‘Tis the civic season, and we’re excited to showcase six books specifically chosen for Arkansas youth by our Civic Arkansas partner, Peyton Bolling! This year’s Youth Democracy Reading Challenge is divided into age groups ranging from elementary to high school students. Each listing includes a note from Peyton, a synopsis, and links to purchase the title on Amazon or find it in your local library. Click here to view the Library Directory for Arkansas.
Through her own initiative, Civics in Motion, Peyton has ignited a movement among young people in Arkansas to embrace civic participation and shape their communities for the better. As Miss America’s Teen 2025, Peyton is determined to expand her mission nationally, empowering her peers to become bold, compassionate leaders while championing education, health, and the transformative power of service. We sincerely appreciate Peyton Bolling’s willingness to lend her unique voice to Civic Arkansas, just as we are proud to lend our voice to Civics in Motion.
Elementary School Students
“This is one of my favorite books to show how little actions can make a big difference. It’s simple, fun, and really gets kids thinking about how their choices affect others.”
If you drop just one soda can out the window, it’s no big deal…right? But what if everybody did that? What if everybody broke the rules…and spoke during story time, didn’t wash up, or splashed too much at the pool? Then the world would be a mess.
But what if everybody obeyed the rules so that the world would become a better place? Using humorous illustrations rendered in mixed media, these questions are answered in a child-friendly way and show the consequences of thoughtless behavior.
“This story is such a great way to introduce kids to elections and leadership. Grace is inspiring, smart, and shows that anyone can step up and make a difference.“
When Grace’s teacher reveals that the United States has never had a female president, Grace decides she wants to be the nation’s first and jumpstarts her political career by running in her school’s mock election! The race is tougher than she expected: her opponent is popular soccer captain Thomas. When Grace comes up with a campaign slogan, Thomas comes up with his own. When Grace makes a list of campaign promises, Thomas makes one, too. She makes posters and buttons…and so does he. This just makes her more determined than ever, so when her opponent claims to be the “best man for the job” — and seems to have captured all the boys’ votes — Grace decides the only thing to do is prove that she’s the best person for the job!
This story not only gives young readers an accessible introduction to the American electoral system, but also teaches the importance of hard work and the power of a single voice. An inspiring example of how to choose our leaders!
Middle School Students
“Malala’s story is amazing — she stood up for her right to go to school and changed the world. I first read this book in middle school and loved her incredibly motivating story. Malala is a great example of what bravery looks like.”
In this New York Times bestselling memoir, Malala Yousafzai—the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize—inspires young readers with her stunning story of resilience and power.
I Am Malala. This is my story.
Malala Yousafzai was only ten years old when the Taliban took control of her region. They said music was a crime. They said women weren’t allowed to go to the market. They said girls couldn’t go to school.
Raised in a once-peaceful area of Pakistan transformed by terrorism, Malala was taught to stand up for what she believes. So she fought for her right to be educated. And on October 9, 2012, she nearly lost her life for the cause: She was shot point-blank while riding the bus on her way home from school.
No one expected her to survive.
Now Malala is an international symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. In this Young Readers Edition of her bestselling memoir, which has been reimagined specifically for a younger audience and includes exclusive photos and material, we hear firsthand the remarkable story of a girl who knew from a young age that she wanted to change the world—and did.
Malala’s powerful story will open your eyes to another world and will make you believe in hope, truth, miracles, and the possibility that one person — one young person — can inspire change in her community and beyond.
“This graphic novel pulls you right into the heart of the civil rights movement. It’s eye-opening and told by someone who lived it.”
Congressman John Lewis (GA-5) is an American icon, one of the key figures of the civil rights movement. His commitment to justice and nonviolence has taken him from an Alabama sharecropper’s farm to the halls of Congress, from a segregated schoolroom to the 1963 March on Washington, and from receiving beatings from state troopers to receiving the Medal of Freedom from the first African-American president.
Now, to share his remarkable story with new generations, Lewis presents March, a graphic novel trilogy, in collaboration with co-writer Andrew Aydin and New York Times best-selling artist Nate Powell (winner of the Eisner Award and LA Times Book Prize finalist for Swallow Me Whole).
March is a vivid first-hand account of John Lewis’ lifelong struggle for civil and human rights, meditating in the modern age on the distance traveled since the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Rooted in Lewis’ personal story, it also reflects on the highs and lows of the broader civil rights movement.
Book One spans John Lewis’ youth in rural Alabama, his life-changing meeting with Martin Luther King, Jr., the birth of the Nashville Student Movement, and their battle to tear down segregation through nonviolent lunch counter sit-ins, building to a stunning climax on the steps of City Hall.
Many years ago, John Lewis and other student activists drew inspiration from the 1958 comic book “Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story.” Now, his own comics bring those days to life for a new audience, testifying to a movement whose echoes will be heard for generations.
High School Students
“This book made me think differently about justice and fairness in America. Stevenson’s stories are heartbreaking but hopeful, and they really stay with you.”
The young adult adaptation of the acclaimed, #1 New York Times bestseller Just Mercy — now a major motion picture starring Michael B. Jordan, Jaime Foxx, and Brie Larson and the subject of an HBO documentary feature!
In this very personal work — adapted from the original #1 bestseller, which the New York Times calls “as compelling as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so”–acclaimed lawyer and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson offers a glimpse into the lives of the wrongfully imprisoned and his efforts to fight for their freedom.
Stevenson’s story is one of working to protect basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society — the poor, the wrongly convicted, and those whose lives have been marked by discrimination and marginalization. Through this adaptation, young people of today will find themselves called to action and compassion in the pursuit of justice.
Proceeds of this book will go to charity to help in Stevenson’s important work to benefit the voiceless and the vulnerable as they attempt to navigate the broken U.S. justice system.
“Claudette was a teen who took a stand for civil rights before Rosa Parks — and her story deserves to be known. It’s an inspiring reminder that young people have always been part of big change.”
Before Rosa Parks, there was 15-year-old Claudette Colvin. Read the first in-depth account of an important yet largely unknown civil rights figure in this multi-award-winning, mega-selling biography from the incomparable Phillip Hoose.
“When it comes to justice, there is no easy way to get it. You can’t sugarcoat it. You have to take a stand and say, ‘This is not right.’” ― Claudette Colvin
On March 2, 1955, an impassioned teenager, fed up with the daily injustices of Jim Crow segregation, refused to give her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Instead of being celebrated as Rosa Parks would be just nine months later, fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin found herself shunned by her classmates and dismissed by community leaders. Undaunted, a year later she dared to challenge segregation again as a key plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle, the landmark case that struck down the segregation laws of Montgomery and swept away the legal underpinnings of the Jim Crow South.
Based on extensive interviews with Claudette Colvin and many others, Phillip Hoose presents the first major biography of a remarkable civil rights hero, skillfully weaving her riveting story into the fabric of the historic Montgomery bus boycott and court case that would change the course of American history.
I am honored to reach out to young readers of Arkansas. Claudette Colvin’s courageous story deserves telling. again and again. I hope it will inspire you to stand up for justice!