Social Justice Books

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

The Range Eternal

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: When I was a little girl on our reservation (Nambé Owingeh), I sat by my grandmother’s wood stove and watched her cook and tend the fire in her stove. In The Range Eternal, we see a mother and daughter standing at their stove, making soup. Here’s […]

Apple (Skin to the Core)

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Monday, October 12 is Indigenous Peoples’ Day. There will be many virtual events taking place. Top of my list is the one from Arizona State University. Eric Gansworth will open their day of events. When you click on through to register for his lecture […]

Nibi Is Water

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Last month I (Debbie) was in Toronto at the 2020 Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference. There, I spoke (and ate, and laughed–a lot!) with Native women. At one of these moments, they were asking me if I’d seen Joanne Robertson’s new board […]

Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance

Reviewed by Debbie Reese Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Dr. Darcie Little Badger has two stories in Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance. In the final pages of the book you can read a little about her. I follow her on Twitter (@ShiningComic) and it has been terrific reading her tweets as […]

Race to the Sun

Reviewed by Michael Thompson Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: When Rebecca Roanhorse published her dystopian fantasy novel Trail of Lightning, I wrote at length about my grave concerns for her appropriation and distortions of Dine’ cultural narratives. I noted, as a Native educator and a Navajo in-law, that numerous Navajo writers were voicing […]

Spotted Tail

Reviewed by Jean Mendoza Review Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature Book Author: Nineteenth-century Sicangu Lakota leader Spotted Tail (Sinte Gleska) is the subject of a new biography for middle grades, by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Spotted Tail, Reycraft Books, 2019). Spotted Tail was highly influential, but is generally less well-known than other Plains leaders […]