Social Justice Books

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

Knock, Knock: Turning Pain into Power

Reviewed by Linda Christensen Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: The Rethinking Schools article below, by Linda Christensen, is about teaching Daniel Beaty’s poetry that was the basis for his picture book, Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me. Too often today, schools are about standards and common curriculum: Scarlet Letter and Huck Finn first quarter, move on to Great Gatsby … […]

Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Book Author: “The trouble with world history is it started so long ago,” I complained to anyone who would listen as I wrestled with the best way to start the year for my 10th-grade World History students. In their first journal entries, many of my students had already told me they thought […]

Portraits of Racial Justice: Americans Who Tell the Truth

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: In his preface to Portraits of Racial Justice, Robert Shetterly describes his new volume as “an art book, a history book, a curriculum, a manifesto. It is a community of people unafraid to name the failures of this country and the injustices of power that benefit […]

Lessons in Liberation: An Abolitionist Toolkit for Educators

Reviewed by Rethinking Schools Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author:  Lessons in Liber­ation successfully sets out to answer a critical question: What does aboli­tionist education look like in practice? Lessons in Libera­tion pulls together a stunning mix of background articles and teaching ideas, all aimed at being useful for educators and community activists interested in […]

Celebrate People’s History: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution

Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: It’s easy to lose oneself in this rich collection of more than 100 posters edited by Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative member Josh MacPhee. The beautiful posters, representing a range of artists and events in U.S. and world history, were originally posted in public spaces to counter the “endless barrage of […]

We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest, and Possibility

Review Source: Rethinking Schools Book Author: Marc Lamont Hill’s newest book is small and urgent. Focused on the racist roots of the 2020 pandemic and uprising, it is a book about right now, written right now. Hill writes, “It’s not enough just to recount the things that have happened in this crazy year of 2020. […]