Children's Book List

Books that deal with anti-authoritarian themes for children.

Table of Contents:

Pre-School and Lower Elementary (ages 3-9)

Peace Themes

  • Our Peaceful Classroom by Aline D. Wolf
  • Sitti’s Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye
  • Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter by Diane Stanley
  • Seven Brave Women by Betsy Hearne
  • The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: an adaptation for children by Ruth Rocha & Otavio Roth
  • Cain and Abel: Finding The Fruits of Peace by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
  • The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter

Vegetarian and Environmental Themes

  • I Love Animals by Flora McDonnell
  • Madeline and The Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans
  • Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
  • How Droofus The Dragon Lost His Head by Bill Peet
  • Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
  • A Prayer For The Earth: The Story of Naamah, Noah’s Wife by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso

Helping Others, Diversity and Social Justice Issues

  • Faith The Cow by Susan Bame Hoover
  • A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
  • Sister Anne’s Hands by Marybeth Lorbiecki
  • Uncle Willie and The Soup Kitchen by Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan
  • Beatrice’s Goat by Page McBrier
  • Maria’s Comet by Deborah Hopkinson
  • Amelia And Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan
  • You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! by Shana Corey
  • But God Remembered: Stories Of Women From Creation To The Promised Land by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
  • Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
  • Rare Treasures: Mary Anning And Her Remarkable Discoveries by Don Brown

Upper Elementary and Teens (ages 10 and Up)

Peace Themes

  • Crash by Jerry Spinelli
  • The Arrow Over The Door by Joseph Brucher
  • Summer’s End by Audrey Couloumbis
  • Quaking by Kathryn Erskine
  • The Eye of The Heron by Ursula K. LeGuin

Vegetarian and Environmental Themes

  • Standing Up To Mr. O by Claudia Mills
  • The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
  • Hoot by Carl Hiassan
  • Crash by Jerry Spinelli
  • Owl In The Shower by Jean Craighead George
  • Flush by Carl Hiassan

Helping Others, Diversity and Social Justice Issues

  • Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn
  • Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff
  • Petey by Ben Mikaelsen
  • The Landry News by Andrew Clements
  • The Loud Silence of Francine Green by Karen Cushman
  • My Mother The Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow
  • Taking Sides by Gary Soto
  • Trino’s Choice by Diane Gonzales Bertrand
  • Monkey Island by Paula Fox
  • Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
  • Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez
  • Junebug by Alice Mead.
  • Tyrell by Coe Booth

Primitive Skills

  • Whitefeather’s Outdoor Survivl Handbook for Kids – Whitefeather
  • Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Nature Survival for Children – Brown
  • North American Indians Survival Skills – Liptak
  • More than Moccasins – Carlson
  • Houses of Bark – Shemie
  • Houses of Hides and Earth – Shemie
  • Houses of Snow, Skin, and Bones – Shemie
  • Houses of Wood – Shemie
  • Houses of Earth and Shell – Shemie
  • Houses of Adobe – Shemie
  • Long Ago Lake – Wilkins
  • Crinkleroot Guides – Arnosky

Awareness Activities

  • Keepers of the Night – Caduto and Bruchac
  • Earthways – Petrash
  • Native American Crafts Workshop – Bernstein
  • Traditional Native American Crafts and Activities – Braman
  • Sharing Nature with Children 1 & 2 – Cornell
  • Sharing the Joy of Nature – Cornell
  • Talking to Fireflies, Shrinking the Moon – Duensing
  • Kamana for Kids – Repoley
  • The Young Naturalist – Repoley
  • Keeping a Nature Journal – Leslie
  • Ecoart! – Carlson
  • Good Earth Art – Kohl
  • Earth Child 2000 – Sheehan
  • Keepers of the Earth – Caduto

Reconnecting

  • The Other Way to Listen – Baylor
  • Giving Tree – Silverstein
  • Weslandia – Fleischman
  • Everybody Needs a Rock – Baylor
  • Guy Flowering Plum Tree – Stemp
  • The Great Change – White Deer
  • Moonsong Lullaby – Highwater
  • Into the Woods – Krupinski
  • Tree of Life – Jackson
  • Chipmunk Song – Ryder
  • Beyond the Ridge – Goble
  • Great Kapok Tree – Cherry
  • A River Ran Wild – Cherry

Feral/Rewilding

  • Wild Children – Landau
  • The Boy Who Ran with Gazelles- Mayer
  • The Wild Boy – Gerstein
  • The Wolf Girls – Yolen
  • The Mystery of Human Wolves – Wilson
  • Children of the Wild – Burger
  • The Forest Child – Edwards
  • Wild Child – Plourde
  • The Girl who Loved Wild Horses – Goble
  • Salamander Room – Mazer
  • Jaguar in the Rainforest – Ryder
  • Adopted by Eagles – Goble
  • Lost Colony of Roanoke – Fritz
  • Dream Wolf – Goble
  • Dark Horse – Sedgwick
  • Wild Girl – Wormwell
  • Man Eating Bugs – Menzel

Fauna/Animal Relations

  • Keepers of the Animals – Caduto
  • Skull Alphabet Book – Pallotta
  • Amigo – Baylor
  • Claws, Coats, and Camouflage – Goodman
  • Hawk, I’m Your Brother – Baylor
  • Out in the Night – Liptak
  • Desert Voices – Baylor
  • Thanks to the Animals – Sockabaskin
  • Whale Brother – Steiner
  • Boy Who Spoke Dog – Morgan
  • Big Tracks, Little Tracks – Selsman
  • Animal Tracks – Dorros
  • Tracks in the Wild – Bowen
  • Julie of the Wolves – George

Edible/Medicinal Plants

  • Green Magic – Kelly
  • Fiddleheads and Mustard Blossoms – Derevitzky
  • Lobster Pots and Searocket Sandwiches – Derevitzky
  • Edible Wild Plants of Eastern North America – Fernald
  • Wild Plants You Can Eat – Young
  • Wild Edibles – Hamilton
  • Wild Foods – Pringle
  • Milkweed and Winkles
  • Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad and Other Wild Dishes – George
  • Wild, Wild Cookbook – George
  • Medicines from Nature – Thomas
  • Ethnobotany – Young
  • >From Earth to Beyond Sky – Wolfson
  • Song of Seven Herbs – Walking Night Bear
  • Mysteries of the Rain Forest: 20th Century Medicine Men – Pascoe
  • Keepers of Life – Caduto
  • Wildflower Tea – Pochocki
  • North American Indian Medicine – Liptak
  • My Grandfather is a Magician – Onyefulu
  • Honeysuckle Sipping – Chesanow
  • Miranda’s Magical Garden – Atnip
  • Herbalist of Yarrow – de la Tour
  • Shaman’s Apprentice – Cherry
  • Wildflowers Around the Year – Ryden
  • Shanleya’s Quest – Elpel

Mushrooms

  • Good Mushrooms and Bad Toadstools – Fowler
  • Mushrooms – Laessoe
  • Mushrooms of the World to Color – Bowers
  • Mushroom Hunt – Frazer
  • Katya’s Book of Mushrooms – Arnold
  • Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet – Cameron
  • Instant Guide to Mushrooms and Other Fungi – Lawrence
  • Mushroom Man – Pochocki
  • Sebastian and the Mushroom – Krann

Permaculture

  • Our Allotment – Burnett
  • Permaculture: A Beginner’s Guide – Burnett
  • ABC’s of Permaculture – Zine
  • Native American Gardening – Caduto
  • Compost, By Gosh! – Portman
  • Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap – Roulston
  • In the Three Sisters Garden – Dennee
  • The Secret Garden – Burnett

General Indigenous

  • Australian Aborigines – Nile (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Saami of Lapland – Vitebsky (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Maori – McDonald (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Kurds – King (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Kalahari Bushmen – Barnard (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Rainforest Amerindians – Lweington (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Tibetans – Kendra (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Bedouin – King (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Inuit – Alexander (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Romanichal Gypsies – Acton (Threatened Cultures series)
  • Atlas of Threatened Cultures – Mason
  • Efe – Siy
  • Penen – Siy
  • Eeyou – Siy
  • Waorani – Siy
  • Black Indians – Katz
  • A Journey to New York – Norberg-Hodge
  • The People Shall Continue – Ortiz
  • Coyote Columbus – King
  • When Clay Sings – Baylor
  • Erandi’s Braids – dePaola
  • Whale Rider – Ihimaera
  • Clambake – Peters

Indigenous Resistance

  • Story of Colors – Subcomandante Marcos
  • Questions and Swords – Subcomandante Marcos
  • Brave Eagle’s Account of the Fetterman Fight – Goble
  • A Boy Called Slow – Bruchac
  • Crazy Horse’s Vision – Bruchac
  • Red Hawk’s Account of Custer’s Last Stand – Goble
  • Rabbit-Proof Fence – Pilkington
  • Battlefields and Burial Grounds – Echo Hawk
  • Death of the Iron Horse – Goble
  • The Defenders – McGovern
  • Osceola: Seminole Warrior- Oppenheim
  • Osceola:1804-1838 – Koestler
  • Cochise – Schwartz
  • With All My Might – Dean
  • Geronimo: Apache Warrior – Haugen
  • Geronimo: Wolf on the Warpath – Moody
  • Geronimo: Apache Freedom Fighter – Hermann
  • Sitting Bull Remembers – Turner
  • The Story of Sitting Bull – Eisenberg
  • Tecumseh: Shawnee War Chief – Fleischer
  • These Lands are Ours – Connell
  • Crazy Horse: Sioux Warrior – Haugen
  • Crazy Horse – St. George
  • Black Elk – Shaw
  • Ishi – Peterson
  • Not Guilty – Sullivan

General Anti-Authoritarian

  • Yertle the Turtle – Seuss
  • The Sneetches – Seuss
  • The Butter Battle Book – Seuss
  • Anarchist Farm – Jane Doe
  • Harold and Maude
  • Table where Rich People Sit – Baylor
  • Tacky the Penguin – Lester
  • Araboolies of Liberty Street – Swope
  • Work, Work, Work – Quinn
  • Anarchist Stories for Children – DeVoy
  • Calvin and Hobbes Guide to Life – Banks
  • Children’s Guide to Nihilism – Aragorn!
  • Bear and Raccoon Stories – Aragorn!
  • Anti-Authoritarian ABC’s zine

Anti-Authoritarian Individuals

  • Life and Times of Emma Goldman – Emma Goldman Papers Project
  • A Visit to William Blake’s Inn – Willard
  • Zhuangzi Speaks – Chih-chung Ts’ai
  • The Trouble with Henry: A Tale of Walden Pond – O’Neil
  • A Man Named Thoreau – Burleigh
  • Into the Deep Forest with Thoreau -Murphy
  • Henry David’s House – Schnur
  • Walking with Henry – Locker
  • A Hound, a Bay Horse, a Turtle Dove – Wood
  • What Befell at Mrs. Brooks – Overlie
  • A Mind with Wings – JHusman
  • Luisa May and Mr.Thoreau’s Flute – Dunlap
  • Henry David Thoreau – Reef
  • Henry David Thoreau: Writer and Rebel – Stern
  • Henry Works – Johnson
  • Henry Climbs a Mountain – Johnson
  • Henry Builds a Cabin – Johnson
  • Henry Hikes to Fitchburg – Johnson

Insurrection/Creation

  • Where the Wild Things Are – Sendak
  • The Secret World of Duvbo – CrimethInc
  • I’m in Charge of Celebrations – Baylor
  • Super Cilantro Girl – Herrera
  • Math Curse – Scieszka
  • Piggy in the Puddle – Pomerantz
  • Naughty Parents – Gosney
  • The Way to Start a Day – Baylor
  • Uno’s Garden – Base

Direct Action

  • The Luddites – Liversidge
  • The Story of John Brown’s Raid – Kent
  • The Lorax – Seuss
  • Hoot – Hiaasen
  • Flush – Hiaasen
  • The Sheep Look Up – Brunner
  • Quest for the Faradawn – Ford
  • Little Squatter’s Handbook – Cordelia and Ziggy
  • Pom Poko (video)
  • Missing from Haymerket Square – Robinet
  • Breaking Free: The Adventures of Tintin – Daniels
  • Farewell to Shady Glade – Peet

Miscellaneous (Fiction/Homesteading/Self-Sufficiency)

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins – O’Dell
  • Snow Walker (video)
  • Fire-Us – Armstrong and Butcher
  • Tuck Everlasting – Babbitt
  • Hatchet – Paulsen
  • Touching Spirit Bear – Mikaelsen
  • Heidi – Spyri
  • Watership Down – Adams
  • The Blue Butterfly (video)
  • Erandi’s Braids – de Paola
  • My Side of the Mountain – George
  • One Small Blue Bead – Baylor
  • Lobo of the Tasaday – Nance

More Books:

  • Si, Se Puede!/Yes, We Can!: Janitor Strike In L.A. -Diana Cohn
  • Conversations With Durito: Stories Of The Zapatistas And Neoliberalism -
  • Subcomandante Marcos
  • Los Historios de los Colores by Subcomandante Marcos
  • Selavi, That is Life: A Haitian Story of Hope – Youme Landowne
  • Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson
  • Let’s Get A Pup! Said Kate by Bob Graham
  • bell hooks
  • Phillip Pullman
  • Sally Lockhart books by Phillip Pullman: The Ruby in the Smoke, The
  • Shadow in the North, The Tiger in the Well and The Tin Princess
  • Carly by Annegert Fuchshuber and Florence Howe
  • Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
  • Super Cilantro Girl by Juan Felipe Herrera and Honorio Robleda Tapia
  • Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and Lynn Munsinger
  • The Araboolies of Liberty Street by Sam Swope
  • The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko
  • The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
  • The mysterious adventures of Edward Tulane by Kate Dicamillo and Bagram Ibatoulline
  • The tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
  • Rabbit Island by Jorg Steiner
  • The Bear Who Wanted To Be A Bear by Jorg Steiner and Jorg Mueller
  • Sitting Ducks by Michael Bedard
  • Brave Potatoes by Toby Speed & Barry Root
  • The Pirate Queen by Emily Arnold McCully
  • Oh Lord, I wish I was a Buzzard by Polly Greenberg & Aliki
  • The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin
  • Nanabosho: How the Turtle Got its Shell by Joe McLellan
  • Crocodile Crocodile by Peter Nickl
  • Kids On Strike photo book by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
  • The Future Generation: a Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others, 2007, Atomic Book Company – China Martens
  • My Mother Wears Combat Boots, (2007 ? or 08) PM Press – Jessica Mills
  • My Baby Rides The Shortbus -PM PRESS
  • Just Pretend: A Freethought Book for Children – Barker

Harriette Gillem Robinet

  • TWELVE TRAVELERS, TWENTY HORSES (Atheneum 2003)
  • MISSING FROM HAYMARKET SQUARE (Atheneum 2001)
  • WALKING TO THE BUS RIDER BLUES (Atheneum 2000)
  • FORTY ACRES AND MAYBE A MULE (Atheneum 1998)
  • THE TWINS, THE PIRATES, AND THE BATTLE OF NEW OREANS (Atheneum 1997)
  • WASHINGTON CITY IS BURNING (Atheneum 1996)
  • IF YOU PLEASE, PRESIDENT LINCOLN (Atheneum 1995)
  • MISSISSIPPI CHARIOT (Atheneum 1994)
  • CHILDREN OF THE FIRE (Atheneum 1991)
  • RIDE THE RED CYCLE (Houghton Mifflin 1980)
  • JAY AND THE MARIGOLD (Childrens Press 1976)