Social Justice Books

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

Afro-Latinx Titles

See more recommended titles: Cuba, Latinx and Latin America, Puerto Rico, Spanish/Bilingual.

This list of books was carefully selected by Teaching for Change. It is a short list because there are far too few books in print for children and young adults featuring Afro-Latinxs. Let us know if you have additional titles to recommend and let your local library or bookstore know you would like to see these titles in stock so that publishers are pressured to produce more Afro-Latinx titles.

Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk (*).

Elementary | Middle | High School / Adult

Elementary

The Bronx Is My Home
By Alyssa Reynoso-Morris and Kim Holt (Illustrator)

Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella
By Robert D. San Souci and Brian Pinkney (Illustrator)

Clemente!
By Willie Perdomo, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Drummer Boy of John John
By Mark Greenwood, Frane Lessac

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music
By Margarita Engle, Rafael Lopez (Illustrator)

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti
By Edwidge Danticat, Alix Delinois (Illustrator)

Freedom Braids
By Monique Duncan and Oboh Moses (Illustrator)

Grandma's Gift *
By Eric Velasquez

Grandma's Records
By Eric Velasquez, Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

Isabella's Hair and How She Learned to Love It
By Marshalla Soriano Ramos and Michael Murphy (Illustrator)

Islandborn*
By Junot Diaz, Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)

Julián at the Wedding
By Jessica Love

Julián Is a Mermaid*
By Jessica Love

Kitchen Dance
By Maurie J. Manning

Looking for Bongo
By Eric Velasquez

Little Night / Nochecita*
By Yuyi Morales

Luis Paints the World*
By Terri Farish

Octopus Stew
By Eric Velasquez

Pele, King of Soccer/Pele, El Rey del Futbol
By Monica Brown, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)

Pelo Bueno *
By Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

Soccer Star
By Mina Javaherbin, Renato Alarcao (Illustrator)

Tan to Tamarind: Poems about the Color Brown
By Malathai Iyengar, Jamel Akib (Illustrator)

Yo Soy Muslim link to Powells Books.com

Yo Soy Muslim: A Father's Letter to His Daughter *
By Malathai Iyengar, Jamel Akib (Illustrator)

Middle Grades

Call Me Maria
By Judith Ortiz Cofer

The Dominican Republic
By Anne Gallin (Editor), Ruth Glasser (Editor), Jocelyn Santana (Editor)

El Color de mis Palabras = The Color of My Words
By Lynn Joseph, Alberto Jimenez Rioja (Translator)

The Walls of Cartagena
By Julia Durango, Tom Pohrt (Illustrator)

High School / Adult

Afro-Latin American Studies: An Introduction
Edited by Alejandro de la Fuente and George Reid Andrews

The Autobiography of Maria Elena Moyano: The Life and Death of a Peruvian Activist
By Diana M. Tupac (Editor), Patricia Taylor Edmisten (Translator)

Down These Mean Streets
By Piri Thomas

Drown
By Junot Diaz

I Am Alfonso Jones*
By Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson (Illustrator), and John Jennings (Illustrator), foreword by Bryan Stevenson


Inheritance: A Visual Poem
By Elizabeth Acevedo and Andrea Pippins (Illustrator)

Krik? Krak!
By Edwidge Danticat

The Poet X*
By Elizabeth Acevedo

Secret Saturdays
By Torrey Maldonado

Shadowshaper *
By Daniel Jose Older

Shadowhouse Fall
By Daniel Jose Older

Show and Prove
By Sofia Quintero

Stepmotherland
By Darrel Alejandro Holnes
Stepmotherland Study Guide

With the Fire on High
By Elizabeth Acevedo

Learn about our criteria for selecting and reviewing titles at Social Justice Books. Feedback on these lists and suggestions for additional titles are welcome.

Most of the books on these lists are linked for more information or purchase to Bookshop. A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

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