Social Justice Books

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

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, […]

The Mangrove Tree: Planting Trees to Feed Families

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: The collage illustrations in The Mangrove Tree are stunning — each page invites the reader to take in the creativity and details created through the multicolored, textured cloth. The story itself is an important one, describing a community that was once ecologically devastated and poverty-stricken […]