What is Civic Learning Week?
Civic Learning Week (March 11-15) is a national movement to encourage people to learn more about the way our government works. Their mission statement: “Civic Learning Week (CLW) is hosted annually by iCivics and seeks to highlight the importance of civic education in sustaining and strengthening constitutional democracy in the United States. By highlighting the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that provide the foundation for an informed and engaged populace, CLW seeks to further energize the movement to prioritize civic education across the nation.”
All are invited to register for virtual Civic Learning Week events.
Kids can also play fun online civic learning games on icivics.org and playverifiyit.org.
Are your kids and teens more into the printed word? Check out some of these books at our library.
Books about the government, activism, and citizenship
Children’s non-fiction
- Big Ideas that Changed the World: We the People! by Don Brown
- What Can A Citizen Do? by Dave Eggers
- Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers
- For Which We Stand: How Our Government Works and Why It Matters By Jeff Foster
- How My Vote Counts: What Does it Mean to be a Citizen? by Jennifer Kaul
- A Vote is a Powerful Thing by Catherine Stier
- How Rules and Laws Change Society by Joshua Turner
- How to Make Decisions as a Group by Joshua Turner
- How to Promote the Common Good by Joshua Turner
- Voting Rights by Kevin P. Winn
Children’s fiction
- Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote by Andrea Beaty (As an aside, Andrea Beatty has a beautiful, short article about getting kids engaged in politics)
- Susie B. Won’t Back Down by Margaret Finnegan
- Act by Kayla Miller
Young Adult non-fiction
- Thank You for Voting: The Past, Present, and Future of Voting: Young Reader’s Edition by Erin Geiger Smith
- You Call This Democracy?: How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People by Elizabeth Rusch
- Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today by Cynthia Levinson
- Votes for Women! : American Suffragists and the Battle for the Ballot by Winifred Conkling
~Lisa Jenkins and Abby Henkel, Youth Services