Social Justice Books

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

The Hate U Give

Reviewed by Lyn Miller Lachman Review Source: Pirate Tree Book Author: The Hate U Give is inspired by THUG LIFE, Tupac Shakur’s famous acronym that stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants F***ks Everybody.” (Sorry, but this is a family-friendly blog.) It is both a statement that Black lives matter and the story of a […]

Fred Korematsu Speaks Up

Book Review by Lyn Miller Lachman Review Source: Pirate Tree Book Author: At the time of the bombing, Fred Korematsu helped his Japanese immigrant parents and U.S. born brothers at the family nursery. He had fallen in love with an Italian American woman, and to keep from being sent to the camp and separated from her, […]

The Whole Story of Half a Girl

Reviewed by Edith Campbell Review Source: Cotton Quilts Book Author: Being “half a girl” doesn’t matter much until Sonia has to change schools. She was accepted by everyone in her small private school, but she has to find new friends in her new school and this requires her to fit in somewhere. Will she hang with […]

The Adventures of Sparrowboy

Reviewed by Elisa Gall Review Source: Reading While White Book Author: The picture book features Henry, a paperboy who is feeling depressed by the headlines in the news. While reading the paper before he makes his deliveries, he finds solace in the comics. He especially loves the story of Mark Steed, a police officer (Black […]

Somos Como Las Nubes / We Are Like the Clouds

Reviewed by Beverly Slapin Review Source: DeColores Book Author: Even before the Monroe Doctrine, which declared that all of the Americas belonged to the U.S., this country has wreaked havoc through invasion, setting up companies to put native products in the hands of American corporations, and creating and supporting regime change to fit the agenda of big […]

Salsa: Un Poema Para Cocinar / A Cooking Poem

Reviewed by Allie Jane Bruce Review Source: Reading While White Book Author: The first-person narrator (who does the cooking) has a child’s voice, and teaches readers about the history and culture embodied in red salsa. “[M]olcajetes were / our ancestors’ / blenders”, the narrator tells us, and later references Nahua, Aztec, and Mayan ancestors (who Tonatiuh […]