Social Justice Books

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

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 […]

Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family

Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: Illustrator Elizabeth Zunon has illustrated more than 15 books, three of which have received Children’s Africana Book Awards, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, One Plastic Bag: Isatou Seesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul and this book, Grandpa Cacao, A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to […]

Man Up!

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Authors: Man Up! by Riley Campbell, London Jones, and Shirelle Hurt, illustrated by Joy Ingram.  Dedicated to “all the boys who are told they can’t be themselves” — this is the book we have been waiting for. Not since William’s Doll have I seen a book […]