Social Justice Books

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

Crossing Ebenezer Creek

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: This is an extraordinary book of historical fiction about the December 9, 1864 Massacre at Ebenezer Creek, where, on the march to Savannah, thousands of African American families who had just escaped from slavery were left to drown by Sherman’s Army. The protagonist of the book […]

Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library

Reviewed by Deborah Menkart Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: “Where is our historian to give us our side? To teach our people our own history?” asks Afro-Puerto Rican Arturo Schomburg on the first page of this beautifully illustrated picture book. Schomburg’s 5th-grade teacher had told him “Africa’s sons and daughters had no history, […]

The Best Thing We Could Do

Reviewed by Laura Jimenez Review Source: BookToss Book Author: I don’t think of myself as a sentimental reader although there is a good chance that I am. I am always more clear about other people’s motives than I am about my own. I can clearly see when my friend is making a HUGE mistake or when my kids are […]

The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora

Reviewed by CCBC Review Source: Cooperative Children’s Book Center Book Author: Arturo lives in an apartment complex in Miami along with most of the rest of his extended, close, chaotic Cuban American family. At the center of their lives are Abuela and La Cocina de la Isla, the restaurant she began with Arturo’s late grandfather. […]

Flying Lessons and Other Stories

Reivewed by CCBC Review Source: Cooperative Children’s Book Center Edited by “Blame my Uncle Kenneth. Everybody else does.” (Tim Tingle) “It’s a lot of pressure to pick a good elf name.” (Tim Federle) “Nani wears a fur coat to the beach.” (Soman Chainani) Whether starting with irresistible opening lines like these, or easing more quietly […]

Take a Seat — Make a Stand: A Hero in the Family

Reviewed by Matthew Smee Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Take a Seat – Make a Stand: A Hero in the Family tells the story of Sarah Keys Evans, a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement. The story of Keys Evans’ bravery and perseverance is often brushed over in history curricula today. Few […]