Social Justice Books

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

When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop

Reviewed by Derrick Weston Brown Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: In most children’s books about the history of Hip-Hop, there’s often one figure who has continuously been relegated to the background, even though he’s the architect of the sound from which Hip-Hop was born. Clive Campbell, also known as DJ Kool Herc, finally […]

We Sang You Home

Reviewed by KT Horning Review Source: Reading While White Book Author: The same team who brought us Little You has created another beautiful board book that celebrates a new baby. Richard Van Camp, a member of the Dogrib (Tlicho) Nation, has a special gift for writing short but eloquent board book texts aimed at the very […]

Walking Home

Reviewed by Esther Mukewa Lisanza Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: Walking Home is about Muchoki, a thirteen-year-old Kenyan boy and his younger sister, Jata. Together they make a long journey in search of their mother’s family. They have just lost their mother to malaria in an overcrowded refugee camp and not long ago they lost […]

Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Charyleyboy and Leatherdale’s new book, Urban Tribes: Native Americans in the City, also published by Annick Press, was released in August of this year. Isn’t that cover exquisite? Inside you’ll find art, and stories, and poems written by Native people. There’s joy, for […]

The Whole Story of Half a Girl

Reviewed by Edith Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Being “half a girl” doesn’t matter much until Sonia has to change schools. She was accepted by everyone in her small private school, but she has to find new friends in her new school and this requires her to fit in somewhere. Will she hang with […]

The Tortoise and the Princess

Reviewed by Blessing Diala-Ogamba Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: The Tortoise and the Princess, a children’s book published in paperback, has 69 pages. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 has eleven stories and Part 2 has nine stories which are connected to Part 1. Each chapter has a theme/moral lesson that children can apply […]