Titles that we recommend are featured below. The ones with reviews are noted with an asterisk (*). Some titles are recommended with a caveat.

Elementary | Middle School | YA/Adult

Ablaze with Color: A Story of Painter Alma Thomas

By Jeanne Walker Harvey and Loveis Wise (Illustrator)

Abuela's Weave *

By Omar S. Casteneda, Enrique O. Sanchez (Illustrator)
Recommended with caveat. See review: Abuela's Weave Review

Art Activism: The Workbook Edition

By Aaron M. Maybin

The Artivist

By Nikkolas Smith

Auntie Luce's Talking Paintings

By Francie LaTour, Ken Daley (Illustrator)

Beautiful Shades of Brown: The Art of Laura Wheeler Waring

By Nancy Churnin and Felicia Marshall (Illustrator)

Black is a Rainbow
Color *

By Angela Joy, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)

Boogie Boogie, Y'all

By C. G. Esperanza

Bottle Tops: The Art of El Anatsui *

By Alison Goldberg and Elizabeth Zunon (Illustrator)

Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua

By Gloria Amescua and Duncan Tonatiuh (Illustrator)

City Shapes

By Diana Murray and Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave

By Laban Carrick Hill and Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Dorothea Lange: The Photographer Who Found the Faces of the Depression

By Carole Boston Weatherford and Sarah Green (Illustrator)

Drawn Together

By Minh Le, Dan Santat

Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America

By Carole Boston Weatherford and Jamey Christoph (Illustrator)

Growing an Artist: The Story of a Landscaper and His Son

By John Parra

I Can Write the World

By Joshunda Sanders and Charly Palmer (Illustrator)

Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace

By Ashley Bryan

It Jes' Happened *

By Don Tate, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Jasmín Pictures Home / Jasmín ilustra su hogar *

By Andy Pina, Antonia Marisol Garcia, Pedro Reyes, Yunior Jose Garcia, and Ian L Springer (Illustrator)

Just Like Me: Stories and Self-Portraits by Fourteen Artists

Edited by Harriet Rohmer

The Last Two Crayons

By Leah Freeman-Haskin and  Shantala Robinson (Illustrator)

The Life of / La Vida de Llort

By Cynthia Gonzalez and Citlali Reyes

Magic Trash: A Story of Tyree Guyton and His Art

By J. H. Shapiro and Vanessa Brantley-Newton (Illustrator)

Milo Imagines the World*

By Matt de la Peña

The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art

By Cynthia Levinson and Evan Turk (Illustrator)

Pigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes

By Don Tate

Rainbow Weaver*

By Linda Elovitz Marshall, Elisa Chavarri (Illustrator)

Rise Up! The Art of Protest

By Jo Rippon

Simone *

By Viet Thanh Nguyen and Minnie Phan (Illustrator)

Sitti's Bird: A Gaza Story *

By Malak Mattar

The Sky Is Not Blue

By Joy Jones and Sawyer Cloud (Illustrator)

Take a Picture of Me, James Van Der Zee!

By Andrea Loney, Keith Mallett (Illustrator)

Unbound: The Life and Art of Judith Scott

By Joyce Wallace Scott, Brie Spangler, and Melissa Sweet (Illustrator)

What If . . .

By Samantha Berger and Michael Curato (Illustrator)

Whirligigs: The Wondrous Windmills of Vollis Simpson's Imagination

By Carole Boston Weatherford and Edwin Fotheringham (Illustrator)

You Are the Color

By Rifk Ebeid and Noor Alshalabi (Illustrator)

Doodles from the Boogie Down

By Stephanie Rodriguez

Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life *

By Jerry Pinkney

Rickshaw Girl*

By Mitali Perkins and Jamie Hogan (Illustrator)

Art of Protest: Creating, Discovering, and Activating Art for Your Revolution

By De Nichols 

Artists in Times of War

By Howard Zinn

Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor's Life

By Marilyn Nelson

Beauty Born of Struggle: The Art of Black Washington

Edited by Jeffrey C Stewart

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

Edited by Josh MacPhee

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic

By Jack Lowery

Portraits of Earth Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth

By Robert Shetterly

Portraits of Peacemakers: Americans Who Tell the Truth

By Robert Shetterly

Portraits of Racial Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth *

By Robert Shetterly

Street Art for the Planet

By Xavier Tapies

---

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 (an indie bookstore platform). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

---

If you value this book list, please help us promote it and create more book lists.

Donate Today