From Amazon: Join a diverse group of kids on a busy school day as they discover so many different ways to speak up and make their voices heard! From shouting out gratitude for a special treat to challenging a rule that isn’t fair, these young students show that simple, everyday actions can help people and make the world a better place.

This story tells children that they should "speak up" to defend themselves, defend others, share their feelings, and more. The last pages of the book share stories of real kids who spoke up in order to express themselves.

Sing-song rhymes about speaking up when the situation calls for it are paired with bright illustrations depicting a diverse range of children in this picture-book examination of civic responsibility. The reader is instructed (amongst other things) to speak out against unjust rules, to take the part of those being bullied, to acknowledge when they have made a mistake, to share a secret if someone is in danger, and to take the lead and set a good example. The book closes with an afterword giving more information about young people who did speak up, and a handy chart for determining when it is appropriate to do so...

Speak Up is a sweet little book, with a catchy rhyming text that would make for a good read-aloud, and cute, cartoon-style illustrations featuring children of all kinds. What really elevates it above the plethora of generic "do right" books I have seen, and makes it truly suitable for civics education, is that rather than promoting a one-size-fits-all solution, it encourages the child to think about the situation they are confronting, and to consider what action is most appropriate for those specific circumstances. The chart contained in the afterword lists situations where speaking out is appropriate (someone is in danger, there is an emergency), and times where it isn't (bad behavior is accidental or unintentional). The latter is a very important ethical distinction, one that I often see being deliberately ignored by many self-identified social justice advocates, who argue that intention is irrelevant. It is therefore very good to see it being raised here, in a book for young children. Recommended to picture-book readers seeking titles that can be used to teach good ethical reasoning, and to help build good citizens. ( )

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