Social Justice Books

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

Boy, Everywhere

Book Review by Kirin Nabi Review Source: Islamic School Librarian Book Author: In a very crowded field of refugee-themed books, this 400 page middle grades/early middle school novel sets itself apart by really focusing on the quality of life enjoyed in Syria compared to the life of a refugee on the move and in getting […]

Risking Everything: A Freedom Summer Reader

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: This year marks the 50th anniversary of a milestone event in U.S. history, Freedom Summer. The largest collection of primary documents from Freedom Summer is now housed (much available online) at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Continue reading.

The Teachers March! How Selma’s Teachers Changed History

Reviewed by Jenice L. View Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Overall, this book is very well researched and cited. It centers Black people, their strategic thinking, and their agency at a time when the national story of the Black freedom movement was being complicated by heightened white supremacist violence, rising resistance to the […]

Julian Bond’s Time to Teach: A History of the Southern Civil Rights Movement

Reviewed Source:  Zinn Education Project Book Author: Horace “Julian” Bond was an influential social justice activist, politician, and visionary who is best known as one of the founders of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). For over two decades, he taught a popular class at the University of Virginia on the history of the Civil […]

Celebrate People’s History: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution

Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: It’s easy to lose oneself in this rich collection of more than 100 posters edited by Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative member Josh MacPhee. The beautiful posters, representing a range of artists and events in U.S. and world history, were originally posted in public spaces to counter the “endless barrage of […]

Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race

Reviewed by Makai Kellogg Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race is the book we’ve been waiting for! The team (Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas) did an incredible thing: they explained race and racism to young children. Not only did they do it in a few […]