We’re so excited to share this comprehensive guide to vegan children’s books. Whether you’re looking for books to read to your own little one(s), or you’re searching for compassionate books to gift to the young people in your life, we’ve got you covered!
In this guide, we’ve compiled the best and most popular books written specifically for vegan kids (that talk about why we don’t eat animals, highlight vegan superheroes, share farm animal rescue stories, and beyond). We’ve also included books that would make great gifts for any kids—plant-based or not—that help build values of compassion, kindness, and mindfulness.
These are exciting times we’re living in. Scroll back just a decade and there were virtually zero kids books written specifically for vegan kids. Parents were left to their own devices to try and navigate these topics with their kids. Today, there are new vegan children’s books published every year and there are more vegan children’s books than ever before. Which is a really good thing.
Now more than ever we need to teach our little ones that compassion and kindness go a long way, and what better way to do this than through precious reading time.
Ready to dig into our top picks?
Vegan Children’s Books
These books are so beautiful and carefully written! Each of them touches the topic of compassion and empathy for animals in a different way but they all share the same core: animals are our equals. We picked from all age ranges for you to have a broad selection!
- V Is For Vegan: The ABCs of Being Kind by Ruby Roth (Ages 3 – 7)
- That’s Why We Don’t Eat Animals by Ruby Roth (Ages 6 – 9)
- Vegan Is Love by Ruby Roth (Ages 7 – 10)
- The Vegan Alphabet Book by Miss E. E. Bertram (Ages 2 – 6)
- Sprig The Rescue Pig by Leslie Crawford (Ages 4 – 7)
- Gwen The Rescue Hen by Leslie Crawford (Ages 4 – 7)
- Linus The Vegetarian T-Rex by Robert Neubecker (4 – 8)
- The Adventures of Esther The Wonder Pig by Steve Jenkins, Derek Walter & Caprice Crane (Ages 6 – 9)
- Junebug: No Life Too Small by Nicole Daniels and Addy Rivera Sonda (Ages 5 – 6)
- Just Like Me by Stanley Foo (Ages 2 – 5)
- I’m A Super Vegan by Katie Clark (Ages 1 – 7)
- We All Love by Julie Hausen (Ages 1 – 7)
- Steven The Vegan by Dan Bodenstein (Ages 4 – 8)
- That’s Not My Momma’s Milk by Julia Barcalow (Ages 0 – 7)
- Dave Loves Chickens by Carlos Patino (Ages 2 – 6)
- Vivi The Super Vegan by Tina Newman (Ages 5 – 9)
- Not A Nugget by Stephanie Dreyer (Ages 2 – 5)
- Charlie to the Rescue by Kara Maria (Ages 3 – 7)
- Santa’s First Vegan Christmas by Robin Raven and Kara Maria
- Little Animals, Mean World series of 5 books by Angela Prada-Moed (Ages 9+, contains difficult subject matter, use these vegan kids books to help educate about animal cruelty issues.)
- What Is A Vegan? by Andrew Miele and Justin Gray (Ages 5 – 7)
- Vegan Family by Randi Seltzer Bonica and Abby Broussard (Ages 2 – 5)
- Jake & Ava: A Boy And A Fish by Jonathan Balcombe & Rebecca Evans (Ages 3 – 7
Recommended Children’s Books (That Aren’t Specifically Vegan)
If you prefer to share kindness with the littles ones without a focus on veganism, you also have plenty of options! These would be a great option if you need to gift non-vegan kids or families. These will do the trick, for sure!
- I’ll Love You Till The Cows Come Home (Ages 1 – 6)
- Slumberkins (All ages)
- Bad Day by Ruby Roth (Ages 3 – 7)
- I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde (Ages 4 – 8)
- The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, & The Horse by Charlie Mackesy (Ages 5 – Adult)
- What You Do Matters by Kobi Yamada (Ages 5 – 8)
- Care For Our World by Karen S. Robbins & M.H Clark (Ages 5 – 6)
- The One And Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Ages 8 – 12)
- The Watcher: Jane Goodall’s Life With The Chimps by Jeanette Winter
- The Lonely Polar Bear by Khoa Lee
- Don’t Let Them Disappear: 12 Endangered Species Around The World by Chelsea Clinton
- Chirri and Chira: The Snowy Day (Preschool – 3rd Grade)
Vegan Kids Cookbooks
Teaching kids how to cook healthy food from a young age will benefit them for the rest of their lives! Giving them this skill and allowing them to fend for themselves in the kitchen can help them boost their confidence and awaken a love for healthy food!
- The Vegan Cookbook for Kids by Barb Musick
- The Vegucated Family Table by Marisa Miller Wolfson and Laura Delhauer
- Plant-Powered Families by Dreena Burton
- The Help Yourself Cookbook For Kids by Ruby Roth (Ages 6 – 12)
We’ve also had lots of families share how much their kids love the recipes from The Friendly Vegan Cookbook!
Try giving your child a cookbook and allowing them to pick out a recipe that you’ll cook for them. This is a great way to involve and empower them in the kitchen—without the mess!
A Growing Movement Of Vegan Kids & Vegan Parents
We have to give a big shout out to Ruby Roth, one of the first visionaries and vegan children’s book authors to emerge. She really paved the way for the books that followed. As a vegan teacher, she saw the urgent need to start spreading kindness form a very early age, which led her to write three vegan children storybooks and a vegan kids cookbook.
We all want the world to be a better place for all living beings, right? Spreading the vegan message is not only achieved in conversations or by sharing animal welfare-related posts on social media, but you can also pay attention to what the little ones in your life read. Teaching compassion and kindness is the best way to ensure that our future generations do better than our previous ones.
More Vegan Kids Resources
Kids are the future, and teaching kindness and healthy habits from a young age can change the world. That’s why we’re so passionate about bringing lots of resources for kids (and parents, and aunties, and uncles, and friends) to inspire compassion in the next generation. Here are some of our other favorite resources for vegan kids:
- Printer-Friendly Vegan Coloring Page
- Free Printable Vegan Zentangle (Coloring Page)
- Printable Kids Maze and Vegan Activity Book
- How to Live Without Bacon | Kids Edition
- 10 Vegan Kid-Approved Meals That Parents Will Love Too
- “We Raise Our Kids 99% Vegan—And Here’s Why”
Cover photograph for this vegan kids book guide was designed by Michelle Cehn with Canva. This guide is not sponsored, and we only share products and companies we sincerely adore! This article does contain affiliate links, and shopping through these links supports World of Vegan. Thank you, and happy reading!
