Social Justice Books

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

Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: For some time now, I’ve been waiting for Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices. Edited by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Leatherdale, it was getting buzz in Native networks on social media. Given my commitment to bringing the work of Native writers to the fore—especially […]

We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices

Reviewed by The Brown Bookshelf Review Source: The Brown Bookshelf Book Author: Edited by Wade and Cheryl Hudson and published by Crown Books for Young Readers in cooperation with the Hudsons’ company, Just Us Books, We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices is a treasury of poems, prose and art that offers hope and encouragement to children in these […]

So Done

Reviewed by Edith Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Mila spent the summer with her aunt to avoid Tai’s father. While Tai couldn’t wait for Mila to return to the Cove, she could feel that something was different, something was shifting but she wasn’t sure about her feelings. When Mila returned and asked her […]

This Promise of Change: One Girl’s Story in the Fight for School Equality

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Did you know that one year before the Little Rock Nine, in Clinton, Tennessee, 12 Black students desegregated their high school? Their dramatic story is told by one of the 12 students — Jo Ann Allen Boyce — in collaboration with children’s book author […]

Ghost Boys

Reviewed by: Zetta Elliot Review source: Zetta Elliot Book author: Lately I’ve been reflecting on the debt I owe so many Black women scholars. I stepped away from academia several years ago and have no regrets, but your training doesn’t leave you and it’s been energizing to find current scholarship that aligns with my kid […]

Finding Langston

Reviewed by: Kathleen Nganga Review source: Independent Book Author:  Finding Langston is Lesa Cline-Ransome’s superb first novel. The book is about eleven-year-old Langston, a young boy from Alabama who moves with his father to Chicago in 1946 after the death of his mother. The move jars Langston as he is forced to grapple with a […]