"We the people" includes kids and teens, too! It's never too soon to start learning about our political systems, civic institutions, and documents, from the United States Constitution to the presidency and the different branches of the federal government. These books and resources for kids and teens—including titles in Spanish—will help readers to explore voting, activism, and the ideas that form the bedrock of our democracy.

Book List

Elementary

• A Is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara | Book, E-Book

• A de activista escrito por Martha E. Gonzalez, ilustrado por Innosanto Nagara | Book, E-Book 

• Como actuar de manera informada escrito por Joshua Turner, traducido por Esther Sarfatt | Book

• Elections: Why they Matter to You by John Son | Book

• How to Take Informed Action by Joshua Turner | Book

• The Presidency: Why It Matters to You by Karen Kellaher | Book

• ¿Qué es el respeto? escrito por Joshua Turner | E-Book

• ¿Qué es la equidad? escrito por Joshua Turner | E-Book

• ¿Qué es la libertad individual? escrito por Joshua Turner | E-Book

• So You Want to Be President? by Judith St.George, illustrated by David Small | Book

• V is for Voting by Kate Farrell, illustrated by Caitlin Kuhwald | Book, E-Book

• We the People: The United States Constitution Explored and Explained by Aura Lewis & Evan Sargent | Book, E-Book

• What’s the Big Deal About Elections by Ruby Shamir, illustrated by Matt Faulkner | Book, E-Book

Middle School

• For Which We Stand: How our Government Works and Why it Matters by Jeff Foster, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin | Book, E-Book

• Know Your Rights!: A Modern Kid's Guide to the American Constitution by Laura Barcella | Book, E-Book

• The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America's Presidents by Kate Messner, art by Adam Rex | Book, E-Book

• A Small History of a Disagreement by Claudio Fuentes, illustrated by Gabriela Lyon, translated by Elisa Amado | Book, E-Book 

• Understanding Your Role in Elections: Kids' Guide to Government by Jessica Gunderson | E-Book

• We the People: The United States Constitution Explored and Explained by Aura Lewis & Evan Sargent | Book, E-Book

High School 

• Because They Marched: The People's Campaign for Voting Rights That Changed America by Russell Freedman | Book, E-Book, Audio

• Become America: Civic Sermons on Love, Responsibility, and Democracy by Eric Liu | Book, E-Book

• Drawing the Vote: The Illustrated Guide to the Importance of Voting in America by Tommy Jenkins, illustrated by Kati Lacker | Book, E-Book

• The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation by Jonathan Hennessey, art by Aaron McConnell Book 

• The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert | Book, E-Book, Audio

• Votes of Confidence: A Young Person’s Guide to American Elections by Jeff Fleischer | Book

• We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden Book / Ebook

• You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People by Elizabeth Rusch | Book, E-Book, E-Audiobook

Resource Guide

Elementary & Middle School

• FreedomFlix: Dynamic e-books from Scholastic bring history to life by capturing the dramatic and defining moments in American history.

• TrueFlix: An online resource from Scholastic that helps students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content, and cultivate 21st Century skills through the inquiry process.  

• BrainPOP: Hundreds of BrainPOP videos explain a wide variety of concepts in Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Art & Music, Health and Technology

• Explora Middle School: Search a variety of subjects, including the arts, current events, geography, history, literature, science, and math. 
   

High School 

• Credo Reference: Provides full-text online access to hundreds of multidisciplinary reference book collections, bilingual dictionaries, and encyclopedias. Watch the Research Quick Tips for videos on research questions, finding relevant sources, avoiding bias, and more.

• Explora High School: Search a variety of subjects to access reports and academic journals, magazines, biographies, and encyclopedia entries. Includes features to listen along to the text and search by lexile level. 

• Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center: Offers material to support differing views and help students develop critical thinking skills on thousands of current social topics in the forms of primary source documents, statistics, websites and multimedia.

• Flipster: Access over 100 popular magazines, including The Atlantic, Mother Jones, Time, and Reason.

Teaching Resources

• iCivics: Founded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, iCivics teaches students how government works by experiencing it. 

• National Constitution Center: The National Constitution Center brings together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution.

• Teaching Tolerance: Resources for educators who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

This guide was put together by The New York Public Library School Outreach team.