Synopses & Reviews
A is for Activist is an ABC board book written and illustrated for the next generation of progressives: families who want their kids to grow up in a space that is unapologetic about activism, environmental justice, civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and everything else that activists believe in and fight for.
The alliteration, rhyming, and vibrant illustrations make the book exciting for children, while the issues it brings up resonate with their parents' values of community, equality, and justice. This engaging little book carries huge messages as it inspires hope for the future, and calls children to action while teaching them a love for books.
Review
"Finally! A sassy and heartwarming board book to teach our children the alphabet of humane values. Innosanto Nagara knows that activism begins in the cradle, but to be sustainable, it has to be wide-ranging, deep-rooted, and based ultimately on a sense of fun and community. A is for Activist covers all this ground with a playful rhyming style that makes you want to turn the pages and read the book over and over again.The illustrations are so colorful, beautifully executed, little works of art in and of themselves. What a great book for children of all ages." Julia Alvarez, author of A Wedding in Haiti: the Story of a Friendship and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Review
"Full of wit, beauty, and fun, we can think of no better way to learn the alphabet." Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis, author of The Shock Doctrine / filmmaker
Review
"Fun, funny, exquisitely illustrated and brilliantly written with a message that is sure to resonate with kids. May a thousand young activists bloom!" Medea Benjamin, cofounder of Global Exchange and Code Pink
Review
"The alliteration and rhymes have the rhythm and fun of standard ABC books, burrowing into little ears and prompting memorization and spontaneous recitation." Yes! Magazine
About the Author
Innosanto Nagara was born and raised in Indonesia, and moved to the US in 1988 to study zoology and philosophy at UC Davis. Upon graduation, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he worked as a graphic designer for a range of social change organizations, before founding the Design Action Collective, a worker-owned cooperative design studio in Oakland, California, that is dedicated to "serving the Movement." Inno lives in a cohousing community in Oakland where his child is the youngest of eight children to be born into the household, so he has "studied" a lot of children's books over the past twelve years. A is for Activist is Inno's first book.