• Age: 3 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

We’re going to a peaceful protest because … Momma’s going to march!

Momma’s Going to March follows several children over time as they accompany their mothers to different peaceful protest marches, where they advocate for the environment, freedom, equality, peace and clean water. They help make signs and banners, decorate wagons, carry flags and beat drums. Momma shows them that advocacy can be fun … and that they can do it, too!

With accessible text and engaging artwork, Momma’s Going to March will empower a generation of young activists. Includes an author’s note, brief descriptions of a select number of historical marches, and further information on the use of signs, flags, banners, drums and more in peaceful protests.

Key Text Features

illustrations

author's note

historical note

historical context

Jennifer Maruno began her publishing career with award winning educational materials for The Peel District School Board and the Ontario Ministry of Education. She is one of the authors of Explorations, a mathematics program for Addison-Wesley of Canada, and worked with TVO in developing teaching materials for the television show Mathica's Mathshop. For her contributions to educational writing, she received the Federation of Women Teachers Writing Award, the National Council of Teachers Award of Excellence and The Award of Merit from the National School Public Relations Association. She holds a Masters of Education, Principal's and Primary Specialists certification and is a graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature and the Humber School of Writers summer program.Her short stories have appeared in a variety of children's magazines in Great Britain, United States and Canada. Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Jennifer came from a book loving family. She worked as a library helper in the old red brick library on Victoria Avenue while attending Valley Way Public school. Her childhood ambition was to have a book with her name on the spine sitting on the shelf.Her first children's novel, When the Cherry Blossoms Fell won nominations for the Hackmatack and Young Readers of Canada Awards.Educator, researcher and author, Jennifer Maruno knows stories provide much more than entertainment. From the pages of Canadian history, she creates novels empathetic to those who have experienced the darker side of our past. Maruno's understanding of the importance of cultural identity has brought When the Cherry Blossoms Fell, Cherry Blossom Winter and Cherry Blossom Baseball based on the Japanese Internment and Warbird a novel of early Jesuit life among the Huron people.Details of Kid Soldier, Jennifer's fourth novel for children, come from her father's diary. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces under age and set out for England. Enroute Britain declared war. Totem, the story of a boy seeking his identity from the confines of a residential school, was written at a time most necessary to Truth & ReconciliationJennifer lives in Burlington, Ontario with her husband spending her time weeding her David Austin roses, writing and reading to grandchildren.Laurel Keating is an award-winning artist whose illustrations are familiar to Newfoundlanders. With an eye for detail and sympathy for all living things, Laurel brings her characters to life with warmth and humour. Children have delighted in her rich and colourful illustrations in Find Scruncheon and Touton (1 and 2) and Yaffle's Journey and Full Speed Ahead: Errol's Bell Island Adventure. She lives in scenic Portugal Cove, which she has called home all her life.

Jennifer Maruno's profile page

Vivian Rosas is a queer Mestizx/Latinx artist based in Toronto. Her illustrations and murals often explore themes of feminism, empowerment and diversity. She is the illustrator of Better Connected by Tanya Lloyd Kyi, a children's book about how girls are using social media for good. Her work has been commissioned by Pride Toronto and appeared in such publications as the Globe and Mail and The Walrus.

Vivian Rosas' profile page

A colorful, joyful introduction to marches and their various facets.

Booklist

A recommended and useful introduction to the democratic right to protest.

School Library Journal

Young readers and their families will be inspired to join social movements wherever they take place. ... A beautifully illustrated, family-friendly guide to activism.

Kirkus Reviews