Social Justice Books

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

President Donald Trump

VICTORY – Scholastic’s celebratory children’s books about Donald Trump are finally OUT OF PRINT. After thousands of letters in an action campaign from teachers, parents, and students across the U.S., Scholastic has stopped reprinting these two books. Reviewed by Kathleen Nganga and Sarah Cornelius Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  “His buildings reached toward the sky. His […]

Love Hate & Other Filters

Reviewed by: Edith (Edi) Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: 17-year-old Maya is about to graduate high school. She’s actually a bit interested in the young man her parents totally approve of, but then, there’s Phil, the love of her life. Team Phil or Team Kareem? The choice isn’t quite so simple because Ahmed’s debut […]

One Shadow on the Wall

Reviewed by Marame Gueye, Ph.D. Review Source:  Africa Access Book Author: Set in present day Senegal, One Shadow on the Wall is about an interrupted childhood, one’s resolve to keep promises in spite of temptations, as well as a community’s daily struggle to make life meaningful. Told in the third person point of view, Leah Henderson’s debut novel take […]

nipêhon/I Wait

Reviewed by Alia Jones Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: nipêhon/I Wait by Caitlin Dale Nicholson and Leona Morin-Neilson is a follow up to their 2008 book Niwechihaw/I Help. This time, instead of a little Cree boy following his grandmother to pick rosehips, we meet a little Cree girl out with her grandmother and mother […]

Bowwow Powwow

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Due out on May 1, of 2018, is an absolutely terrific book, Bowwow Powwow, written by Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe). The story she tells was translated into Ojibwe by Gordon Jourdain (Lac La Croix First Nation), and Jonathan Thunder (Red Lake Ojibwe) did the extraordinary […]

Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877

Reviewed by Adam Sanchez Review Source: Zinn Education Project Book Author: Tanya Bolden’s Cause: Reconstruction America, 1863-1877 is one of the few non-fiction texts on Reconstruction aimed at young readers. It is a strong alternative to the textbook treatment of the era. Like many textbooks, Cause focuses mainly on the battles between President Andrew Johnson and Congress, […]