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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 Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). 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 (*).

We also recommend this article at Rethinking Schools - The Story of One Union’s Journey Toward Disability Justice.

All the Way to the Top*

By Annette Bay Pimentel

The Amazing Erik

By Mike Huber, Joseph Cowman (Illustrator)

Be Quiet Marina!

By Kirsten de Bear, Laura Dwight (Photographer)

Benji, the Bad Day, and Me

By Sally J. Pla

Benny Doesn't Like to Be Hugged*

By Zetta Elliott

The Black Book of Colors

By Menena Cottin, Rosana Faria (Illustrator), Elisa Amado (Translator)

Brothers and Sisters

By Laura Dwight

A Day with No Words

By Tiffany Hammond and  Kate Cosgrove (Illustrator)

The Deaf Musicians

By Christie Seeger

 

The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath

By Julia Finley Mosca

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah

By Laurie Thompson

Featherless

By Juan Felipe Herrera

A Friend for Henry

By Jenn Bailey, Mika Song (Illustrator)

The Girl Who Thought in Pictures

By Julia Finley Mosca, Daniel Rieley

A Head Full of Birds

By Alexandra Garibal, Sibylle Delacroix (Illustrator), and Vineet Lal (Translator)

I Talk Like a River

By Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith (Illustrator)

Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin

By Tracy Newman and  Abigail Halpin (Illustrator)

Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You

By Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael Lopez

Keep Your Ear on the Ball

By Genevieve Petrillo, Lea Lyon (Illustrator)

King for a Day

By Rukhsana Khan, Christiane Kr Mer

Listen: How Evelyn Glennie, a Deaf Girl, Changed Percussion *

By Shannon Stocker and Devon Holzwarth (Illustrator)

Mama Zooms

By Jane Cowen-Fletcher

Moses Goes to a Concert

By Isaac Millman

My Brother Charlie

By Holly Robinson Peete, Ryan Elizabeth Peete, Denene Millner

My City Speaks

By Darren Lebeuf and Ashley Barron
Braille edition available here - My City Speaks (Braille edition)

My Rainbow

By Deshanna Neal,  Trinity Neal, and Art Twink (Illustrator)

Nosotros S? Podemos Hacerlo!

By Laura Dwight

Ray Charles

By Sharon Bell Mathis

Sam's Super Seats

By Keah Brown and Sharee Miller (Illustrator)

Silent Star: The Story of Deaf Major Leaguer William Hoy

By Bill Wise, Adam Gustavson

Singin' with Momma Lou

By Linda Jacobs Altman, Larry Johnson

A Sky-Blue Bench

By Bahram Rahman and Peggy Collins (Illustrator)

Thank You, Mr Falker

By Patricia Polacco

Too Sticky! Sensory Issues with Autism

By Jen Malia, Joanne Lew-Vriethoff (Illustrator)

We Are Little Feminists: How We Eat

By Shuli de la Fuente-Lau

We Are Little Feminists: On-The-Go

By Brook Sitgraves Turner and Archaa Shrivastav

We Can Do It!

By Laura Dwight

We Move Together

By Kelly Fritsch, Anne McGuire, and Eduardo Trejos (Illustrator)

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge

By Mem Fox, Julie Vivas (Illustrator)

What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan

By Chris Barton, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)

All He Knew

By Helen Frost

As Brave As You

By Jason Reynolds

El Deafo

By Cece Bell

Just Jerry: How Drawing Shaped My Life *

By Jerry Pinkney

Out of My Mind

By Sharon M Draper

Rolling Warrior: The Incredible, Sometimes Awkward, True Story of a Rebel Girl on Wheels Who Helped Spark a Revolution

By Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner

Tangerine

By Edward Bloor

The ABCs of Autism Acceptance

By Sparrow R. Jones

Beauty Is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability

By Sheila Black (Editor), Jennifer Bartlett (Editor), Michael Northen (Editor)

Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist

By Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner

Dead Girls Society*

By Michelle Krys

A Disability History of the United States

By Kim E. Nielsen

Love from A to Z*

By S. K. Ali

Queens of Geek*

By Jen Wilde

She Came to Slay

By Erica Armstrong Dunbar

A Time to Dance *

By Padma Venkatraman

Two Girls Staring at the Ceiling*

By Lucy Frank

Typed Words, Loud Voices

By Amy Sequenzia (Editor), Elizabeth J. Grace (Editor), Melanie Yergeau (Foreword by)

Unbroken

By Marieke Nijkamp

Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets Psychiatric Drugs & the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America

By Robert Whitaker
Source documents: Mad in America - Anatomy Source Documents

Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition

By Liat Ben-Moshe

Disability Incarcerated: Imprisonment and Disability in the United States and Canada

Edited by Liat Ben-Moshe, Chris Chapman, Allison C. Carey, Foreword by Angela Y. Davis 

Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, & the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill

By Robert Whitaker
Documents and more information at: Mad in America.com

On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System

By Judi Chamberlin

Soteria: Through Madness to Deliverance

By Loren Mosher and Voyce Hendrix

Testimonials: "Schizophrenia" Without Antipsychotic Drugs & The Legacy of Loren Mosher

Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions, Forced Treatment, and Abusive Guardianships

By Rob Wipond

Author interview: Consent Not Required | Rob Wipond 

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