Social Justice Books

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

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Reviewed by Martha Stackhouse Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: The story has to have been after contact because the pictures are very colorful and the atikjuks, the outer part of the parka, are made from cloth. In looking at the pictures, the maklaks appear to be soft sole, where we mostly use […]

Joelito’s Big Decision / La Gran Decisión de Joelito

Reviewed by Beverly Slapin Review Source: DeColores Book Author: On April 15, 2015—little more than three months ago—about one million people across the country pulled off the largest demonstration of its kind in US history. The struggle, known as the “Fight for 15,” involved Walmart workers, fast-food workers, child care workers, home health workers, janitorial […]

Creekfinding: A True Story

Review Source: Kirkus Book Author: Bulldozed years earlier and filled to make a cornfield, a lost creek is found and restored on an Iowa farm. When Michael Osterholm learned that a creek had once run under his farmland, he determined to restore it. Following old photographs and using heavy machinery to uncover the original bed […]

American Street

Reviewed by Lyn Miller-Lachmann Review Source: Pirate Tree Book Author: In Ibi Zoboi’s debut novel, American Street, 16-year-old Fabiola Toussaint has just arrived from Haiti to the United States with her mother, but things have gone terribly wrong. While Customs & Border Patrol officials wave Fabiola through—because she was born in the U.S. but returned to […]

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Reviewed by David Eaton Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind tells the story of William Kamkwamba, a young man in central Malawi who improvises a windmill out of bicycle and other scrap yard parts to produce electricity for his family’s home. Its 28 pages of text, with a few […]

Africa is Not a Country

Reviewed by Patricia Kuntz Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: Africa is Not a Country is perhaps the first picture book about the African continent to respectfully present the diversity of people living in its 53 countries. Heretofore, few publishers have collaborated with an African studies center to produce an accurate, objective presentation. Finally, these authors have […]