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

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.com (an independent, unionized bookstore) and/or Bookshop (indie bookstore platform). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change. Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk(*).

For further recommended reading, see below.

Early Childhood

Always Anjali *
By Sheetal Sheth and Jessica Blank (Illustrator)

Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao
By Kat Zhang, Charlene Chua
Bee-Bim Bop!
By Linda Sue Park, Ho Baek Lee (Illustrator)

Bilal Cooks Daal
By Aisha Saeed and Anoosha Syed (Illustrator)

Bravo, Anjali! *
By Sheetal Sheth and Lucia Soto (Illustrator)

Bringing In the New Year
By Grace Lin

The Boy & the Bindi
By Vivek Shray
Butterflies for Kiri
By Cathyn Falwell

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

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

Eyes That Kiss in the Corners
By Joanna Ho and Dung Ho (Illustrator)
Grandfather's Journey
By Allen Say

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

Hot Hot Roti for Daddy-Ji
By F. Zia, Ken Min

Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper
By Debbi Michiko Florence and Elizabet Vukovic (Illustrator)

Juna's Jar
By Jane Bahk, Felicia Hoshino (Illustrator)

Kite Flying
By Grace Lin
Kiyoshi’s Walk *
By Mark Karlins and Nicole Wong (Illustrator)

La Tienda De Mama Y Papa
By Amelia Lau Carling

Landed
By Milly Lee, Yangsook Choi (Illustrator)

Magic Ramen The Story of Momofuku Ando
By Andrea Wang, Kana Urbanowicz

The Many Colors of Harpreet Singh
By Supriya Kelkar and Alea Marley (Illustrator)

A Map into the World
By Kao Kalia Yang

Mina vs. the Monsoon
By Rukhsanna Guidroz, Debasmita Dasgupta

My Footprints
By Bao Phi, Basia Tran
My Name Is Yoon
By Helen Recorvits, Gabi Swiatkowska (Illustrator)
The Name Jar
By Yangsook Choi

The Ocean Calls: A Haenyeo Mermaid Story
By Tina Cho, Jess X. Snow (Illustrator)

Ohana Means Family
By Ilima Loomis and Kenard Pak (Illustrator)

Ojiichan's Gift
By Chieri Uegaki, Genevieve Simms (Illustrator)

Redwoods
By Jason Chin

The Ugly Vegetables
By Grace Lin, Grace Lin (Illustrator)
Watercress
By Andrea Wang and Jason Chin (Illustrator)

When the Cousins Came
By Katie Yamasaki

Yang Warriors
By Kao Kalia Yang and Billy Thao (Illustrator)

Upper Elementary

Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix
By Jacqueline Briggs Martin and June Jo Lee
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: The Epic Story
By Susan Tan and Dana Wulfekotte (Illustrator)

Coolies
By Yin

Cora Cooks Pancit
By Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore

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 

Front Desk*
By Kelly Yang
A discussion guide is here: Scholastic's Study Guide
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

Mommy Eats Fried Grasshoppers
By Vilayvanh Bender

link to More to the Story book review

More to the Story *
By Hena Khan

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

Mountain Chef
By Annette Bay Pimentel, Rich Lo

Our Favorite Day
By Joowon Oh

Paper Son: Lee's Journey to America
By Helen Foster James
Passage to Freedom: The Sugihara Story
By Ken Mochizuki, Dom Lee (Illustrator)
Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
By Jessica Kim
See Sarah Park Dahlen's: Discussion Guide for Stand Up, Yumi Chung!

 

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

 

The Story of Olympic Swimmer Duke Kahanamoku
By Ellie Crowe and Richard Waldrep (Illustrator)

Sylvia & Aki*
By Winifred Conkling

 

Tall Story
By Candy Gourlay

Three Keys (a Front Desk Novel)
By Kelly Yang
A discussion guide is here: Scholastic's Study Guide

 

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

They Called Us Enemy
By George Takei and Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott and Harmony Becker
A Time to Dance*
By Padma Venkatraman

Vietnamerica
By G B Tran

We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration
By Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura and Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator)

The Whole Story of Half a Girl*
By Veera Hiranandani

A Wish in the Dark
By Christina Soontornvat

Adult

Pachinko
By Min Jin Lee
The Sympathizer: A Novel
By Viet Thanh Nguyen

Teaching about Asian Pacific Americans *
Edited by Edith Wen Chen and Glenn Omatsu

See more titles on these lists:

For further reading, we recommend:

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