Social Justice Books

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

One Shadow on the Wall

Reviewed by Marame Gueye, Ph.D. Review Source:  Africa Access Book Author: Set in present day Senegal, One Shadow on the Wall is about an interrupted childhood, one’s resolve to keep promises in spite of temptations, as well as a community’s daily struggle to make life meaningful. Told in the third person point of view, Leah Henderson’s debut novel take […]

nipêhon/I Wait

Reviewed by Alia Jones Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: nipêhon/I Wait by Caitlin Dale Nicholson and Leona Morin-Neilson is a follow up to their 2008 book Niwechihaw/I Help. This time, instead of a little Cree boy following his grandmother to pick rosehips, we meet a little Cree girl out with her grandmother and mother […]

Bowwow Powwow

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Due out on May 1, of 2018, is an absolutely terrific book, Bowwow Powwow, written by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe). The story she tells was translated into Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain (Lac La Croix First Nation), and Jonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe) did the extraordinary […]

Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877

Reviewed by Adam Sanchez Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: Tanya Bolden’s Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877 is one of the few non-fiction texts on Reconstruction aimed at young readers. It is a strong alternative to the textbook treatment of the era. Like many textbooks, Cause focuses mainly on the battles between President Andrew Johnson and Congress, […]

Forty Acres and Maybe a Mule

Reviewed by: Adam Sanchez Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: This chapter book of historical fiction by Harriette Gillem Robinet is one of the best resources available for elementary school classrooms on the Reconstruction era. 40 Acres and Maybe a Mule tells the story of Pascal, who is still enslaved at the end of the Civil War. When […]

The Parker Inheritance

Reviewed by Edith Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Candace Miller, a young African American girl, and her mother move into the home that once belonged to her grandmother while their own home is being renovated. Her parents have divorce and they need to prepare the house for sale. This temporary residence is in […]