Social Justice Books

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

The Fire

Reviewed by Jean Mendoza Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: I’m very happy to add a title to our 2021 Recommended Books list: Thomas Peacock’s The Fire. This is my “short and sweet” review. As you may remember, “short and sweet” reviews are not in-depth; they cover four reasons for our decision about […]

Bravo, Anjali!

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Anjali is the only girl in a boy-dominated tabla class. When she rises to the top, her friend Deepak accuses her of standing out not for her talent, but for being a girl playing a man’s instrument. Although Anjali is used to people assuming that […]

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.