Social Justice Reading List by BCALA & ALSC (PreK-Gr. 8)

Created on March 15, 2021, 10:13 am

Last Updated October 9, 2021, 12:34 pm

BCALA and ALSC Social Justice Reading List : Community, Connecting, Cultivating & Constructing Conversations Through Literacy This list was a collaborative effort between the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Titles on this list were compiled by members of BCALA and members of ALSC’s Quicklists Consulting Committee. Know your reader: Some titles may include mature content. Parents, caregivers and educators are encouraged to discuss these experiences with their children. https://www.ala.org/alsc/publications-resources/book-lists/socialjustice

41) The power of her pen: the story of groundbreaking journalist Ethel L. Payne

Author

Cline-Ransome, Lesa

Description

Ethel L. Payne always had an ear for stories. Seeking truth, justice, and equality, Ethel followed stories from her school newspaper in Chicago to Japan during World War II. It even led her to the White House briefing room, where she broke barriers as one of the first black journalists. Ethel wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions of presidents, elected officials, or any one else in charge, earning her the title "First Lady of the Black Press."...

42) Princess hair

Author

Formats:

Book, Talking Book

Description

Little girls pretending to be princesses celebrate the different shapes, textures, and styles of their black hair.

43) Reaching for the Moon: the autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson

Author

Johnson, Katherine G

Formats:

Description

"The inspiring autobiography of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who helped launch Apollo 11"--

44) Ruth and The Green Book

Author

Ramsey, Calvin A

Description

When Ruth and her parents take a motor trip from Chicago to Alabama to visit her grandma, they rely on a pamphlet called "The Negro Motorist Green Book" to find places that will serve them. Includes facts about "The Green Book."

45) Say her name

Author

Series

Poems to empower

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Inspired by the #SayHerName campaign launched by the African American Policy Forum, these poems pay tribute to victims of police brutality as well as the activists [championing the] Black Lives Matter [cause]."--

46) Schomburg: the man who built a library

Author

Weatherford, Carole Boston

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

Where is our historian to give us our side? Arturo asked. Amid the scholars, poets, authors, and artists of the Harlem Renaissance stood an Afro-Puerto Rican named Arturo Schomburg. This law clerk's life's passion was to collect books, letters, music, and art from Africa and the African diaspora and bring to light the achievements of people of African descent through the ages. When Schomburg's collection became so big it began to overflow his house...

47) The season of Styx Malone

Author

Formats:

Description

Caleb Franklin and his younger brother, Bobby Gene, spend an extraordinary summer their new, older neighbor, Styx Malone, a foster boy from the city.

48) Sing a song: how "Lift Every Voice and Sing" inspired generations

Author

Lyons, Kelly Starling

Description

"Just in time for the 120th anniversary of the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing"-this stirring book celebrates the Black National Anthem and how it inspired five generations of a family... In Jacksonville, Florida, two brothers, one of them the principal of a segregated, all-black school, wrote the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing" so his students could sing it for a tribute to Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. From that moment on, the song has provided...

49) Something happened in our town: a child's story about racial injustice

Author

Celano, Marianne

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

After discussing the police shooting of a local black man with their families, Emma and Josh know how to treat a new student who looks and speaks differently than his classmates.

50) Stamped: racism, antiracism, and you

Author

Reynolds, Jason

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle, Playaway

Description

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. Racist ideas are woven into the fabric of this country, and the first step to building an antiracist America is acknowledging America's racist past and present. This book takes you on that journey, showing how racist ideas started and were spread, and how they can be discredited.

51) stamped racism antiracism and you

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

52) Sulwe

Author

Nyong'o, Lupita

Description

When five-year-old Sulwe's classmates make fun of her dark skin, she tries lightening herself to no avail, but her encounter with a shooting star helps her understand there is beauty in every shade.

53) Thirteen ways of looking at a black boy

Author

Description

A fresh perspective of young men of color depicting thirteen views of everyday life: young boys dressed in their Sunday best, running to catch a bus, and growing up to be teachers, and much more.

54) This promise of change: one girl's story in the fight for school equality

Author

Boyce, Jo Ann Allen

Description

"In 1956, one year before federal troops escorted the Little Rock 9 into Central High School, fourteen year old Jo Ann Allen was one of twelve African-American students who broke the color barrier and integrated Clinton High School in Tennessee. At first things went smoothly for the Clinton 12, but then outside agitators interfered, pitting the townspeople against one another. Uneasiness turned into anger, and even the Clinton Twelve themselves wondered...

55) The undefeated

Author

Alexander, Kwame

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

"The Newbery Award-winning author of The Crossover pens an ode to black American triumph and tribulation, with art from a two-time Caldecott Honoree"--

56) The usual suspects

Author

Broaddus, Maurice

Description

"Thelonius Mitchell is tired of being labeled. He's in special ed, separated from the "normal" kids at school who don't have any "issues." That's enough to make all the teachers and students look at him and his friends with a constant side-eye. (Although his disruptive antics and pranks have given him a rep too.) When a gun is found at a neighborhood hangout, Thelonius and his pals become instant suspects. Thelonius may be guilty of pulling crazy...

57) Ways to make sunshine

Author

Series

Ryan Hart novels volume 1

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

Description

The Hart family of Portland, Oregon, faces many setbacks after Ryan's father loses his job, but no matter what, Ryan tries to bring sunshine to her loved ones.

Author

Description

Illustrations and brief text portray the events of the 1963 march in Washington, D.C., where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a historic speech.

59) We rise, we resist, we raise our voices

Description

What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? With 96 lavishly designed pages of original art, poetry, and prose, fifty diverse creators lend voice and comfort to young activists.

Author

Maldonado, Torrey

Description

Biracial sixth-grader Stephen questions the limitations society puts on him after he notices the way strangers treat him when he hangs out with his white friends and learns about the Black Lives Matter movement.