Social Justice Books

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

Bottle Tops: The Art of El Anatsui

Reviewed by Veronika Jenke Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: The picture book Bottle Tops: The Art of El Anatsui introduces El, as he calls himself, and his innovative process of creating massive assemblages that are both textile-like and sculptural. A  living artist born in Ghana, West Africa,  El  lives, teaches and works as an […]

Door of No Return

Reviewed by Elizabeth Abena Osei Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: When I was eight years old, my mother introduced me to slave narratives with Meet Addy, the story of the Black enslaved girl in the American Girl Book Collection. It was one of the first times I read about slavery from the perspective of a […]

Sugar Town Queens

Reviewed by Barbara B. Brown and Rehana Odendaal Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: Sugar Town Queens tells the story of Amandla, a 15-year-old mixed race South African girl, living on the edge of hunger in a Black shantytown, with her white mother. Her mother totters between reality and the life she lost years earlier. The […]

Home is Not a Country

Reviewed by Lidwien Kapteijns Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: This book, a novel in free verse and written for young adult readers, is a story that delights in countless ways. Written by the young Sudanese American writer and poet Safia Elhillo, it tells the story of a teenage, Muslim, first-generation immigrant girl, called Nima […]

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). […]

Nana Akua Goes to School

Reviewed by Anastasia Shown Reviewed Source: Africa Access Book Author: Nana Akua Goes to School by Tricia Elam Walker & April Harrison is a splendid book! It begins with Zura being anxious about the upcoming “Grandparents Day” at her school because her Grandmother has unique face markings that she received as a child growing up […]