her story of activist leadership came into focus. After its defeat, Japan wrote a new Constitution and she ensured that this national document guaranteed women equal rights with men. How did she develop such influence? Love of language and sensitivity to cultural standards in different countries informed her ability to see this through. Jeff Gottesfeld’s biography of her may be brief, but like all titles published by Creston Books, it includes exemplary backmatter for readers to continue discovering more about Gordon’s activism. Sheilla Witanto’s illustrations provide helpful visual details for the setting of Gordon’s life and work. It’s important to note, as well, that Gordon was an immigrant and has become a recognized hero in her adopted country.
Barefoot Books has just published a compendium for elementary grade readers that features 25 accounts of activism in American history. RISE UP! spans 250 years of resistance, rebellion, and activist engagement that have brought political, social, and institutional changes. Author Rachel C. Katz and illustrator Sophie Bass use the space of a page spread to show what, why, who, and how each such moment of activism occurred. This is a book that offers several points of access, including rhyming couplets that give each topic an overview and then finer details, included in both the page spread’s art and the book’s back matter. The featured moments range among the nation’s birth of independence from England, school desegregation, the Capital Crawl that brought focus needed to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, and other events that required activist leadership and follow through by demonstrators and protesters.
And coming in January from Kalaniot Books, look for BRAVE LIKE ESTHER, a picture book putting a modern spin on this Biblical figure, authored by Rebecca Gardyn Levington and illustrated by Asya Aizenstein. Esther is credited with saving the Jews in Persia, around 470 BCE, by speaking up and revealing a plan to exterminate them. Although once considered a fictional character, 21st century archaeological evidence indicates that her story may be grounded in fact. This forthcoming picture book will underscore the humanity of Esther as a child. Certainly, seeing how a child with deep feelings that mature into an activist who takes people to safety, to empower them to live and to live more hopeful lives, may well inspire more young activists.