Schools
Volusia County, Florida
On August 31, Volusia County School District removed the book Rosa Parks by Eloise Greenfield from elementary school classrooms after a teacher complained about it. The book was part of the state-approved curriculum. Concerns over it were raised after Florida’s Board of Education voted unanimously to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
Volusia United Educators President Elizabeth Albert explained that the teacher was concerned about how parents would react to a book that points out the harms the Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow Laws did to Black people.
Once Albert was made aware of the teacher’s concerns, she reached out to district staff members to ask what protections are in place for teachers “if a student makes an inaccurate statement at home about a teacher talking about the Ku Klux Klan.” Albert also asked if a different book could be used in the curriculum.
Rene Clayton, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, then emailed all the principals asking them to remove the book from classrooms “until given further direction.” All references to the book were also removed from teachers’ curriculum resources.
The move surprised Mike Buchanan who was in the middle of teaching the book in his third grade class. “The kids loved it,” Buchanan said. “There were no complaints from parents.”
In response to the district’s request for guidance, State Vice Chancellor for Literary Achievement Cari Miller responded that the book is one of 27 optional texts about civics for third-grade English language arts. Miller said there was no question that the book was age appropriate.
On September 9, principals were notified that Rosa Parks was being returned to classroom libraries and would remain an optional text for third grade teachers.
Albert said the question regarding protections for teachers remained unanswered and this was relevant given the state’s ban on CRT.
Buchanan was unconcerned. “It’s actual historical facts. It just tells the history of what happened.” He characterized the book’s temporary removal as an attempt to “whitewash history.”
Reported in: Daytona Beach News-Journal, September 29, 2021.
Chelsea, Michigan
The Chelsea School District Board of Education voted 6-1 to retain Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye in its high school library, pending further review. Tammy Lehman was the one vote favoring removal of the book until it could be reviewed.
Lehman said she found it “disgusting” that there were four copies of the book available at Chelsea High School.
The book came under scrutiny after parents and community members spoke out against it and read excerpts from it at the August 9 board meeting.
Their objections stemmed from the novel’s depiction of incestuous sexual violence perpetrated against the character Pecola Breedlove. The title refers to Pecola’s belief that she would be free from abuse and racism if she had blue eyes.
Morrison won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature, and The Bluest Eye was part of the reason she received this accolade. Morrison also won a Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved.
The Bluest Eye was one of 13 books donated to the district by Chelsea’s One World One Family Task Force. The books were selected from a list vetted by the district’s Equity and Social Justice (ESJ) Committee. Their work is evaluated by the Board of Education’s Diversity, Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion (DBEI) committee.
In response to the book challenge, the district removed the ESJ resource list from their website.
Board member Shawn Quilter said removing the book would send the wrong message to students. “I think the main point is getting rid of the book is getting rid of the opportunity to access it. I get worried when you start doing that.”
Chelsea School District Superintendent Julie Helber said that the book is not used in classes and is not part of the high school curriculum. She said that the book has been available from the library for 20 years.
Helber noted that an excerpt from The Bluest Eye is on the College Board’s Advanced Placement test.
Quilter said that The Bluest Eye has “been controversial since it was published, but there’s so much of that book that does deal with understanding racism, oppression and inferiority, and all of those other things.”
Theresa Plank, a parent, spoke in support of the book and the work of the DBEI.
“I’m well aware that the people making these difficult decisions have the safety and wellbeing of our kids at the forefront of their minds every single day,” Plank said. “Not to mention that I believe trained educators are able to navigate through these obstacles much better than I am as a parent alone.”
Reported in: Michigan Live, August 24, 2021.
York, Pennsylvania
On November 9, 2020, the all-White board of Central York Schools suspended use of approximately 300 books, articles, and videos included on their Diversity Committee’s Summer Meeting Resource List (see the appendix on page 47 for the full list of titles).
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) materials, books about indigenous peoples, and books about autism and disabilities were included on the list of newly-prohibited resources.
Most of the books banned were by Black or Latinx authors. They primarily dealt with racism and Black history.
The banned items included a picture book about Rosa Parks, The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles, PBS documentaries, an episode of Sesame Street, and a litany of award-winning children’s books.
“This seems pretty egregious,” said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, associate professor of history at the New School. “The kind of texts that are being banned here make me feel that there is now just sort of an allergy to anything that mentions race or racism.”
The list of forbidden resources was distributed to faculty at the middle and high school in early September of 2021.
School librarians were required to pull the books from their shelves. Teachers’ lesson plans were undermined and needed to be recreated.
When news of the ban broke, pushback and protests ensued.
Students and parents alike raised complaints that the school board was not addressing the needs of a multicultural student body.
“I don’t think that a board that lacks diversity is the appropriate authority to determine what qualifies as appropriate material to address race in this community,” said parent Brandi Miller.
Senior Edha Gupta said, “This is a board that after hearing their students’ concerns about diversity in the district, hearing my struggle with race . . . and consistently feeling like I didn’t belong, after hearing those conversations for weeks on end, they still pursued the book ban.”
In addition to speaking out against the board’s actions, Gupta wrote an op-ed for the York Dispatch and started a Change.org petition urging the board to reverse the ban. His petition was endorsed by more than 5,000 signatories.
At the September 13 school board meeting, Ellis, a Black senior, said “Why is a Sesame Street episode threatening the education of children? If anything, this school board is threatening education.”
Central York High School teacher Ben Hodge spoke to the chilling effect created by the resource ban. He said he has to “think twice about whether or not I should or could use a James Baldwin quote as an opening for my class.”
Patricia Jackson, who has taught in the district for more than 20 years, said “There are teachers looking over their shoulders wondering if someone’s going to be . . . darkening their door, saying you said something, or you mentioned something, or used something that you were not supposed to.”
Some parents in attendance supported the board’s action, however, wielding their misappropriation of the term “critical race theory” (CRT) as a weapon.
“The community is 100% against an [sic] critical race theory indoctrination agenda,” said one mother. Since August of 2020, CRT has been used nationwide as a catch-all term encompassing all conservative culture war issues.
The Panther Anti-Racist Union, a student organization, organized a protest in front of the school before the board meeting. Around 100 people participated.
Olivia Pituch, one of the student protesters said, “I want to learn genuine history. I don’t want to learn a whitewashed version. I want to hear all of it.”
In a written statement in response to the protests, Jane Johnson, the school board president, said officials would form a curriculum committee to review the banned materials.
Johnson said they would wait to form the committee until a new superintendent replaced Michael Snell, who retired in October. The ban will remain in effect until this review occurs.
JJ Sheffer and Hannah Shipley wanted to make sure that York students and community members retained access to the banned materials. To that end, they organized a book drive of titles from the diversity resource list for distribution to little free libraries. They were soon overwhelmed as nearly 7,000 books were delivered to their homes.
Recognizing the capacity limits of little free libraries, Sheffer and Shipley announced a read-aloud event and book giveaway at nearby Cousler Park. They distributed more than 5,000 of the banned titles in less than half an hour.
The controversy soon received national media attention, prompting the school board to change course. They announced they would hold a vote on reinstating the banned materials at an emergency meeting on September 20.
The board unanimously voted to lift the ban.
Johnson said, “We are committed to making this long delay right.” She declined to be interviewed.
Recognizing that the board only lifted their nearly year-long book ban after sustained student protests and national condemnation, Pituch observed, “We know that they did not temporarily reverse out of the goodness of their hearts.”
“It took five high schoolers organizing a peaceful walk-in protest for each day . . . to help make sure that our district heard that they and many others did not feel represented,” said Hodge. “They are heroes and should be celebrated as bastions of American freedom and democracy. I want to be clear: these kids did this.”
Reported in: FOX 43, September 7, 2021; CNN, September 16, 2021; York Dispatch, September 10, 2021; September 20, 2021; September 24, 2021; and October 1, 2021; Yahoo! Life, September 21, 2021; The New York Times, October 2, 2021.
Katy, Texas
At the beginning of the school year, the Katy Independent School District (ISD) promoted an October 4 virtual visit with award-winning children’s author Jerry Craft for all third through fifth graders.
Bonnie Anderson, a former candidate for the Katy ISD school board and a party in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the district’s mask mandate, started a Change.org petition calling on the district to cancel the event and ban all of Craft’s books.
The petition was taken down for violating Change.org’s community guidelines, but Anderson claims it got around 400 signatures before that happened.
Despite its illegitimacy, Anderson’s petition had the intended effect.
On October 1, parents were given the choice to opt their children out of attending the event. The district serves nearly 89,000 students. The parents of 30 children opted out.
On the day of the event, the district announced they were postponing it and removing two of Craft’s books from school libraries. They cited the illegitimate petition and HB 3979, Texas’s law banning the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in schools, as the motivations for their action.
Habikia Eney, a 12th grader at Katy ISD’s Cinco Ranch High School, said “If you’re going to say things like ‘we’re inclusive’ and then not let someone who’s trying to add racial awareness into schools speak, it looks very contradictory.”
The books removed from school libraries for review were New Kid and its sequel, Class Act.
The semi-autobiographical graphic novels tell the story of a Black 12-year-old’s experiences after enrolling in a private school. They explore cross-racial friendships, the effects of microaggressions, and how well-meaning adults can make a school uncomfortable for minorities.
New Kid was the first graphic novel to be awarded the Newbery Medal and it also won the 2020 Kirkus Prize and Coretta Scott King Award. Craft is one of only five African American writers to receive the Newbery.
In a statement on the Office for Intellectual Freedom’s website, Craft said the goals for his books are “helping kids become the kind of readers that I never was; letting kids see themselves on my pages; and showing kids of color as just regular kids.”
“I almost never saw kids like me in any of the books assigned to me in school. Books aimed at kids like me seemed to deal only with history or misery,” wrote Craft. “I hope that readers of all ages will see the kindness and understanding that my characters exhibit and emulate those feelings in their day-to-day lives.”
Brandon Mack, lead organizer for Black Lives Matter Houston, said Craft’s books do not include CRT. “Critical race theory is not inherently automatically taught when trying to discuss racism or the Black Experience,” said Mack.
“Katy ISD is not giving our students the ability to see themselves in literature and to know inherently that their lives matter. This sends the message that learning about the Black experience is somehow dangerous,” said Mack.
The district’s policy governing removal of library materials states that, “Students’ First Amendment rights are implicated by the removal of books from the shelves of a school library. A district shall not remove materials from a library for the purpose of denying students access to ideas with which the district disagrees.”
Their policy governing reconsideration states that if a “complainant wishes to make a formal challenge, the principal or designee shall provide the complainant a copy of this policy and a form to request a formal reconsideration of the resource.”
While the policy does cover an informal challenge process, as well, access to materials can only be restricted if a formal challenge has been received. Since that did not happen in this case, the board’s actions were not consistent with their policy.
“People need to understand that this is not a small issue,” said Mack. “It sends a message to Black students that their lives don’t matter and it sends a message to White students that it’s OK to devalue people who are not like them.”
Jeynelle Branch, mother of a sixth-grade student in Katy ISD, said “Kids should be able to pick up a book and learn about another person’s perspective and they’ve taken that off the shelves.” She called it “a stain on the district,” and said, “It’s sending a message that there are people in the community that don’t matter.”
Omerly Sanchez, mother of two biracial students, said her kids were fans of the books and were looking forward to a virtual author visit with someone who “looks like them.”
Sanchez expressed disappointment and frustration with the district’s handling of the situation. “They want to live in this bubble. They’re uncomfortable with touching the subject. They’re uncomfortable knowing that they’re part of the problem.”
After reviewing the books, the district returned them to school libraries and held Craft’s virtual visit on October 11.
Reported in: Click2Houston, October 4, 2021, and October 15, 2021; Houston Chronicle, October 4, 2021; October 5, 2021; and October 6, 2021; Reuters, October 6, 2021.
Fairfax, Virginia
Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison were returned to the shelves of 18 libraries in the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) following a two-month review by the district, which was initiated by a formal challenge.
Committees composed of school administrators, librarians, parents, and students were convened to review the books and recommend a course of action. The decision to retain the books was unanimous.
The district issued a statement that, “The decision reaffirms FCPS’ ongoing commitment to provide diverse reading materials that reflect our student population, allowing every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in literary characters. Both reviews concluded that the books were valuable in their potential to reach marginalized youth who may struggle to find relatable literary characters that reflect their personal journeys.”
Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Noel Klimenko said, “I am satisfied that the books were selected according to FCPS regulations and are appropriate to include in libraries that serve high school students.”
The books were initially removed from the library for review after parents disrupted a board meeting to denounce the books as “pedophelia,” “pornography,” and “homoerotic.” They also chanted the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel.
The books’ removal spurred protests by a coalition of students called the Pride Liberation Project (PLP). They released a letter to the school board with over 400 student signatures asking the board to reject attacks against books that uplift the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/ questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community.
“LGBTQIA+ representation in literature is critical to fostering validation, acceptance, and self-affirmation for queer students,” read the PLP’s statement. “Removing two award-winning books that dismantle LGBTQIA+ stereotypes from FCPS libraries only contributes to the dearth of positive representations of queer people, perpetuating an unwelcoming school environment for LGBTQIA+ students.”
“As students, we are tired of being scrutinized and targeted for who we are. We simply want to be treated equally in our schools, including in our libraries. Please reject attacks against LGBTQIA+ literature, and allow Gender Queer and Lawn Boy to remain in our schools.”
After two months of organized resistance, the PLP’s request was honored.
Reported in: The Washington Post, September 28, 2021; Patch, October 7, 2021; WUSA9, November 23, 2021.
Libraries
Byron Township, Michigan
At the September 27 meeting of the Byron Township Board, trustee Tom Hooker called for the graphic novel Check, Please by Ngozi Ukazu to be withdrawn from the 11 Kent District Library branches that own it.
“Tax dollars are providing trash,” said Hooker.
Check, Please is a coming of age story about Eric Bittle, a former junior figure skater turned college hockey player. Bittle comes out during his freshman year on the team. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus and was a finalist for the 2019 Morris Award, which is bestowed by the Young Adult Library Services Association.
Don Tillema, Byron Township supervisor said, “Our issue is more, you know, why is this kind of crap even in the building?”
Lance Werner, Executive Director of Kent District Libraries, was informed that a 10-year-old boy at the Caledonia branch selected the book from the teen summer reading prize cart instead of from the children’s summer reading prize cart. While the boy put it back and selected a different title, his mom reviewed the book and complained to the board.
Werner said that the library would not include any “salty” books as future summer reading prize options, but Check, Please will remain available for checkout. He said books would be removed from the library if they met the legal definition of obscenity, child pornography, or hate speech, and that Ukazu’s book was none of those.
“You guys are asking us to violate the Constitution and impinge on people’s freedom,” said Werner. “That goes against everything we stand for in this country.”
“And the other thing we can’t do is we can’t step in the shoes of the parent,” Werner added. “Nor should anybody want the government to raise their kids.”
Tillema responded, “I guess where we’re sitting, I’m not sure how long we want to give you guys $1.6 million a year and provide you a building for all this legal stuff. ‘Cause I think it’s despicable. Maybe we’ll turn [the library] into a shoe store.”
At the meeting, seven citizens spoke out regarding the book. Two, a husband and wife, wanted the book removed. The other five defended it.
“As a parent or a grandparent of a child, I feel it’s your responsibility to be watching what they’re looking at or what they’re reading,” said Suzanne Snider. “I would hate to see any of those works taken out of that library, because there’s something there for everybody and everybody relates to things in different ways.”
“This country is made up of all different kinds of people from different walks of life and we need to continue to represent that and allow those freedoms to be there,” concluded Snider.
Werner said the library system has received four book challenges so far this year.
“I think we’ve had kind of an increase, an uptick, lately in challenges to materials, and I think it’s largely due to the fact that everybody in society is super-duper stressed right now,” said Werner. “Between COVID-19, between the caustic political environment and all the things that are going on, I think everybody is under duress.”
Reported in: WOOD TV, October 22, 2021.
Appendix: Titles Challenged at Central York Schools
25 Women Who Dared to Go by Allison Lassieur
25 Women Who Fought Back by Jill Sherman
25 Women Who Ruled by Rebecca Stanborough
25 Women Who Thought of it First by Jill Sherman
47,000 Beads by Koja Adeyoha
A Big Mooncake for Little Star by Grace Lin
A Bike Like Sergio’s by Maribeth Boelts
A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold
A Good Kind of Trouble by Lisa Moore Ramée
A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
A is for Audra: Broadway’s Leading Ladies from A to Z by John Robert Allman
A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin by Jen Bryant
Accidental Trouble Magnet [Planet Omar] by Zanib Mian
Ada byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine by Laurie Wallmark
African American Cowboys: True Heroes of the Old West by Jeffrey B Fuerst
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds, Brendan Kiely
All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold
All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson
All the Colors We Are: The True Story of How We Get Our Skin Color by Katie Kissinger
All the World by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon
Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
Always My Dad by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Amelia to Zora: Twenty-Six Women Who Changed the World by Cynthia Chin-Lee
American as Paneer Pie by Supriya Kelkar
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People by Jean Mendoza
Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke
Another by Christian Robinson
Around Our Way on Neighbors’ Day by Tameka Fryer Brown
As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds
Bat and the End of Everything by Elana K. Arnold
Bat and the Waiting Game by Elana K. Arnold
Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Because by Mo Willems
Before the Ever After by Jacqueline Woodson
Being the Change: Lessons and Strategies to Teach Social Comprehension by Sara Ahmed
Big Hair, Don’t Care by Crystal Swain-Bates
Bilal Cooks Daal by Aisha Saeed
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship by Irene Latham, Charles Waters
Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation by Beverly Daniel Tatum
Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Peña
CeceLovesScienceKD by Kimberly Derting
Changing the Equation: 50+ US Black Women in Stem by Tonya Bolden
Chasing Space: Young Readers’ Edition by Leland Melvin
Chocolate Milk, Por Favor! by Maria Dismondy
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: Future Author Extraordinaire by Susan Tan
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: The Epic Story by Susan Tan
Cilla Lee-Jenkins: This Book is a Classic by Susan Tan
Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
Come with Me by Holly McGhee
Condoleezza Rice: Being the Best by Mary Dodson Wade
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Put Astronauts on the Moon by Helaine Becker
Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes
Daddy, There’s a Noise Outside by Kenneth braswell
Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol by Andres Miedoso
Don’t Touch My Hair! by Sharee Miller
Drawn Together by Minh Lê
Dream Drum Girl by Margarita Engle
Dreamers by Yuyi Morales
Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and his Orchestra by Andrea Davis Pinkney
Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson
Early Sunday Morning by Denene Millner
El Eia en que Descubres Quien Es by Jacqueline Woodson
Elizabeth Blackwell: The First Woman Doctor by Liza Burby
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Enough!: 20 Protesters who Changed America by Emily Easton
Escuchando con Mi Corazon: Un Cuento de Bondad y Autocompasion by Gabi Garcia
Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks by Suzanne Slade
Faith Ringgold by Mike Venezia
Fishing Day by Andrea Davis Pinkney
For Black Girls Like Me by Mariama Lockington
Freedom in Congo Square by Carole Boston Weatherford
From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Thom
Front Desk by Kelly Yang
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Maillard
Full, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke
Get Up, Stand Up by Cedella Marley
Ghost by Jason Reynolds
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Girls Who Code 2: Team BFF: Race to the Finish! by Stacia Deutsch
Girls Who Code: The Friendship Code by Stacia Deutsch
Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code by Laurie Wallmark
Grandpa Cacao: A Tale of Chocolate, from Farm to Family by Elizabeth Zunon
Hair Love by MatthewCherry
Hands Up! by Breanna J McDaniel
Hank’s Big Day: The Story of a Bug by Evan Kuhlman
Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull, Yuyi Morales
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Hey Black Child by Useni Eugene Perkins
Hey, Charleston!: The True Story of the Jenkins Orphanage Band by Anne F Rockwell
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly
Home of the Brave: An American History Book for Kids: 15 Immigrants Who Shaped U.S. History by Brooke Khan
Hot Day on Abbott Avenue by Karen English
How Many Stars in the Sky? by Lenny Hort
I Am Enough by Grace byers
I am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes
I Am Human: A Book of Empathy by Susan Verde, Peter H. Reynolds
I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck
I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez
I am Rosa Parks by Brad Meltzer
I Promise by LeBron James
I’m a Pretty Little Black Girl by Betty K bynum
Imani’s Moon by JaNay Brown-Wood
Incredible Rescue Mission [Planet Omar] by Zanib Mian
Indian No More by Charlene Willing McManis
Intersection Allies: We Make Room for All by Chelsea Johnson
Islandborn by Junot Diaz
Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall
Jack (Not Jackie) by Erica Silverman
Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 1: The Quest for Screen Time by Marti Dumas
Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 2: The Ladek Invasion by Marti Dumas
Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 3: Muffin Wars by Marti Dumas
Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest. Episode 4: Attack of the Swamp Thing by Marti Dumas
Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl by Debbi Michiko Florence
Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper by Debbi Michiko Florence
Jasmine Toguchi, Mochi Queen by Debbi Michiko Florence
Jasmine Toguchi, Super Sleuth by Debbi Michiko Florence
Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
Keena Ford and the Second-Grade Mix-Up by Melissa Thomson
King & Kayla [series] by Dori Hillestad Butler
Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Leila in Saffron by Rukhsanna Guidroz
Let the Children March by Monica Clark-Robinson
Like the Moon Loves the Sky by Hena Khan
Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison
Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison
Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown
Locked Up for Freedom: Civil Rights Protesters at the Leesburg Stockade by Heather Schwartz
Lola Levine [series] by Monica Brown
Lola Reads [series] by Anna McQuinn
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddour
Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
Luis Munoz Marin: Father of Modern Puerto Rico [Community Builder series] by Linda George
Lulu and the Duck in the Park by Hilary McKay
Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
Malala Yousafzai by Robin S Doak
Malala: My Story of Standing Up for Girls Rights by Malala Yousafzai
Malala’s Magic Pencil by Malala Yousafzai
Mango, Abuela, and Me by Meg Medina
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown
Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans by Phil Bildner
Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
Melissa (previously published as George.) by Alex Gino
Milo’s Museum by Zetta Elliott
Mindy Kim and the Birthday Puppy by Lyla Lee
Mindy Kim and the Lunar New Year Parade by Lyla Lee
Mindy Kim, Class President by Lyla Lee
Mixed Me! by Taye Diggs
Mommy Sayang by Rosana Sullivan
Monster Trouble by Lane Fredrickson
Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress by Christine Baldacchino
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
My Family Plays Music by Judy Cox
My Friend Maya Loves to Dance by Cheryl Willis Hudson
My Hair is a Garden by Cozbi Cabrera
My Papi Has a Motorcycle by Isabel Quintero
Nelson Beats the Odds by Ronnie Sidney
New Kid by Jerry Craft
Nikki & Deja by Karen English
Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Noah Chases the Wind by Michelle Worthington
Not Norman: A Goldfish Story by Kelly Bennett
Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin
Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain by Cheryl Bardoe
On Our Street: Our First Talk About Poverty by Jillian Roberts
On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
One Green Apple by Eve Bunting
Ouch!: That Stereotype Hurts: Communicating Respectfully in a Diverse World by Joel Leskowitz
Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen
Parachutes by Kelly Yang
Patina by Jason Reynolds
Peanut Goes for the Gold by Jonathan Van Ness
Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison
Pele, King of Soccer = Pele, el Rey del Futbol by Monica Brown
Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman
Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders
Prince and Knight by Daniel Haack
Rainbow Revolutionaries: 50 LGBTQ+ People Who Made History by Sarah Prager
Ramadan Around the World by Ndaa Hassan
Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles: Think of That by Leo Dillon
Read the World: Rethinking Literacy for Empathy and Action in a Digital Age by Kristin Ziemke
Red Kite, Blue Kite by Ji-li Jiang
Refugee by Alan Gratz
Reparations Yes!: The Legal and Political Reasons Why New Afrikans, Black People in the United States, Should be Paid Now for the Enslavement of Our Ancestors and for War Against Us After Slavery: Articles by Chokwe Lumumba
Ruby and the Booker Boys [series] by Derrick Barnes
Same But Different by Tessa Dahl
Saturday by Oge Mora
Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West
Say Something by Peter H. Reynolds
Shades of People by Shelley Rotner
Shining Legacy: A Treasury of “Storypoems and Tales for the Young so Black Heroes Forever Will be Sung” by Nkechi Taifa
Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons
Skin Like Mine by LaTashia M Perry
Smoky Night by Eve Bunting
Sofia Martinez: Hector’s Hiccups by Jacqueline Jules
Sofia Valdez, Future Prez by Andrea Beaty
Solo Pregunta: Se Diferente, Se Valientee, Se Tu by Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in the Bronx by Jonah Winter
Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving by Joseph Bruchac
Squeak, Rumble, Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!: A Sonic Adventure by Wynton Marsalis
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi
Starstruck: The Cosmic Journey of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Kathleen Krull
Stella Diaz has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez
Sulwe by Lupita Nyongo’o, Vashti Harrison
Tameka’s New Dress by Ronnie Sidney
Teach Us Your Name by Huda Essa
Thank You, Omu! by Oge Mora
The 5 O’clock Band by Troy Andrews
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross [PBS series] by Sabin Streeter, Henry Louis Gates
The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story by Aya Khalil
The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton
The Butterfly by Patricia Polacco
The case for Loving : the fight for interracial marriage by Selina Alko
The Colors of Us by Karen Katz
The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson
The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger
The Doctor with an Eye for Eyes: The Story of Dr. Patricia Bath by Julia Finley Mosca
The Girl with a Mind for Math: The Story of Raye Montague by Julia Finley Mosca
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
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