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Summer Reading 2018

Home Page for Summer Reading 2018, including book selection guide, topic support materials, and more!

Other Books on this Theme

In the course of selecting books for this year's All-School Summer Reading list, we considered many more books than actually made it on to the list.  Here are a few examples.

In addition to books we considered, there are also many books in the library that relate well to our theme or to specific books on the list.  We hope that some of you will be interested enough to continue to read on this theme.

NOTE: These books are NOT part of the official list. They are  OPTIONAL & ADDITIONAL choices for anyone particularly interested in this theme.

Great Book Lists on Social Justice Topics

AUDIOSYNC:  Free Audio Books All Summer Long

Some of them are related to Social Justice, others are just quality, current, YA literature to listen to.

Click Here

Books in the Library

Selected Other Books in Our Collection

The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century

A chronological collection of brief biographies on important figures for social justice in American history, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Bob Dylan

Tattoos on the Heart

Women of Courage

So You Want to Talk about Race

Surviving Justice

The thirteen men and women portrayed here, and the hundreds of others who have been exonerated, are the tip of the iceberg. By all estimates, there are thousands of innocent victims in prison today. Surviving Justice tells their unimaginable and inspiring stories.

G-Dog and the Homeboys

Father Greg Boyle and the Gangs of East Los Angeles

Women's Lives - Men's Laws

A collection of writings in which Catharine MacKinnon presents her approach to reframing the laws of men on the basis of the lives of women.

G-DOG [DVD]

Describes Father Greg Boyle's work with the gang members of East Los Angeles, discussing how the priest has helped young men and women start their lives over, and exploring why some former gang members are able to make a new life for themselves while others are not

We Should All Be Feminists

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World

A scrapbook-style teen guide to understanding what it really means to be a feminist.

A Brief History of Feminism

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History

Laurel Ulrich examines the meaning behind the slogan she inadvertently created, "Well-behaved women seldom make history," exploring what it means to make history and how women have achieved power and influence throughout history.

The Radical Element

"An anthology of historical short stories features a diverse array of girls standing up for themselves and their beliefs, forging their own paths while resisting society's expectations"--OCLC.

The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano

It is 1969 in Spanish Harlem, and fourteen-year-old Evelyn Serrano is trying hard to break free from her conservative Puerto Rican surroundings, but when her activist grandmother comes to stay and the neighborhood protests start, things get a lot more complicated--and dangerous.

Ain't I a Woman

Examining the impact of sexism on Black women during slavery, the devaluation of Back womanhood, Black male sexism, racism among feminists, and the Black woman's involvement with feminism, hooks attempts to move us beyond racist and sexist assumptions.

Shine

When her best friend falls victim to a vicious hate crime, sixteen-year-old Cat sets out to discover the culprits in her small North Carolina town.

The New Jim Crow

Argues that mass incarceration of African- and Latino Americans in the United States is a form of social control, and contends the civil rights community needs to become more active in protecting the rights of criminals.

Writing My Wrongs

an unforgettable tale of forgiveness and hope, one that reminds us that our worst deeds don't define who we are or what we can contribute to the world. And it's a lasting testament to the power of compassion, prayer, and unconditional love, for reaching those whom society has forgotten"--

Race to Incarcerate

A graphic novel adaptation of Marc Mauer's study of criminal justice policy in the U.S. that discusses the explosion in prison populations in recent years, and considers the reasons why the national approach to solving crime has been to rely on the prison at the expense of other more effective and humane responses.

The Real Cost of Prisons Comix

A collection of comics based on real case histories of those who have been involved in the U.S. prison system, examining the social and community costs and various impacts of mass incarceration, with reader responses and statistics about the economic impact of prisons in specific communities.

No Choirboy

A collection of essays in which inmates at American prisons who were sentenced to death while still in their teens share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up in prison and how they feel about capital punishment.

Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?

This book is for anyone who wants to create their own zine. It's for learning tips and tricks from contributors who have been at the forefront of the zine movement. It's for learning how to design and print your own zine so you can put it in others' hands. It's for anyone who has something to say

33 Revolutions per Minute

Profiles thirty-three protest songs that have had a significant impact on world culture from the 1930s through the early twenty-first century.

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl

Before Carrie Brownstein became a music icon, she was a young girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest just as it was becoming the setting for one the most important movements in rock history. Sleater-Kinney, rose to prominence in the burgeoning underground feminist punk-rock movement of the 1990s.

The Latte Rebellion

Asha Jamison and her best friend Carey, inspired by a racial insult, set off on a money-making trip, selling t-shirts to raise awareness for mixed-race students.

After the Shot Drops

"Told from alternating perspectives, Bunny takes a basketball scholarship to an elite private school to help his family, leaving behind Nasir, his best friend, in their tough Philadelphia neighborhood"

I Am Alfonso Jones

The ghost of fifteen-year-old Alfonso Jones travels in a New York subway car full of the living and the dead, watching his family and friends fight for justice after he is killed by an off-duty police officer while buying a suit in a Midtown department store.

Long Way Down

As Will, fifteen, sets out to avenge his brother Shawn's fatal shooting, seven ghosts who knew Shawn board the elevator and reveal truths Will needs to know.

APB - Artists Against Police Brutality

A collection of essays and comics that explore the issues of police bias and brutality inspired by controversial incidents of police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States during the early twenty-first century

How It Went Down

When sixteen-year-old Tariq Johnson is shot to death, his community is thrown into an uproar because Tariq was black and the shooter, Jack Franklin, is white, and in the aftermath everyone has something to say, but no two accounts of the events agree.

Monster

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

Claudette Colvin

Presents an account of fifteen-year-old Claudette Colvin, an African-American girl who refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks, and covers her role in a crucial civil rights case

March, Books 1-3

Presents in graphic novel format the life of Georgia congressman John Lewis, focusing on his youth in rural Alabama, his meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., and the birth of the Nashville Student Movement.

Walking with the Wind

Biography of John Lewis, civil rights worker and member of the House of Representatives, discussing his participation in several events in the civil rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s and his terms as a congressman from Georgia during the late 1980s and 1990s.

Mine Eyes Have Seen

Examines the civil rights movement in words and images, presenting photos by Bob Adelman and essays by author and scholar Charles Johnson.

Freedom Summer

Introduces the efforts of student volunteers who traveled to Mississippi in 1964 to encourage African Americans to exercise their right to vote, and dicusses the violent resistance they faced from supporters of segregation.

When The Rules Aren't Right

This is a graphic novel for all ages. ... When the Rules Aren't Right offers readers a look at the struggle of workers -- let's them stand in the middle of the action and watch ordinary people achieving extraordinary things.

Indivisible

"Anthology including over fifty works of poetry by 20th century writers on issues related to social justice in American society.

Threads

The author documents, in graphic novel format, her experiences while volunteering at "The Jungle," a camp of mainly Middle Eastern and African refugees in the port town of Calais, France, who are hoping to get to the United Kingdom. The author also addresses the prejudice and scapegoating arising from the political right.

Girl rising : changing the world one girl at a time

Girl Rising, a global campaign for girls' education, created a film that chronicled the stories of nine girls in the developing world, allowing viewers the opportunity to witness how education can break the cycle of poverty. Now, award-winning author Tanya Lee Stone deftly uses new research to illuminate the dramatic facts behind the film, focusing both on the girls captured on camera and many others.

I Am Malala

Malala Yousafzai's describes her fight for education for girls under Taliban rule, the support she received from her parents to pursue an education, and how the Taliban retaliated against her by trying to kill her.

Half the Sky

Tells the stories of women in Africa and Asia who have been victims of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality, and shows how girls' education and micro-finance can change their lives while providing a boost to the economies of developing countries.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Deogratias

Left to Tell

The true story of Immaculée Ilibagiza who endured the murder of her family as a result of genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and how she was able to later forgive those who had killed them.

Led by Faith

Escape from Syria

A fictionalized account of a family fleeing war-torn Syria after their home in Aleppo is destroyed. They endure wretched refugee camps, ocean crossings, swindlers--all to find safety in the West

Abina and the Important Men

A graphic novel account based on the 1876 court case involving a West African woman named Abina who was wrongfully enslaved. Includes a transcript, historical context for the story, a reading guide, and strategies for classroom use.

The Big Book of Restorative Justice

The Griots of Oakland

What is it like being a young African American man? The media repeats the same stereotypes again and again, yet the reality is much more diverse. This eye-opening and beautifully presented book shares the voices and images of a group of young black men in Oakland, interviewed by their peers in a groundbreaking oral history project.

Symptoms of Being Human

A gender-fluid teenager who struggles with identity creates a blog on the topic that goes viral, and faces ridicule at the hands of fellow students" Some days Riley Cavanaugh identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. when the blog goes viral, Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created-- or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

Gender Issues and Sexuality

A focus on leading social issues of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Each title contains approximately 175 full or excerpted documents---speeches, legislation, magazine and newspaper articles, essays, memoirs, letters, interviews, novels, songs, and works of art---as well as overview information that places each document in context.

Start Where You Are, but Don't Stay There

Start Where You Are, But Don't Stay There addresses a crucial issue in teacher training and professional education: the need to prepare preservice and inservice teachers for the racially diverse student populations in their classrooms. The book centers on case studies that exemplify the challenges, pitfalls, and opportunities facing teachers in diverse classrooms. 

Rethinking Mathematics

more than 50 articles show how to weave social justice issues throughout the mathematics curriculum,