Social Justice Books

Critically reviewed selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators.

Sisters of the Neversea

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Reviewed Source: @debreese Book Author: I’ve been looking forward to SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Today I’m going to start reading it, and will be doing a tweet-review as I do, noting things that stand out to me. Here’s the cover, by Floyd Cooper.  Continue reading.

Crossing the Stream

Reviewed by Barbara A. Lehman Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: This fine novel for middle-graders is set in contemporary Ghana and realistically depicts the lives of its protagonists: Ato, age 12, and his two best friends, Dzifa (a bold, nonconformist girl — viewed by other parents as “wild”) and Leslie (a cautious, germophobic boy). […]

Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author:  In some books, I find one thing after another that I absolutely adore. Sharice’s Big Voice is one of those books. First example? The back cover. It is a page from inside. It looks like this: On that page, Sharice is studying. A stack of […]

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Reviewed by Stergios Botzakis  Review Source: Graphic Novel Resources Book Author:  Marjane Satrapi was in elementary school when the Shah was ousted from power in Iran and a conservative Islamic regime took control. Because her family had communist and socialist leanings, as well as a distant familial relationship to the deposed Shah, they had to navigate a perilous political landscape. […]

Portraits of Racial Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: In his preface to Portraits of Racial Justice, Robert Shetterly describes his new volume as “an art book, a history book, a curriculum, a manifesto. It is a community of people unafraid to name the failures of this country and the injustices of power that benefit […]

Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author:  Lessons in Liber­ation successfully sets out to answer a critical question: What does aboli­tionist education look like in practice? Lessons in Libera­tion pulls together a stunning mix of background articles and teaching ideas, all aimed at being useful for educators and community activists interested in […]