Full #Kidlit4Justice Booklist, January 2016

What role does children's literature play in the fight for social justice? Is there room for advocacy and activism in the imaginative worlds that stories provide -- or does that mean that the author and/or illustrator is being "too preachy?" Can children's literature help the next generation learn to dream of a better world?

During the aftermath of the extrajudicial murder of young Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, several of us chatted on Twitter about resources that we might provide for our youngest readers, including Kids Like Us Books, Sarah Hamburg, Angie Manfredi, and others. As Dr. Marcia Chatelain's #FergusonSyllabus was being created, #Kidlit4Justice was born.

Our SuperFriends team and I chose social justice as our January theme, in honor of the King holiday celebrating a legendary champion for justice, and because we think it's a great way to begin 2016. Thus, below the cut, please find our full list of selections.

For a better, peaceful & more just world,

Ebony & the SuperFriends


(Note: January 1-3 was our @HealingFictions account's launch-a-palooza! We began our book recommendations on Monday, January 4, 2016.)

• January 4. A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
• January 5. Who Belongs Here? by Margy Burns Knight, illustrated by Anne Sibley O’Brien
• January 6. Every Human Has Rights: A Photographic Declaration for Kids by National Geographic, foreword by Mary Robinson
• January 7. The Streets Are Free by Kurusa, illustrated by Monika Doppert
• January 8. It’s Our World, Too! by Phillip Hoose
• January 9. Bird by Zetta Elliott, illustrated by Shadra Strickland
• January 10. Seedfolks by Paul Fleishmann, illustrated by Judy Pedersen
• January 11. March by Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, illustrated by Nate Powell
• January 12. Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
• January 13. I Have the Right to be a Child by Alain Serres, illustrated by Aurélia Fronty, translated by Sarah Ardizzone
• January 14. We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy by Maurice Sendak
• January 15. Sidewalk Flowers by JonArno Lawson, illustrated by Sydney Smith
• January 16. Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
• January 17. We March by Shane Evans
• January 18. A Time to Break Silence: The Essential Works of Martin Luther King, Jr., For Students by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., introduction by Walter Dean Myers
• January 19. I Dreamt…A Book about Hope by Gabriela Olmos
• January 20. Friends from the Other Side / Amigos Del Otro Lado by Gloria Anzaldúa, illustrated by Consuelo Mendez
• January 21. Let It Shine: Stories of Black Women Freedom Fighters by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• January 22. No Crystal Stair by Vonda Micheaux Nelson
• January 23. One Love by Cedilla Marley
• January 24. Desmond and the Very Mean Word by Desmond Tutu
• January 25. The Forgiveness Garden by Lauren Thompson
• January 26. The People Shall Continue by Simon Ortiz, illustrated by Sharol Graves
• January 27. Sit In: How Four Friends Stood Up By Sitting Down by Andrea Davis Pinkney
• January 28. Si, Se Puede / Yes, We Can! by Diana Cohn
• January 29. Bread and Roses, Too by Katherine Paterson
• January 30. A Life Like Mine by Dorling Kindersley and UNICEF
• January 31. We Are All Born Free by Amnesty International