Social Justice Books

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

SanTana’s Fairy Tales

Reviewed by: Lyn Miller-Lachmann Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: Storyteller and visual artist Sarah Rafael García offers six “Fairy Tales for Trust and Justice,” all of them set in Santa Ana, a city in southern California that borders “the happiest place on Earth.” But that place is “never […]

Uninterrupted View of the Sky

Reviewed by Lyn Miller-Lachmann Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: Because Francisco’s father is Indigenous, the police consider him guilty of Bolivia’s infamous Ley 1008, with no way of proving himself innocent. Unable to cope as a single mother with the stigma of a husband in prison, Francisco’s Mestiza […]

Little Skeletons / Esqueletitos: Countdown to Midnight

Reviewed by Beverly Slapin Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: Based on the popular Latin American children’s song, “Los Esqueletos Salen de la Tumba” (“The Skeletons Come Out of the Tomb”), in which activities change from hour to hour, Esqueletitos is an interactive how-to-tell-time counting rhyme that features a […]

How Do You Say? / ¿Cómo se Dice?

Reviewed by Beverly Slapin Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: When two young giraffes—one who speaks Spanish and one who speaks English—discover each other at an acacia tree that provides a “delicious! / ¡sabrosa!” leafy meal for both of them and they can share water from the same small […]

Journey of Dreams

Reviewed by Lyn Miller-Lachmann Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience Book Author: OUT OF PRINT Between 1982 and 1992, hundreds of churches and synagogues across the United States offered sanctuary to refugees fleeing civil strife in Guatemala and El Salvador. The Sanctuary Movement began in Tucson, Arizona, through the efforts of Presbyterian minister John Fife and […]

Rudas: Niño’s Horrendous Hermanitas

Reviewed by: Beverly Slapin Review Source: De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children Book Author: In this, the rematch of all rematches!—defeated, but unwilling to surrender!—Niño’s HORRIFYING, HARROWING, HORRENDOUS HERMANITAS (“Wrestling champions! Lucha Queens!”)—interrupting their brother who has been busy creating a picture book and must now drop everything to don his lucha […]