Social Justice Books

The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators.

Asian Americans

Early Childhood | Upper Elementary | Young Adult | Adult

See more recommended titles: South Asian, China and Chinese Americans, Japan and Japanese Americans

Teaching for Change carefully selects the best multicultural and social justice books for children, young adults, and educators. Learn about our criteria for selecting titles. 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 Powells, an independent, union labor bookstore. Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk(*).

Early Childhood

Bee-Bim Bop!
By Linda Sue Park, Ho Baek Lee (Illustrator)

 

The Boy & the Bindi
By Vivek Shray

Bringing In the New Year
By Grace Lin
Butterflies for Kiri
By Cathyn Falwell

 

Diez Deditos de Las Manos y Diez Deditos de Los Pies
By Mem Fox, Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)

Dim Sum for Everyone!
By Grace Lin, Grace Lin (Illustrator)

Drawn Together
By Minh Le, Dan Santat
Emma's Rug
By Allen Say

 

Grandfather's Journey
By Allen Say

 

Grandmother's Visit
By Betty Quan
Hiromi's Hands
By Lynne Barasch

Kite Flying
By Grace Lin
La Tienda De Mama Y Papa
By Amelia Lau Carling

Landed
By Milly Lee, Yangsook Choi (Illustrator)

Mina vs. the Monsoon
By Rukhsanna Guidroz, Debasmita Dasgupta
My Name Is Yoon
By Helen Recorvits, Gabi Swiatkowska (Illustrator)
The Name Jar
By Yangsook Choi

 

Ojiichan's Gift
By Chieri Uegaki, Genevieve Simms (Illustrator)
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes
By Mem Fox, Helen Oxenbury (Illustrator)

The Ugly Vegetables
By Grace Lin, Grace Lin (Illustrator)

When the Cousins Came
By Katie Yamasaki
Yum Yum Dim Sum
By Amy Wilson Sanger

Upper Elementary

Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix
By Jacqueline Briggs Martin and June Jo Lee

Coolies
By Yin

A Different Pond 
By Bao Phi, Thi Bui (Illustrator)
Dragonwings
By Laurence Yep

Dragon's Gate
By Laurence Yep
Every Falling Star*
By Sungju Lee and Susan McClelland

 

Fish for Jimmy
By Katie Yamasaki

Fred Korematsu Speaks Up*
By Laura Atkins, Stan Yogi 
The Great Wall Of Lucy Wu*
By Wendy Wan-Long Shang

Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong
By Dawn Bohulano Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta

The Lotus Seed
By Sherry Garland

Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean
By Sigrid Schmalzer, Melanie Linden Chan

Mountain Chef
By Annette Bay Pimentel, Rich Lo

Paper Son: Lee's Journey to America
By Helen Foster James
Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
By Ken Mochizuki, Dom Lee (Illustrator)
Project Mulberry*
By Linda Sue Park

 

Step Up to the Plate, Maria Singh*
By Uma Krishnaswami

 

Sylvia & Aki*
By Winifred Conkling

 

Tall Story
By Candy Gourlay

Young Adult

Ahimsa
By Supriya Kelkar

Amal Unbound

Amal Unbound*
By Aisha Saeed
American Born Chinese
By Gene Luen Yang

Darius the Great Is Not Okay*
By Adib Khorram

Dear Miss Breed
By Joanne Oppenheim

The Last Cherry Blossom
By Kathleen Burkinshaw
Listen, Slowly
By Thanhha Lai

The Night Diary*
By Veera Hiranandani
Only What We Could Carry: The Japanese American Internment Experience
By Lawson Fusao Inada (Editor), Patricia Wakida (Preface by), William M. Hohri (Afterword by)

 

Project Mulberry*
By Linda Sue Park

Rebel Seoul*
By Axie Oh

Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology
By Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow
A Step from Heaven
By An Na

 

A Time to Dance*
By Padma Venkatraman

 

Vietnamerica
By G B Tran

Adult

The Sympathizer: A Novel
By Viet Thanh Nguyen

 

Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans
By Edith Wen Chen (Editor), Glenn Omatsu (Editor), Allan Aquino (Contribution by)

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

Donate Today