Social Justice Books

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

Activism and Organizing

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.

Here are books on organizing for all ages. Note that the Early Childhood list contains activism and organizing, whereas the other lists focus on organizing.

Early Childhood | Elementary | Middle School  | YA / Adult | Learn More

Early Childhood

Christmas Makes Me Think
By Tony Medina, Chandra Cox

Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table
Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Eric Larkin

How to Heal a Broken Wing
By Bob Graham, Bob Graham (Illustrator)

Letters to a Prisoner
By Jacques Goldstyn

One*
By Kathryn Otoshi

One Duck Stuck: A Mucky Ducky Counting Book
By Phyllis Root, Jane Chapman (Illustrator)

The Subway Sparrow
By Leyla Torres, Leyla Torres (Illustrator)

Swimmy *
By Leo Lionni

Viva's Voice
By Raquel Donoso and Carlos Vélez (Illustrator)

We Are Water
Protectors *
By Carole Lindstrom, Michaela Goade (Illustrator)

What We Believe
By Laleña Garcia, Caryn Davidson (Illustrator)

 

 

Elementary

Aani & the Tree Huggers
By Jeannine Atkins, Venantius J. Pinto (Illustrator)

Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria!
By Leticia Hernández-Linares,  The Rise-Home Stories Project, and  Robert Liu-Trujillo (Illustrator)

 

The Artivist
By Nikkolas Smith

The Bobbin Girl
Emily Arnold McCully; Illustrator-Emily Arnold McCully
Book Uncle and Me
By Uma Krishnaswami

Destiny's Gift*
Natasha Anastasia Tarpley

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

 

Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins
By Carole Boston Weatherford and Jerome Lagarrigue  (Illustrator)

Grandpa's Corner Store
By DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

The Harvey Milk Story
By Kari Krakow and David Gardner (Illustrator)

If You're a Kid Like Gavin
By Gavin Grimm,  Kyle Lukoff, and  J Yang (Illustrator)

Joelito's Big Decision*
By Ann Berlak, Daniel Camacho (Illustrator), Jose Antonio Galloso

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

Kid Blink Beats the World
By Don Brown, Don Brown (Illustrator)
Love Is Powerful
By Heather Dean Brewer and LeUyen Pham (Illustrator)

Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls' Rights (for Young Readers)
By Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick, abridged and adapted by Sarah J. Robbins

Milo’s Museum*
By Zetta Elliott, Purple Wong (Illustrator)

Nadarin
By Leo Lionni, Teresa Mlawer (Translator)

Nobody Gonna Turn Me 'Round: Stories and Songs of the Civil Rights Movement
By Doreen Rappaport, Shane W. Evans (Illustrator)
Nour's Secret Library
By Wafa' Tarnowska and Vali Mintzi (Illustrator)

Oh, The Things We're For!
By Innosanto Nagara

The Price of Freedom: How One Town Stood Up to Slavery
By Dennis Brindell Fradin, Judith Bloom Fradin, Eric Velasquez (Illustrator)

Rise Up and Write It: With Real Mail, Posters, and More!
By Nandini Ahuja and Anoosha Syed (Illustrator)

Rosa
By Nikki Giovanni, Bryan Collier (Illustrator)

Si, Se Puede! / Yes, We Can!
By Diana Cohn, Francisco Delgado (Illustrator), Luis J. Rodriguez (Essay by)

Side by Side / Lado a Lado*
By Monica Brown, Joe Cepeda (Illustrator)

Sofia Valdez Future Prez
By Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
link to Powell's books for Someday is NowSomeday is Now*
By Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich

Undocumented: A Worker's Fight
By Duncan Tonatiuh

Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer*
By Carole Boston Weatherford, Ekua Holmes

Middle School

The Assignment *
By Liza Wiemer

Different Kinds of Fruit
By Kyle Lukoff

The Kid's Guide to Social Action
By Barbara A. Lewis

YA / Adult

Learn More

In addition to the titles below, we recommend:

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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