This has been a crazy year. We are in the middle of a global pandemic and then the protests over the death of George Floyd and others began. I know Hazel has been watching the protests and riots with curiosity and questions. Today I am sharing a book about nonviolent activism suggested for kids aged 10-14. This book shares history as well as how nonviolent activism works. The book is We Are Power: How Nonviolent Activism Changes the World by Todd Hasak-Lowy.
This book shares what nonviolent activism is and a bit of why it works (though my favorite explanation is in the video below). It also shares how Gandhi used nonviolent activism to gain Indian independence. From there it looks at Alice Paul and her nonviolent movement to gain women's suffrage (appropriately enough since it is the 100th anniversary). Then it moves to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then to Cesar Chavez and the farmworkers movement. Finally the book shares about Václav Havel and the Velvet Revolution. Then there is a conclusion that introduces Greta Thunberg and the climate change movement. She is a teenager and helping lead this movement. Talk about powerful for kids to read. They get to learn about someone who is only a little older than them who is speaking in front of the United Nations trying to change the world.
I love how this book explains how nonviolent activism works and is suppose to work and how that relates to the Black Lives Matter Movement currently happening. It gives kids an explanation of how the nonviolent protests can make changes and also presents them with things they can do to help or to make changes in their own ways.
Personally I found the insight on each of these movements interesting to read. The history and the way it was told was very enthralling. I loved how it also cycled back to the previous movements. Almost all of the leaders studied Gandhi and his methods. They each had their own experiences and manners but started with Gandhi's teachings.
This book would be excellent for a classroom discussion or just to introduce kids to nonviolent movements. It also is excellent to help explain the protests of late. I hope you will check it out.
