Oh, The Things We're For

“Nagara’s direct, pragmatic approach to activism for a child audience reaches new levels of specificity and real-world application in this book … Vibrant colors infuse Nagara’s expressive, textured illustrations, which feature a diverse range of humans, protest signs, and symbolic as well as literal depictions of societal issues and potential solutions…. An accessible, all-too-timely manifesto for young activists (and everyone else).” —Kirkus Reviews “With Seussian rhyme, Nagara crafts a progressive call-to-arms about social justice topics, including universal health care, climate change, free public education, and prison abolition. Utilizing a framing device—a child questioned by skeptics—Nagara walks readers through a rhythmic summation of contemporary issues. Busily colorful digital art combines textures, gradients, and typography, reinforcing the energy with which Nagara conveys the necessity of standing up for various rights. Though the book meanders across a wide range of topics, and the rhyme prizes levity over clarity (“Look up! you exclaim./ What do you see?/ A HUGE ball of plasma!/ Clean energy for free!”), this primer offers a useful starting point for readers seeking to begin conversations about social justice.” —Publishers Weekly

INNOSANTO NAGARA’s new-wave board books encourage children to grow up with confidence in themselves, and to be proactive citizens who are passionate about causes from environmental issues to LGBTQ rights and civil rights.

Nagara was born and raised in Indonesia, and moved to the US in 1988. After studying zoology and philosophy at UC Davis, 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.