Social Justice Books

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

There’s No Such Thing as Vegetables

Reviewed by Brad Manker Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Kyle Lukoff’s whimsical picture book serves up a delightful dish of humor, science, and social justice concepts. Young Chester, tasked with fetching vegetables for a salad from the community garden, instead encounters a vibrant cast of anthropomorphic garden inhabitants who reject the “vegetable” label. Each […]

Eleven Words for Love: A Journey Through Arabic Expressions of Love

Reviewed by Makai Kellogg and Magy Youssef Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Eleven Words for Love: A Journey through Arabic Expressions of Love, by Palestinian-Egyptian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, is summarized on the back cover: A lyrical narrative of a Palestine family in exile explores universal bonds of family, loyalty, and friendship through the […]

Margarito’s Forest / El Bosque de don Margarito

Reviewed by Olvin Abrego Ayala Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Margarito’s Forest/El Bosque de Don Margarito is a nonfiction narrative that centers on the real-life legacy of Margarito Esteban Álvarez Velázquez, affectionately known as Don Margarito, a member of the K’iche’ community in the highlands of present-day Guatemala. A captivating intergenerational story, the book […]

Simone

Reviewed by Pat Corekin Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Simone tells the story of a mother and child during an evacuation from a raging fire in California and the mother’s memories of fleeing a flood in Vietnam when she was a child. As Simone’s mother recounts the story of the flood when she […]

Borderless

Reviewed by Marcy Campos Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Borderless is an excellent novel for high school students and teachers that sheds light on the push factors that lead Central Americans to face the agonizing decision to leave their home country, and it explores the perilous journey and the horrific treatment by U.S. […]

Zion Learns to See: Opening Our Eyes to Homelessness

Reviewed by Keesha Ceran Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: Zion Learns to See is a new children’s book by father-daughter duo, Terence and Zion Lester. The book follows Zion as she spends a day with her father, Terence, in the community work he is doing around houselessness and economic justice.  Through the storytelling and […]