This paper defines visual literacy, provides a synopsis of the current research on political awareness among today's youth, and shows how using political cartoons with children and adolescents will enhance their political cognition. It introduces the political cartoon, defining and describing what makes a political cartoon particularly effective in terms of teaching visual literacy. The political cartoon may be one means by which politics can be more relevant to the young. It is a visual editorial, an interpretive picture which makes use of symbolism and bold and humorous exaggeration to present a message or point of view concerning people, events, or situations. The political cartoon can be used with young people to teach visual literacy by: (1) training the right hemisphere of the brain; (2) training for familiarity of conventions; (3) teaching abstractness and symbolism, decoding strategies, ridicule, satire, and parody; (4) helping children learn to glean abstract meaning from visual literacy; (5) training children to communicate in nonverbal ways; (6) helping children operate at higher cognitive levels through creative and critical thinking; (7) enhancing the political cognition of the young; teaching concepts of conflict, dissent, and criticism in politics; and (8) helping make the young more realistic consumers of U.S. politics. Appendices describing the editorial cartoon and a model for interpreting editorial cartoons are provided. (Author/SWC)