Early Childhood | Elementary | Middle School / YA / Adult
Here are books on organizing for all ages. Note that the Early Childhood list contains activism and organizing, whereas the other lists focus on organizing.
In addition to the titles below, we recommend:
- Resistance 101: a lesson by Teaching for Change that introduces middle and high school students to activists and the strategies they have used throughout U.S. history
- Zinn Education Project: lessons, books, and films for middle and high school students on organizing
- Training for Change: workshops on organizing
- Resources on youth organizing
Feedback on this list and suggestions for additional titles are welcome.
Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.
Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk (*).
Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
By Leticia Hernández-Linares, The Rise-Home Stories Project, and Robert Liu-Trujillo (Illustrator)
For All / Para Todos *
By Alejandra Domenzain, Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)
Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins
By Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome Lagarrigue (Illustrator)
Love Is Powerful
By Heather Dean Brewer and LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)
Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls' Rights (for Young Readers)
By Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick, abridged and adapted by Sarah J. Robbins
Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement
By Doreen Rappaport, Shane W. Evans (Illustrator)
Nour's Secret Library
By Wafa' Tarnowska and Vali Mintzi (Illustrator)
The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery
By Dennis Brindell Fradin, Judith Bloom Fradin, Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)
Rise Up and Write It: With Real Mail, Posters, and More!
By Nandini Ahuja and Anoosha Syed (Illustrator)
Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!
By Diana Cohn, Francisco Delgado (Illustrator), Luis J. Rodriguez (Essay by)
Someday is Now*
By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
That's Not Fair!/No Es Justo!: Emma Tenayuca's Struggle for Justice/La Lucha de Emma Tenayuca Por La Justicia
By Carmen Tafolla, Sharyll Teneyuca, Terry Ybanez (Illustrator)
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
By Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner
Building Power, Sharpening Minds
By School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL)
Catch the Fire: An Art-Full Guide to Unleashing the Creative Power of Youth, Adults and Communities
By Peggy Taylor, Charlie Murphy
Doing Democracy: The Map Model for Organizing Social Movements
By Bill Moyer, JoAnn MacAllister, Mary Lou Finley Steven Soifer
"Lift Us Up, Don't Push Us Out!" Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement
By Mark R. Warren, David Goodman
Remaking Radicalism: A Grassroots Documentary Reader of the United States, 1973-2001
Edited by Dan Berger and Emily K. Hobson
Stay Solid! A Radical Handbook for Youth
By Matt Hern (Editor), Noam Chomsky (Contribution by), Dan Savage (Contribution by)
Tools for Radical Democracy: How to Organize for Power in Your Community
By Joan Minieri, Paul Getsos, Kim Klein
Troublemaker for Justice The Story of Bayard Rustin the Man Behind the March on Washington*
By Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, Michael G. Long
We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States
By Michael Long, Chris Hedges
