Social Justice Books

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

I’m Finding My Talk

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: A reader wrote to ask me about I’m Finding My Talk. I did not know about the book prior to being asked about it. I was able to get a copy and was deeply touched by it. The author’s father was in […]

Three Strike Summer

Reviewed by Betsy Bird Review Source: School Library Journal Book Author: The gutsy girl is a conundrum in children’s books. She seems so easy to conjure up. Writing a bit of historical fiction? Surely all you have to do is just give your heroine some feisty comebacks and historically accurate inequities and the audience will be […]

This Land: The History of the Land We’re On

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Wow! I love how this book starts! The words on the first double-paged spread say, “This is my house.” Behind it is a river. Beside the house is a tall pine tree. We see a family by the tree. Turn the page […]

Charles Albert Bender: National Hall of Fame Pitcher

Reviewed by Jean Mendoza Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Biographies of Native sports figures have been few and far between, in my experience. Jim Thorpe and Tom Longboat are two that immediately come to mind. So it feels great to be able to recommend Kade Ferris’ middle grade book about the […]

Ella Cara Deloria: Dakota Language Protector

Reviewed by Jean Mendoza Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: . . . . Author Diane Wilson (Dakota) follows Ella Deloria from her childhood on the Standing Rock reservation to the creation of a fellowship in her name at Columbia University in 2010, nearly 4 decades after her death in 1971. Wilson […]

Peggy Flanagan: Ogimaa Kwe, Lieutenant Governor

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: . .  .The biography starts in 1986 when [Peggy] Flanagan was in first grade in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. It is recess time and Peggy is outside playing. But she’s thinking about the lessons they were doing before recess. Her teacher had […]