Social Justice Books

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

The Cat Man of Aleppo

Reviewed by Pat Corekin Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Based on the true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, The Cat Man of Aleppo provides a poignant account of one man’s struggle to save the lives of cats abandoned in the wake of the Syrian war, which started in 2011 and is still ongoing. […]

Greta and the Giants

  Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: NOT RECOMMENDED: So, we just got another picture book in the mail about Greta Thunberg. (This is at least the 4th children’s book about Greta.) Called Greta and the Giants, it implies that Greta was the first climate activist. The story is that […]

My Grandma and Me

Reviewed by Ariana Hussain Review Source: The Horn Book, Inc. Book Author: The unnamed narrator recalls her childhood growing up in Iran (where the author also grew up) with her beloved grandmother, who lives with the family. The child accompanies her grandma on her daily routines (“When she swept, I swept. When she cooked, I cooked. […]

Belle, the Last Mule at Gee’s Bend: A Civil Rights Story

Reviewed by: Rebecca Lehr Book Author: As Alex’s mother shops for a quilt in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, he sits outside and spots an old mule eating collard greens from a garden. An elderly woman, Miz Pettway, sits down next to him and begins to tell him why Belle, the mule, is allowed to eat all […]

Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon

Reviewed by: Rebecca Lehr Book Author: Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon tells of the celebrated architect’s path from his childhood in 1950’s Philadelphia to designing the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Beginning with Freelon’s personal struggles with reading and strengths in math and visual arts, it then takes […]

Someday Is Now: Clara Luper and the 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-In

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Every year in the Zinn Education Project “this day in history” series, we feature the story of high school history teacher Clara Luper and the NAACP Youth Council in Oklahoma who began sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters at the Katz Drugstore on Aug. 19, 1958. This was […]