Social Justice Books

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

Lovable Lyle

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Lovable Lyle is the fourth picture book in a series about Lyle the Crocodile who lives with the Primm family. In this book, Lyle is confronted with an enemy, the new girl in town, Clover Sue Hipple, who keeps leaving him threatening letters much […]

Miles Morales: Shock Waves

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Miles Morales: Shockwaves is the latest graphic novel in a series about a contemporary Brooklyn student who has superhero adventures as Spiderman. In Shockwaves, Miles helps raise money for relief efforts in Puerto Rico after a series of earthquakes strike and works to uncover how […]

My Many Colored Days

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  My Many Colored Days intends to teach early elementary children that it is normal to experience different emotions on different days and even on the same day, which sometimes makes it hard to understand and express yourself. Dr. Seuss attempts to give children a […]

The World Needs More Purple People

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: The World Needs More Purple People is designed to teach early elementary children that they should be inquisitive, humorous, kind, outspoken, diligent, and authentic, which are all essential qualities indeed and according to the protagonist, Penny, all needed to become a purple person. The […]

The Teachers March! How Selma’s Teachers Changed History

Reviewed by Jenice L. View Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Overall, this book is very well researched and cited. It centers Black people, their strategic thinking, and their agency at a time when the national story of the Black freedom movement was being complicated by heightened white supremacist violence, rising resistance to the […]

Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race

Reviewed by Makai Kellogg Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Our Skin: A First Conversation About Race is the book we’ve been waiting for! The team (Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas) did an incredible thing: they explained race and racism to young children. Not only did they do it in a few […]