Social Justice Books

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

Ban This Book

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Reviewed Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author:  On November 3, 2019, Mike M. submitted this comment to AICL’s post about Lois Lenski’s Indian Captive: I’ve come to Dr. Reese’s review of Indian Captive because of its appearance in Alan Gratz’s 2017 novel Ban this Book. Gratz’s story is about a schoolgirl standing up against […]

Walk Two Moons

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Reviewed Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author:  Have you ever used Google Earth? It’s a fascinating tool that lets you look at a place (like your hometown) via satellite photographs. A few years ago, I started seeing “lit trips” online.  Using Google Earth, people put together a webpage that shows places […]

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Reviewed Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Update on Sep 24, 2018: I (Debbie), shared this post on Twitter yesterday because I was critiquing a young adult novel in which the author cited Island of the Blue Dolphins as a significant book from her childhood. Dr. Eve Tuck read my tweet, this […]

Sisters of the Neversea

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Reviewed Source: @debreese Book Author: I’ve been looking forward to SISTERS OF THE NEVERSEA by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Today I’m going to start reading it, and will be doing a tweet-review as I do, noting things that stand out to me. Here’s the cover, by Floyd Cooper.  Continue reading.

Crossing the Stream

Reviewed by Barbara A. Lehman Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: This fine novel for middle-graders is set in contemporary Ghana and realistically depicts the lives of its protagonists: Ato, age 12, and his two best friends, Dzifa (a bold, nonconformist girl — viewed by other parents as “wild”) and Leslie (a cautious, germophobic boy). […]

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Reviewed by: Mykella Palmer Review Source: We Should All Be Bookworms Book Author:  In the We Should All Be Bookworms podcast, host Mykella Palmer introduces her listeners to the Newbery Medal-winning book Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. You can listen to her review of the book here. Here is a short description […]