Social Justice Books

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

Ophie’s Ghosts

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Ophie’s Ghosts, winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, is a beautifully tender middle grade novel set in the 1920s about the complexity of grief and its lingering effects on both the living and the dead. Author Justina Ireland offers a thought-provoking message […]

The Secret Diary of Mona Hasan

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Written in the tradition of The Diary of Anne Frank and The Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, this insightful middle grade novel teases out serious themes such as war and politics, immigration and racism, classism and labor, genderism, and more through the lens […]

Noor Needs to Know!

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Precocious Noor needs to know why the women in her family wear hijab, all in different ways that suit them just right. There’s Affa, the best sister and the coolest hijabi whose hijab is always wrapped stylishly. There’s Auntie Salma, the toughest hijabi, whose hijab […]

They Call Me Teach: Lessons in Freedom

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  They Call Me Teach is a fictional story based on true accounts of enslaved African Americans turning to literacy as a form of empowerment. The narrative takes readers through a week in the shoes of “Teach,” a young man who was taught to read and […]

It’s Holi!

Reviewed by Paige Pagan Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author:  Sameer is excited to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors, with his family and friends, but when it’s time to throw colored powder and water around, he’s not so excited about getting messy. Does he really want color splashed across his face? What if it […]

Invisible Son

Reviewed by Keesha Ceran Review Source: Teaching for Change Book Author: It was a grand day receiving the notice that Kim Johnson was releasing her second book, Invisible Son. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, having fallen in love with her debut book This Is My America. Johnson’s writing is captivating. She […]