Social Justice Books

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

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 […]

Milo’s Museum

Teaching Ideas | Teaching Stories Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliott is a beautifully illustrated, empowering story of a young girl (Milo) who is excited to go on a school field trip to a museum. Her grandfather explains, “Museums hold all the things that people feel are […]

Drum Dream Girl

Review by Sujei Lugo Review Source: Latinx in Kid Lit Book Author: Girls cannot be drummers. Long ago on an island filled with music and rhythm, no one questioned that rule — until the drum dream girl. She longed to play tall congas and small bongós and silvery, moon-bright timbales. She had to practice in secret. […]

My Night in the Planetarium

Book Review by Lyn Miller Lachman Review Source: Pirate Tree Book Author: Innosanto Nagara, the Indonesian-born graphic artist and acclaimed author/illustrator of A Is for Activist and Counting on Community, tells his own story of facing dictatorship and oppression in My Night in the Planetarium. At the age of seven, he watched his father, a playwright, […]

The Tortoise and the Princess

Reviewed by Blessing Diala-Ogamba Review Source: Africa Access Book Author: The Tortoise and the Princess, a children’s book published in paperback, has 69 pages. It is divided into two parts. Part 1 has eleven stories and Part 2 has nine stories which are connected to Part 1. Each chapter has a theme/moral lesson that children can apply […]

The Medicine Wheel: Stories of the Hoop Dancer

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Several people in Canada have written to ask me about a self-published book that is being promoted via social media. From the author’s website is this: “Medicine Wheel: Stories of a Hoop Dancer” is a recently published children’s book written by Teddy Anderson, […]