Social Justice Books

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

Ellen’s Broom

Reviewed by Deborah Miller Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Ellen’s Broom is a sweet yet powerful story about a young girl who learns the significance of a so-called broom wedding. Slavery has ended and Reconstruction just begun. This means that the marriages of formerly enslaved people, like Ellen’s parents, can be formally recognized […]

A True Book: President Donald Trump

VICTORY – Scholastic’s celebratory children’s books about Donald Trump are finally OUT OF PRINT. After thousands of letters in an action campaign from teachers, parents, and students across the U.S., Scholastic has stopped reprinting these two books. Update: More than 1,200 people have written to Scholastic to express their outrage about the 2017 children’s books, President Donald Trump […]

President Donald Trump

VICTORY – Scholastic’s celebratory children’s books about Donald Trump are finally OUT OF PRINT. After thousands of letters in an action campaign from teachers, parents, and students across the U.S., Scholastic has stopped reprinting these two books. Reviewed by Kathleen Nganga and Sarah Cornelius Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  “His buildings reached toward the sky. His […]

Islandborn / Lola

Reviewed by Teaching for Change Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: The new children’s book Islandborn by Junot Díaz tells the story of a young girl, Lola, who learns from family and friends about the island where she was born. The island is not named in the book, but readers can deduce that the story is based […]

I Am Alfonso Jones

Reviewed by Fayette Colon Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: I Am Alfonso Jones provides young readers with a narrative that not only addresses the complexity and history of police brutality but also discusses climate change, gun control, the criminalization of Black males, the Black Lives Matter movement, youth activism, Afro Latinidad, and so much more. […]

42 Is Not Just a Number

Reviewed by Don Allen Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: For many kids, sports can be a window into the injustices that have desecrated the American democratic experiment, since its beginnings. I was one of those kids. I loved sports and I lived in a town and attended a school that lacked diversity. I […]