Social Justice Books

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

Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend: A Civil Rights Story

Reviewed by: Rebecca Lehr Book Author: As Alex’s mother shops for a quilt in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, he sits outside and spots an old mule eating collard greens from a garden. An elderly woman, Miz Pettway, sits down next to him and begins to tell him why Belle, the mule, is allowed to eat all […]

Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon

Reviewed by: Rebecca Lehr Book Author: Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon tells of the celebrated architect’s path from his childhood in 1950’s Philadelphia to designing the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Beginning with Freelon’s personal struggles with reading and strengths in math and visual arts, it then takes […]

Stolen Justice: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights

Reviewed by Edi Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Authors: OUT OF PRINT I didn’t begin to appreciate nonfiction until my adult years. During my childhood, nonfiction I think was primarily written for for adults; particularly white, male adults. Even more so, it was a dry, informational text, a text that led readers to think it was […]

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You

Reviewed by Edi Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Authors: I didn’t begin to appreciate nonfiction until my adult years. During my childhood, nonfiction I think was primarily written for for adults; particularly white, male adults. Even more so, it was a dry, informational text, a text that led readers to think it was delivering honest, bias […]

Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-In

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Every year in the Zinn Education Project “this day in history” series, we feature the story of high school history teacher Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma who began sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters at the Katz Drugstore on Aug. 19, 1958. This was […]

Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family

Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: Illustrator Elizabeth Zunon has illustrated more than 15 books, three of which have received Children’s Africana Book Awards, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, One Plastic Bag: Isatou Seesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul and this book, Grandpa Cacao, A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to […]