Social Justice Booklists

I have seen a lot of parents and educators asking how they can best engage with their kids and students about the issue of social justice in America.  Books are always a powerful tool.  Reading together brings up conversation and other perspectives. Here are some resources that list some great books, both fiction and nonfiction. ​

1. Social Justice Books website.  This website lists books by category as well as new.  Some are reviewed, and some are not.  But if you are seeking books on a certain period of history or issue, this is a great starting place.
​From the About page:   SocialJusticeBooks.org is a project of Teaching for Change, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide teachers and parents with the tools to create schools where students learn to read, write and change the world.

2. The website Embracerace.org has a book list called "31 Children's Books to support conversations on race, racism, and resistance." This list includes picture books, which is not always the case with other websites, so that's helpful.  This list was put together by the critical literacy organizations, The Conscious Kid and American Indians in Children’s Literature.

3. Brain Lair Books has a great list on Bookshop.org, which a website to boost online sales for indie booksellers as an alternative to other online shopping giants. 

This book list called "This List is Anti-Racist."  It's full of excellent books--check it out!

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4.  School Library Journal has shared a number of good resources.  Their latest post on social media included an educator's guide to the book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi.   

​You can download the guide for free.  To learn more about this book, read this interview with the authors.

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5. The Brown Book Shelf is an organization that supports Black authors writing for young readers.   Along with their website, you can find them on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.  Give them a follow!

They are hosting a Kitlit Rally for Black Lives on June 4th led by award-winning authors Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, and Jason Reynolds.  It will be recording it for those unable to attend Live and ASL interpretation will be provided.  I'm not sure how long the recording will be available, but I'm looking forward to listening and learning!

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6. The book Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness, published by Dottir Press, is being offered as a free PDF download through June 19, 2020. 

​Even once this free offer ends, this book will remain an excellent picture book to get and read.   The image to the side is a screenshot of their website:  ​https://www.dottirpress.com/

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There are other social justice book lists aimed at adults--those are awesome, too, not to mention some amazing people to follow on social media who teach and share about these issues. But as someone who writes for young readers, I wanted to focus on published resources to support these important conversations with young people.     

Thanks for your time.  Love to all of you,
Amy