Election season is in full swing and even if young readers can’t vote, they can still get involved. We spoke with three authors about how their new picture books can help children learn about civic engagement.
Ani DiFranco
Why was it important for you to write a book about elections and civic duty for young readers?
Elections and civic duty are not things that naturally come up with kids! I wanted to make a book to help lead the conversation between parent and child in that direction. I truly believe voting is the answer.
How does your book showcase the importance of voting?
Show Up and Vote points to the collective experience of society and community, and the web of interconnection that extends outward beyond family and friends. It explains how voting is an important way we look out for each other, in a society, and protect the collective health of our democracy.
How do you hope early exposure to stories about voting will motivate young readers?
I hope it will intrigue them and that it will make them anticipate becoming voters themselves someday. I hope they will feel excited and proud when they do. I hope they actually grow up believing they can change things!
Show Up and Vote by Ani DiFranco, illus. by Rachelle Baker. Rise x Penguin Workshop, $18.99 Aug. 27 ISBN 978-0-593-38377-3.
Mark Shulman
Why was it important for you to write a book about elections and civic duty for
young readers?
The short answer is for at least 100 years, more than 50% of eligible Americans won’t vote. Their needs and wants aren’t being heard. Non-voters famously complain that they don’t like their options, or that the system is broken, or it’s raining out, or whatever. And whatever these people are doing on Election Day, it’s not helping them or our country. Meanwhile, the minority of people who do vote end up with a disproportionate amount of influence over the laws and choices that are being made. And in American politics, the squeakiest wheels get greased the most. After one recent election, it became very clear that most of my fellow Americans don’t seem to understand that our problems—big and small—won’t get solved until many, many more people participate. Once the real majority votes, the majority will rule. On that hopeful day, so many elected officials will stop focusing on wooing a handful of swing voters in swing states by any means necessary… and they will work harder to improve things—you know, govern. There’s so much work to do. But how could a lone children’s author make any difference at all? I figured I’d need to bypass the adults and take the case for civic participation straight to the children. That’s why I wrote I Voted.
How does your book showcase the importance of voting?
As you’ll find in I Voted, voting is actually a simple thing. At the beginning, the kids in the story are voting for a classroom pet. There are two factions: tortoise and hare. Students discover that by listening, learning, talking, and asking questions, they can participate and maybe change somebody’s mind, perhaps even their own. Once the class votes, “the pet you’ll all get is the pet that most people vote for.” Because “win or lose, when everyone follows the rules, voting is fair for everyone.”
Overall, I sense that children have a far stronger sense of fairness than adults have, and I wanted them to feel that voting is the fairest path in any community. To me, the most powerful text in the book comes next: “If you don’t vote, you don’t get to choose. And your vote might the one that makes the difference.” That’s a resonant message when a U.S. presidency has been decided by just 537 votes in Florida. Indeed, the book carries these lessons over to local and national elections, showing and telling how choosing your leaders will change the way you’ll live, for better or worse. By showing up and voting for your leaders, your will, and the will of the majority, will be heard. And before kids get jaded by what they keep seeing and hearing around them, I wanted to make it clear that voting isn’t a chore, it’s a right and a privilege. And though people will disagree, we’re all still neighbors, not enemies.
How do you hope early exposure to stories about voting will motivate young readers?
When I was growing up in the ’70s, we were taught civics, which teaches children how government works, as well as the ways we the people can be participating. Now civics no longer appears to be a common part of the curriculum. Unfortunately, with for-profit media dominating our children’s lives, they’ve learned that government is primarily about politics, and winning.
I have two ultimate hopes for I Voted. The first is for children to better understand and exercise the power and responsibility that voting gives to everyone. The second hope is that my readers will be motivated to do something now. Even if they can’t read yet, they’re given an important job: to motivate their adults to vote in every election, and even to bring the child along on Election Day. Because, in addition to all that civic goodness, they might get a sticker that says “I Voted.”
I Voted: Making a Choice Makes a Difference by Mark Shulman, illus. by Serge Bloch. Holiday House/Porter, $8.99 Jan. ISBN 978-0-8234-5104-3
Christina Soontornvat
Why was it important for you to write a book about elections and civic duty for young readers?
I was the same age as Leo, the protagonist in my book, when my dad got his U.S. citizenship, and I clearly remember being excited that it meant he could vote for president. Like so many immigrants, my dad always instilled in me how special America is and how precious the right to vote is. When I set out to write this book, I wanted to pass along that feeling of excitement, joy, and hope to young readers, and I thought it would be perfect to have Leo learning all about voting alongside his dad, who will be casting his vote for the very first time.
How does your book showcase the importance of voting?
Leo is very excited that his dad will get to vote until he overhears someone say that one person’s vote “won’t make a difference.” He gets sad and wonders if that’s true. I think that so many of us adults have wondered that exact same thing! Throughout the rest of the book, Leo meets people who are all working to help get out the vote: volunteers, poll workers, and other kids in his community. They help remind him that voting is an important right that people in the past, and the present, have fought for. In one scene that is so lovingly illustrated by Isabel Roxas, Leo’s dad reminds him that this precious right is not guaranteed everywhere in the world. Even though it’s left unsaid, I imagine that Leo’s dad grew up in a country where the right to vote wasn’t protected.
When Leo finally gets to go with his dad to the polls, he remembers all the people who have helped his dad so far. In the end, even though Leo doesn’t vote himself, he plays an essential role in helping the people in his community cast their votes—because every single vote matters!
How do you hope early exposure to stories about voting will motivate young readers?
We hope that kids will see that even though they aren’t old enough to vote yet, they can still make a positive difference. They can encourage the adults in their lives to get registered, they can help locate their polling place, and they can accompany their parents when they cast their ballots on Election Day.
And of course, it won’t be long before the kids reading our book will be old enough to vote themselves! We hope our book stays with readers and inspires them to someday cast their own votes and make their voices heard.
Leo’s First Vote! by Christina Soontornvat, illus. by Isabel Roxas. Knopf $18.99 Sept. 3 ISBN 978-0-593-64426-3
