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 to Powells.com (an independent, unionized bookstore) and/or Bookshop (an indie bookstore platform). A small percentage of the book sales goes to Teaching for Change to support this Social Justice Books website.
Titles with reviews on this site are noted with an asterisk(*).
2023
What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland's Historic Inauguration
By Alexis Bunten and Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)
July 2023
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
By Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba
May 2023
21st Century Voices of a People's History of the United States: Documents of Resistance and Hope, 2000-2023
Edited by Anthony Arnove and Haley Pessin
April 2023
My Country Is the World: Staughton Lynd's Writings, Speeches, and Statements Against the Vietnam War
Edited by Luke Stewart
March 2023
The Sum of Us: How Racism Hurts Everyone (Adapted for Young Readers)
By Heather McGhee
February 2023
Under the Banner of King Death: Pirates of the Atlantic, a Graphic Novel
By Marcus Rediker and David Lester (Illustrator)
February 2023
Resistance Stories from Black History for Kids: Inspiring People and Events That Every Kid Should Know
By Rann Miller
January 2023
A Young People's History of the United States: Revised and Updated
By Howard Zinn, adapted by Rebecca Stefoff, additions by Ed Morales
January 2023
Together: A First Conversation about Love
By Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, Anne/Andy Passchier (Illustrator)
December 2022
Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
By Monique Gray Smith, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Nicole Neidhardt (Illustrator)
November 2022
Child Care Justice: Transforming the System of Care for Young Children
Edited by Maurice Sykes and Kyra Ostendorf
November 2022
Different: A Story of the Spanish Civil War
By Mónica Montañés, Eva Sánchez Gómez, (Illustrator), and Lawrence Schimel (Translator)
November 2022
Hold Them Close: A Love Letter to Black Children
By Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow and Patrick Dougher (Illustrator)
October 2022
How We Can Live: Principles of Black Lives Matter
By Laleña Garcia and Caryn Davidson (Illustrator)
October 2022
Still Dreaming / Seguimos Soñando
By Claudia Guadalupe Martínez, Magdalena Mora (Illustrator), Luis Humberto Crosthwaite (Translator)
Author Interview
October 2022
Choosing Brave: How Mamie Till-Mobley and Emmett Till Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
By Angela Joy and Janelle Washington (Illustrator)
September 2022
Truth Has a Power of Its Own: Conversations about a People's History
By Howard Zinn and Ray Suarez
August 2022
Cultivating Joyful Learning Spaces for Black Girls: Insights Into Interrupting School Pushout
By Monique W. Morris
June 2022
Days of Infamy: How a Century of Bigotry Led to Japanese American Internment
By Lawrence Goldstone
June 2022
Harry Potter and the Other: Race, Justice, and Difference in the Wizarding World
Edited by Sarah Park Dahlen and Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
June 2022
The Notebook Keeper: A Story of Kindness from the Border *
By Stephen Briseño and Magdalena Mora (Illustrator)
June 2022
The Sun Does Shine: An Innocent Man, a Wrongful Conviction, and the Long Path to Justice (Young Readers)
By Anthony Ray Hinton with Lara Love Hardin and Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
June 2022

A Worthy Piece of Work: The Untold Story of Madeline Morgan and the Fight for Black History in Schools
By Michael Hines
May 2022
Families With Power: Centering Students by Engaging With Families and Community
By Mary Cowhey
April 2022
Ideas in Unexpected Places: Reimagining Black Intellectual History
Edited by Leslie M. Alexander, Brandon R. Byrd, and Russell Rickford
April 2022
Insurgent Social Studies: Scholar-Educators Disrupting Erasure and Marginality
Edited by Sarah B. Shear, Natasha Hakimali Merchant , and Wayne Au
April 2022
Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism, and the Movement for Black Lives
By Donna Murch
March 2022
Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman's Case for Equality and Respect
By Carole Boston Weatherford and Jeffery Boston Weatherford (Illustrator)
February 2022
Yes! No! A First Conversation about Consent *
By Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas (Illustrator)
February 2022
Evicted! The Struggle for the Right to Vote *
By Alice Faye Duncan and Charly Palmer (Illustrator)
January 2022
Freedom! The Story of the Black Panther Party
By Jetta Grace Martin, Joshua Bloom, and Waldo E. Martin Jr
January 2022
Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth: Educator, Feminist, and Anti-Lynching Civil Rights Leader
By Michelle Duster and Laura Freeman (Illustrator)
January 2022
Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America - Young Adult Adaptation
By Candacy Taylor
January 2022
Seeking Freedom: The Untold Story of Fortress Monroe and the Ending of Slavery in America
By Selene Castrovilla and E. B. Lewis (Illustrator)
January 2022
2021
Art of Protest: Creating, Discovering, and Activating Art for Your Revolution
By De Nichols
November 2021
A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice to the Climate Crisis *
By Vanessa Nakate
November 2021
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People
By Kekla Magoon
November 2021
Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
By Brandy Colbert
October 2021
Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South
By Wade Hudson
Video with author: Wade Hudson on Defiant: Growing Up in the Jim Crow South
October 2021
Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present
By Adrienne Keene and Ciara Sana (Illustrator)
October 2021
Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators *
By Education for Liberation Network & Critical Resistance Editorial Collective
September 2021
Textured Teaching: A Framework for Culturally Sustaining Practices
By Lorena Escoto German
September 2021
Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
By Leticia Hernández-Linares, The Rise-Home Stories Project, and Robert Liu-Trujillo (Illustrator)
August 2021
Being You: A First Conversation about Gender
By Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Anne/Andy Passchier (Illustrator)
August 2021
Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua
By Gloria Amescua and Duncan Tonatiuh (Illustrator)
August 2021
Areli Is a Dreamer: A True Story by Areli Morales, a Daca Recipient
By Areli Morales and Luisa Uribe (Illustrator)
June 2021
How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
By Clint Smith
June 2021
Parenting 4 Social Justice: Tips, Tools, and Inspiration for Conversations & Action with Kids
By Abigail Healey (Author), Leila Raven (Author), Angela Berkfield (Editor), and Rowan Parker (Editor)
June 2021
Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman *
By Sharice Davids, Nancy K. Mays, and Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley (Illustrator)
June 2021
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts
By Rebecca Hall and Hugo Martínez (Illustrator)
June 2021
A Day for Rememberin' Inspired by the True Events of the First Memorial Day
By Leah Henderson and Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)
May 2021
We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration
By Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura and Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator)
May 2021
Central America's Forgotten History: Revolution, Violence, and the Roots of Migration
By Aviva Chomsky
April 2021
For All / Para Todos *
By Alejandra Domenzain , Katherine Loh (Illustrator), and Irene Prieto de Coogan (Translator)
April 2021
The People's Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art
By Cynthia Levinson and Evan Turk (Illustrator)
April 2021
Side by Side: US Empire, Puerto Rico, and the Roots of American Youth Literature and Culture *
By Marilisa Jiménez García
April 2021
The Colored Conventions Movement: Black Organizing in the Nineteenth Century
Edited by P. Gabrielle Foreman, Jim Casey, and Sarah Patterson.
Learn more at the Colored Conventions Project
March 2021
Kids on the March: 15 Stories of Speaking Out, Protesting, and Fighting for Justice
By Michael G. Long
March 2021
Our Skin: A First Conversation
about Race *
By Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas (Illustrator)
March 2021
Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction
By Kate Masur
March 2021
The Water Defenders: How Ordinary People Saved a Country from Corporate Greed
By Robin Broad and John Cavanagh
March 2021
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
By Judith Heumann with Kristen Joiner
February 2021
The Clothesline Code: The Story of Civil War Spies Lucy Ann and Dabney Walker
By Janet Halfmann and Trisha Mason (Illustrator)
February 2021
Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019
Edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain
February 2021
The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition *
By Jeanne Theoharis and Brandy Colbert
February 2021
Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre *
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)
February 2021
We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice
By Mariame Kaba
February 2021
Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana
By Brian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, and Nick Weldon
January 2021
Opening the Road: Victor Hugo Green and His Green Book
By Keila V. Dawson and Alleanna Harris (Illustrator)
January 2021
Race Against Time: The Untold Story of Scipio Jones and the Battle to Save Twelve Innocent Men
By Sandra Neil Wallace and Rich Wallace
January 2021
Teacher Unions and Social Justice: Organizing for the Schools and Communities Our Students Deserve
By Michael Charney (Editor), Jesse Hagopian (Editor), Bob Peterson (Editor)
January 2021
2020
Mighty Justice: The Untold Story of Civil Rights Trailblazer Dovey Johnson Roundtree
By Dovey Johnson Roundtree and Katie McCabe
December 2020
Project Censored's State of the Free Press 2021
Edited by Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth, foreword by Matt Taibbi
December 2020
Shayla's Shutdown Solution
By Danya Carter, Samaria Short, and Camryn Simms (Illustrator)
November 2020
William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad *
By Don Tate
November 2020
No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History *
Edited by Lindsay H. Metcalf, Keila V. Dawson, and Jeanette Bradley
September 2020
The Teachers March! How Selma's Teachers Changed History *
By Sandra Neil Wallace, Rich Wallace, and Charly Palmer (Illustrator)
September 2020
Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers Won the Vote & Insisted on Equality for All
By Martha S. Jones
September 2020
When They Call You a Terrorist (Young Adult Edition): A Story of Black Lives Matter and the Power to Change the World
By Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
September 2020
Celebrate People's History: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution *
Edited by Josh MacPhee
August 2020
Fauja Singh Keeps Going: The True Story of the Oldest Person to Ever Run a Marathon
By Simran Jeet Singh, Baljinder Kaur
August 2020
Sharuko: El Arqueólogo Peruano / Peruvian Archaeologist Julio C. Tello
By Monica Brown and Elisa Chavarri (Illustrator)
August 2020
She Was the First! The Trailblazing Life of Shirley Chisholm
By Katheryn Russell-Brown and Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)
August 2020
Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart
By Zetta Elliott and Noa Denmon (Illustrator)
July 2020
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
Suzanne Slade, Cozbi A. Cabrera (Illustrator)
April 2020
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Michele Wood (Illustrator)
April 2020
Teaching Critically about Lewis and Clark: Challenging Dominant Narratives in K-12 Curriculum
By Alison Schmitke and Leilani Sabzalian and Jeff Edmundson
April 2020
Baba, What Does My Name Mean? A Journey to Palestine
By Rifk Ebeid, Lamaa Jawhari (Illustrator)
March 2020
Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice
By Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo, Olivia Gatwood, Theodore Taylor, III (Illustrator), Jason Reynolds (Contributions by)
March 2020
Beautiful Shades of Brown: The Art of Laura Wheeler Waring
By Nancy Churnin and Felicia Marshall (Illustrator)
February 2020
Race Against Time: A Reporter Reopens the Unsolved Murder Cases of the Civil Rights Era
By Jerry Mitchell
February 2020
Mamie on the Mound: A Woman in Baseball's Negro Leagues
By Leah Henderson, George Doutsiopoulos (Illustrator)
January 2020
Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
By Octavia E. Butler, Damian Duffy (Adapted by), John Jennings (Illustrator)
January 2020
2019
Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African Americans in the South
By Mike Selby
October 2019
Dreams from Many Rivers: A Hispanic History of the United States Told in Poems
By Margarita Engle
October 2019
One Person, No Vote (YA Edition): How Not All Voters Are Treated Equally
By Carol Anderson with Tonya Bolden
September 2019
The Power in the Room: Radical Education Through Youth Organizing and Employment
By Jay Gillen
September 2019
The Other Side: Stories of Central American Teen Refugees Who Dream of Crossing the Border
By Juan Pablo Villalobos
September 2019
Fantasy Island: Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico
By Ed Morales
September 2019
The Women Who Caught The Babies: A Story of African American Midwives*
By Eloise Greenfield, Daniel Minter (Illustrator)
September 2019
Troublemaker for Justice: The Story of Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the March on Washington*
By Jacqueline Houtman, Walter Naegle, Michael G. Long
August 2019
Sing a Song: How "Lift Every Voice and Sing" Inspired Generations*
By Kelly Starling Lyons
August 2019
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People*
By Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Debbie Reese
July 2019
Por Todo Nuestro Alrededor = All Around Us*
By Xelena Gonzalez, Adriana M. Garcia (Illustrator)
June 2019
The Dark Fantastic: Race & the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games
By Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
May 2019
It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (Adapted for Young Readers)
By Trevor Noah
From the Radical Teacher: Teaching Middle School Students About Structural Racism with Born a Crime
April 2019
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything American History Textbooks Get Wrong (Young Readers Edition)
By James W. Loewen
April 2019
This Place: 150 Years Retold
By Alicia Elliott (Foreword by), Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm (Contribution by), Sonny Assu (Contribution by)
April 2019
Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence
By Kellie Carter Jackson
March 2019
The New Teacher Book: Finding Purpose, Balance, and Hope During Your First Years in the Classroom
Edited By Linda Christensen, Stan Karp, Bob Peterson, Moé Yonamine
March 2019
We the Resistance: Documenting a History of Nonviolent Protest in the United States
By Michael Long, Chris Hedges
February 2019
Fighter in Velvet Gloves: Alaska Civil Rights Hero Elizabeth Peratrovich
By Annie Boochever and Roy Peratrovich Jr
February 2019
Rethinking Ethnic Studies
Edited By R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, Miguel Zavala, Christine Sleeter, Wayne Au
February 2019
Dark Sky Rising: Reconstruction and the Dawn of Jim Crow
By Henry Louis Gates Jr and Tonya Bolden
January 2019
Never Caught, the Story of Ona Judge: Young Readers Edition*
By Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Kathleen Van Cleve
January, 2019
Free All Along: The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Interviews
By Stephen Drury Smith (Editor), Catherine Ellis (Editor)
January 2019
This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality*
By Jo Ann Allen Boyce, Debbie Levy
January 2019
The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Frank Morrison (Illustrator)
January 2019
2018
Pies from Nowhere: How Georgia Gilmore Sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott*
By Dee Romito
November 2018
Adventures in Ana Park (Books by Teens #23)
By Kahliya Ruffin, Trevon Evans, Liu Light (Illustrator)
November 2018
Finding Mumbo (Books by Teens #24)
By de'Asia Scott, India Dawkins, West Cahall (Illustrator)
November 2018
Journey for Justice: The Life of Larry Itliong *
By Dawn Bohulano Mabalon and Gayle Romasanta
October 2018
What Do You Do with a Voice Like That? The Story of Extraordinary Congresswoman Barbara Jordan
By Chris Barton, Ekua Holmes (Illustrator)
September 2018
Carlos Santana: Sound of the Heart, Song of the World
By Gary Golio, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)
September 2018
Just Mercy (Adapted for Young Adults): A True Story of the Fight for Justice
By Bryan Stevenson
September 2018
We Rise We Resist We Raise Our Voices: Words & Images of Hope*
By Wade Hudson, Cheryl Willis Hudson
September 2018
Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins*
By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Jade Johnson (Illustrator)
August 2018
Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968
By Alice Faye Duncan, R. Gregory Christie (Illustrator)
August 2018
"Lift Us Up, Don't Push Us Out!" Voices from the Front Lines of the Educational Justice Movement
By Mark R. Warren, David Goodman
August 2018
55 Strong: Inside The West Virginia Teachers' Strike
Edited by Elizabeth Catte, Emily Hilliard, and Jessica Salfia
July 2018
The Lost Education of Horace Tate: Uncovering the Hidden Heroes Who Fought for Justice in Schools
By Vanessa Siddle Walker
July 2018
Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women
By Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator)
July 2018
Jazz Owls: A Novel of the Zoot Suit Riots*
By Margarita Engle, Rudy Gutierrez (Illustrator)
May 2018
Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement
By Janet Dewart Bell
May 2018
La Frontera: El viaje con papa / My Journey with Papa*
By Deborah Mills, Alfredo Alva, Claudia Navarro (Illustrator)
May 2018
Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology
By Melissa Tuckey (Editor), Camille Dungy (Foreword by)
April 2018
Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets: A Muslim Book of Shapes*
By Hena Khan, Mehrdokht Amini (Illustrator)
April 2018
Trailer Park / Parque de Remolqu
By Jc Dillard, Anna Usacheva (Illustrator), Madelin Romero (Translator)
April 2018
Things That Make White People Uncomfortable
By Michael Bennett, Dave Zirin, Martellus Bennett (Foreword by)
April 2018
Midnight Teacher: Lilly Ann Granderson and Her Secret School*
By Janet Halfmann, London Ladd
February 2018
A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History
By Jeanne Theoharis
January 2018
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
By Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Asha Bandele, Angela Davis (Foreword)
January 2018
2017
P is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book
By Golbarg Bashi (Illustrator), Golrokh Nafisi (Editor), Kourosh Beigpour (Editor)
November 2017
Mama Africa!: How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song
By Kathryn Erskine, Charly Palmer (Illustrator)
October 2017
I Am Alfonso Jones*
By Tony Medina, Stacey Robinson (Illustrator), and John Jennings (Illustrator), foreword by Bryan Stevenson
October 2017
These Schools Belong to You and Me: Why We Can't Afford to Abandon Our Public Schools
By Deborah Meier, Emily Gasoi
September 2017
#NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women*
Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
September 2017
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria - Revised and Updated Edition
By Beverly Tatum
September 2017
Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education
By Noliwe Rooks
September 2017
The Color of Law A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
By Richard Rothstein
May 2017
Rethinking Bilingual Education
Edited by Elizabeth Barbian, Grace Cornell Gonzales, Pilar Mejia
April 2017
Anti-Bias Education in the Early Childhood Classroom: Hand in Hand, Step by Step*
By Katie Kissinger
March 2017
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation*
By Octavia E. Butler, John Jennings (Illustrator), Damian Duffy (Adapted by)
January 2017
2016
Fannie Never Flinched: One Woman's Courage in the Struggle for American Labor Union Rights*
By Mary Cronk Farrell
November 2016
Somos Como Las Nubes / We Are Like the Clouds*
By Jorge Argueta, Alfonso Ruano (Illustrator), Elisa Amado
October 2016
One of a Kind, Like Me / Unico Como Yo*
By Laurin Mayeno, Robert Liu-Trujillo (Artist)
September 2016
Rad Women Worldwide: Artists and Athletes, Pirates and Punks, and Other Revolutionaries Who Shaped History*
By Kate Schatz, Miriam Klein Stahl (Illustrator)
September 2016
Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their lives and Dreams Brought to Life*
By Ashley Bryan, Ashley Bryan (Illustrator)
September 2016