Social Justice Books

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

A Day with Yayah

Reviewed by Jean Mendoza Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: As a grandmother and longtime teacher of young children, I’m delighted to share my enthusiasm for A Day with Yayah, a 2018 Crocodile Books release by award-winning author Nicola I. Campbell (Interior Salish), illustrated by another award-winner, Julie Flett (Cree-Metis). A Day with Yayah is a visual […]

Johnny’s Pheasant

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Author: Johnny’s Pheasant is written by Cheryl Minnema (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) and illustrated by Julie Flett (Cree-Métis). New in 2019, it is a picture book I am pleased to recommend. Grandma’s are special, aren’t they? Mine was, and I know my mom is special […]

The Teachers March! How Selma’s Teachers Changed History

Reviewed by Jenice L. View Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Overall, this book is very well researched and cited. It centers Black people, their strategic thinking, and their agency at a time when the national story of the Black freedom movement was being complicated by heightened white supremacist violence, rising resistance to the […]

No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History

Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: Now it is our time. Our new generation will not give up this sacred struggle. It is for our lives, for all of our relations. These ending lines from the poem “Jasilyn Charger: Water Protector” by Joseph Bruchac in No Voice Too Small offer a glimpse into the rich simplicity of […]

William Still and His Freedom Stories: The Father of the Underground Railroad

Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book author: Until author and illustrator Don Tate learned about William Still from a dictionary of Black Americans, the only name he knew of a Black conductor on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman. Determined to make sure future generations are not limited to the single hero, he wrote about William […]

Black Is a Rainbow Color

Teaching Idea Reviewed Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: A tightly woven celebration of Black — identity, history, culture, struggle, activism — this child-narrated “Black is” poem is both accessible and complex. The extensive back matter includes a song list, background for many of the poem’s line references, a timeline of Black ethnonyms, and the full […]