Social Justice Books

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

Teaching About Immigration

Below are titles we recommend on immigration and the immigrant experience with a focus on the United States. To learn more about immigration and refugees from Central America, see our Central America booklist. See also resources for teaching about immigration on the Zinn Education Project website and the Rethinking Schools blog.

Titles that we recommend are featured below with cover images. The ones with reviews are noted with an asterisk (*). Some titles are recommended with a caveat. At the end of this page, we provide a list of titles on this theme, with reviews, that we do not recommend.

Elementary | Middle Grades | YA / Adult Fiction | YA / Adult Nonfiction | Educators | Not Recommended

Elementary

Alfredito Flies Home *
By Jorge Argueta, Luis Garay (Illustrator)

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story
By Aya Khalil and Anait Semirdzhyan (Illustrator)

Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a Daca Recipient
By Areli Morales and Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)

Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border *
By Mitali Perkins and Sara Palacios (Illustrator)

Brothers in Hope
By Mary Williams, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)

Calling the Water Drum
By LaTisha Redding, Aaron Boyd (Illustrator)

Coming to America: A Muslim Family's Story
By Bernard Wolf, Wolf Bernard (Photographer)

Diarou's Not So Different
By Diarou Bayo, Riley Campbell, Anthony Cooke, Alex Perkins (Illustrator)

Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War
By Mónica Montañés, Eva Sánchez Gómez, (Illustrator), and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)

Dreamers*
By Yuyi Morales

For All / Para Todos *
By Alejandra Domenzain , Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)

From Far Away
By Robert Munsch, Saoussan Askar, Rebecca Green (Illustrator)

From North to South / Del Norte al Sur
By René Colato Laínez

A Gift from Papa Diego: Un Regalo de Papa Diego
By Benjamin Alire Saenz, Geronimo Garcia (Illustrator)

Going Home
By Eve Bunting, David Diaz (Illustrator)

Hiromi's Hands
By Lynne Barasch

Home at Last
By Susan Middleton Elya, Felipe Davalos (Illustrator)
Home Is in Between *
By Mitali Perkins and Lavanya Naidu (Illustrator)

I Dream of Popo
By Livia Blackburne and Julia Kuo (Illustrator)

I Hate English!
By Ellen Levine, Steve Bjorkman

Islandborn*
By Junot Diaz, Leo Espinosa (Illustrator)

Jasmín Pictures Home / Jasmín ilustra su hogar *
By Andy Pina, Antonia Marisol Garcia, Pedro Reyes, Yunior Jose Garcia, and Ian L Springer (Illustrator)

Una Jornada Hacia La Esperanza: A Journey Toward Hope, Spanish Edition
By Victor Hinojosa,  Coert Voorhees, and Susan Guevara (Illustrator)

Joseph's Big Ride
By Terry Farish
A Journey Toward Hope
By Victor Hinojosa,  Coert Voorhees, and Susan Guevara (Illustrator)

Kamal Goes to Trinidad
By Malcolm Frederick, Prodeepta Das (Illustrator)

Landed
By Milly Lee, Yangsook Choi (Illustrator)

La Frontera: El viaje con papa / My Journey with Papa*
By Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)

Let's Go See Papa
By Lawrence Schimel, Alba Marina Rivera (Illustrator)

La Luna Mango
By Diane de Anda

Malaika's Costume
By Nadia L. Hohn, Irene Luxbacher (Illustrator)

Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation*
By Edwidge Danticat, Leslie Staub (Illustrator)

Mango, Abuela, and Me *
By Meg Medina, Angela Dominguez (Illustrator)

Mango Moon
By Diane de Anda

Mariana and Her Familia
By Mónica Mancillas and Erika Meza (Illustrator)

Marwan's Journey
By Patricia de Arias, Laura Borràs (Illustrator)

A Movie in My Pillow / Una Pelicula En Mi Almohada*
By Jorge Argueta, Elizabeth Gomez (Illustrator)

My Name Is Yoon
By Helen Recorvits, Gabi Swiatkowska (Illustrator)

My Shoes and I*
By Rene Colato Lainez

My Strange Shrinking Parents *
By Zeno Sworder

My Two Border Towns
By David Bowles and  Erika Meza (Illustrator)

The Name Jar
By Yangsook Choi

Nana's Cold Days
By Adwoa Badoe, Bushra Junaid (Illustrator)
The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness from the Border *
By Stephen Briseño and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)

Salma the Syrian Chef*
By Reem Faruqi and Fahmida Azim (Illustrator)

Shanghai Messenger
By Andrea Cheng, Ed Young (Illustrator)

Singing with Elephants
By Margarita Engle
Sleeping with the Light on *
By David Unger

Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando
By Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator), Luis Humberto Crosthwaite (Translator)
Author Interview

A Thousand White Butterflies
By Jessica Betancourt-Perez,  Karen Lynn Williams, and Gina Maldonado (Illustrator)

Un Tren Llamado Esperanza / A Train Called Hope*
By Mario Bencastro and Robert Casilla (Illustrator)

The Turtle of Oman
By Naomi Shihab Nye

Undocumented: A Worker's Fight
By Duncan Tonatiuh

Where Three Oceans Meet *
By Rajani Larocca and Archana Sreenivasan (Illustrator)

Who Belongs Here?: An American Story
By Margy Burns Knight, Clarita Kohen (Translator)

Xochitl And The Flowers / Xochitl, la Nina de las Flores
By Jorge Argueta, Carl Angel (Illustrator)

Middle Grades

Behind the Mountains
By Edwidge Danticat

Boy, Everywhere *
By A. M. Dassu

A Boy from Ireland
By Marie Raphael

Crossing the Wire
By Will Hobbs

Emilio
By Julia Mercedes Castilla

Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir *
By Margarita Engle, Edel Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Front Desk*
By Kelly Yang

Harbor Me
By Jacqueline Woodson

Journey of the Sparrows
By Fran Leeper Buss, Daisy Cubias

Journey of Dreams
By Marge Pellegrino

Kids Like Me: Voices of the Immigrant Experience
By Judith M. Blohm, Terri Lapinsky

La Linea *
By Ann Jaramillo

Land of the Cranes
By Aida Salazar

Manuelito
By Elisa Amado

Moving North: Caribbean Connections
By Keith Warner, Catherine Sunshine

My Ocean
By Enrique Perez Diaz, Trudy Balch (Translator)

The Only Road*
By Alexandra Diaz

The Other Side of the River
By Alda P. Dobbs

Other Words for Home *
By Jasmine Warga

Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth
Edited by José Manuel, Cesar Pineda, Anne Galisky, and Rebecca Shine

Return to Sender*
By Julia Alvarez

Save Me a Seat*
By Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan 

Singing with Elephants
By Margarita Engle

Somos Como Las Nubes / We Are Like the Clouds*
By Jorge Argueta, Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator), Elisa Amado
Sugar *
By Jewell Parker Rhodes

Tonight, by Sea
By Frances Temple, Tim O'brien (Illustrator)

Voces Sin Fronteras: Our Stories, Our Truth
By the Latino Youth Leadership Council of LAYC
link to We Are Not From Here on BookshopWe Are Not From Here
By Jenny Torres Sanchez

The Year I Flew Away
By Marie Arnold

A Young People's History of the United States: Revised and Updated
By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff, additions by Ed Morales

YA / Adult Fiction

Across a Hundred Mountains
By Reyna Grande

Anna In-Between
By Elizabeth Nunez

Breath, Eyes, Memory
By Edwidge Danticat

Brown Girl, Brownstones
By Paule Marshall

Brick Lane
By Monica Ali

Immigration

The Complete Persepolis
By Marjane Satrapi

Do They Know I'm Running?
By David Corbett

First Crossing: Stories about Teen Immigrants
By Donald R. Gallo (Editor)

Home Is Not a Country *
By Safia Elhillo

Ink Knows No Borders
Edited by Patrice Vecchione, Alyssa Raymond

The Knife and the Butterfly*
By Ashley Hope Perez

Love Hate and Other Filters

Love Hate & Other Filters*
By Samira Ahmed

El Salvador

Mother Tongue
By Demetria Martinez

The Radius of Us *
By Marie Marquardt

SanTana's Fairy Tales*
By Sarah Rafael Garcia

Zeitoun
By Dave Eggers

YA / Adult Nonfiction

Educators

Not recommended

Learn about our criteria for selecting 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) and / or Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore). A small percentage from book sales through these links goes to Teaching for Change.

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