Social Justice Books

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

The First Rule of Punk

Reviewed by Lettycia Terrones Review Source: Latinos in Kid Lit Book Author: There is a scene half-way through Celia C. Pérez’s brilliant middle-grade novel The First Rule of Punk that pulls so powerfully at the heartstrings of all those who have ever struggled with forming their identity as a minoritized person in the U.S. Having just wrapped up […]

My Beautiful Birds

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: This picture book about a child and his family fleeing the destruction of their beloved town in Syria features exquisite mixed-media art. Sami, the protagonist, is worried about the survival of his pet pigeons as his family makes the long trek to a refugee […]

Fall in Line, Holden!

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Holden–the little boy in the story–is a combination of the author, his dad, and his nephew. Three things that especially appeal to me are… First, that the little boy’s imagination is the heart of the story. Turning the pages, you’ll see what […]

Crossing Ebenezer Creek

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: This is an extraordinary book of historical fiction about the December 9, 1864 Massacre at Ebenezer Creek, where, on the march to Savannah, thousands of African American families who had just escaped from slavery were left to drown by Sherman’s Army. The protagonist of the book […]

Book Uncle and Me

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: Nine-year-old Yasmin Kader, who lives in India, is an avid reader. Her favorite place to visit is the Book Uncle’s free outdoor lending library. His mantra is, “Right book for the right person for the right day.” One day the “right book” he lends her is […]

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: “Where is our historian to give us our side? To teach our people our own history?” asks Afro-Puerto Rican Arturo Schomburg on the first page of this beautifully illustrated picture book. Schomburg’s 5th-grade teacher had told him “Africa’s sons and daughters had no history, […]