Social Justice Books

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

Caminar

Reviewed by: Cindy L. Rodriguez Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Skila Brown’s debut novel in verse tells the heartbreaking story of Carlos, who is forced from his devastated village and treks up a mountainside to save his grandmother and her neighbors from a similar fate. One thing that struck me most was Brown’s […]

Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth

Reviewed by: Cecilia Cackley Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: This is a light, fun read for kids who are curious about middle school and looking for something along the same lines as Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but without pictures. Zack is your typical “don’t bother me, I’m invisible” kid until a chain […]

Return to Sender

Reviewed by: Cindy L. Rodriguez Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Although Before We Were Free and Return to Sender are set in different countries, they have similarities. In Return to Sender, Mari and her family are migrant workers on a Vermont dairy farm. She encounters a mix of acceptance and scorn from her […]

I Lived on Butterfly Hill

Reviewed by: Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: While I Lived on Butterfly Hill by Marjorie Agosín is beautifully written and exposes the horrors of the overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile through the eyes of a young girl, I was shocked to find a casual, uncritical inclusion of Gone with the […]

Under the Royal Palms: A Childhood in Cuba

Reviewed by: Lila Quintero Weaver Review Source: Latinxs in Kid Lit Book Author: Written in clear prose charged with poetic flavor, Under the Royal Palms is a lovely collection of autobiographical stories that paint a rich picture of life for a 20th-century child in the riverside city of Camagüey, Cuba. Located in the interior of the island nation, […]

The Smell of Old Lady Perfume

Reviewed by Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: Martínez’s debut young adult novel captures the turmoil of a family’s losing its center, and at the same time emphasizes the importance of staying in school. Chela’s parents are immigrants and her father makes clear that his options […]