Social Justice Books

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

My Powerful Hair

Reviewed by Elizabeth Blair Review Source: NPR Book Author: My Powerful Hair is a new picture book that turns a painful truth about racism into a celebration of Native culture. When Carole Lindstrom was a little girl growing up in Bellevue, Nebraska, she really wanted long hair. She would put the blanket she had as a baby on […]

That Flag

Reviewed by Erin Green Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: I read the powerful picture book That Flag, written by Tameka Fryer Brown, aloud to my preservice teachers last week. (Thanks to the recommendation of Social Justice Books and the Zinn Education Project.) Our class session was about how to address race and racism in elementary social studies, and this […]

Build a House

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: Build a House is based on the moving song that Rhiannon Giddens wrote and performed with cellist Yo-Yo Ma on the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2020. Giddens’ lovely, poignant new book illustrates the song, telling the story of enslavement and freedom: “You brought me here/ To build your house/ To […]

The Coquíes Still Sing: A Story of Home, Hope, and Rebuilding

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: This is a beautifully written and illustrated story of resilience and community, seen through the eyes of a young girl in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of devastating Hurricane María. The silence and return of the song of the native coquí threaded throughout shows a sacred connection to nature and […]

See You Soon

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: Pain, love, and hope fill the pages of Mariame Kaba’s most recent picture book about a child with an incarcerated loved one. Like young readers who might be system-impacted themselves, or perhaps children considering a humanized perspective of incarceration for the first time, Reyna thinks, “I have so many questions. […]

Keepunumuk: Weeâchumun’s Thanksgiving Story

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: In this powerful picture book, N8hkumuhs (NOO-kuh-mus), Grandmother, shares the story “about the time Weeâchumun [corn] asked our Wampanoag ancestors to help the Pilgrims.” Beginning with Seagull announcing the newcomers’ arrival, this story centers plants and animals as N8hkumuhs tells how Weeâchumun, Beans and Squash, and animals Duck, Fox, Rabbit, […]