Social Justice Books

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

Areli Is a Dreamer

Reviewed by Alex Morales Review Source: Reading Is Resistance Book Author:  Areli is a Dreamer by Areli Morales tells the compelling story of Areli’s experience immigrating to the United States from Mexico as a young child. I am a DACA recipient, and this book uncovered emotions within me that I had not confronted since I […]

Black, White, Just Right!

Reviewed by Madisyn Myers Review Source: Reading Is Resistance Book Author:  Black, White, Just Right!, written by Marguerite Davol and illustrated by Irene Trivas, tells the story of an interracial couple and their young daughter.  The story shows the many differences between the young girl’s African American mother and white father and how she has […]

Those Shoes

Reviewed by Eden Grey Review Source: Reading Is Resistance Book Author:  Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts is a sweet and touching story that addresses issues of social justice, empathy, generosity, and selflessness through the eyes of a young boy named Jeremy and his pursuit of a new pair of shoes. After his sneakers fall apart […]

Love, Violet

Reviewed by Catherine Taunton Review Source: Reading Is Resistance Book Author:  All day long, Violet’s stomach lurched. What if Violet couldn’t give her valentine? What if Mira didn’t want her valentine? What if . . . they never adventured? In Love, Violet by Charlotte Sullivan Wild, we see Violet create, contemplate, and inevitably give her […]

Ten Beautiful Things

Reviewed by Catherine Taunton Review Source: Reading Is Resistance Book Author:  None of this was easy. Maybe it would never be easy. But she belonged with Gram now. She belonged here now. This place wasn’t empty and neither was she. In Ten Beautiful Things by Molly Beth Griffin, the main character, Lily, goes through a […]

The Trailblazing Life of Viola Desmond: A Civil Rights Icon

Reviewed Aisha Kiani Review Source: I Dream Library Book Author: The story of Viola Desmond’s act of resistance against segregation in a Nova Scotia theater is one we’ve been teaching and including in lesson plans and book lists since we began our work with teachers in 2019. The book we’ve used is a kidlit picture […]