SUMMER READS 2021
Street Roots’ picks
Kids’ picks
Advocacy leaders’ picks
Vendors’ picks
Bookseller’s picks
We asked Street Roots staff, vendors, contributors, volunteers and their kids, as well as local advocacy leaders, to recommend their favorite recently published books.
Here are the kids' recommendations for middle-grade fiction with a social justice theme. They are all available through local booksellers and the Multnomah County Library system.
Note: Synopses are from the books’ publishers and edited only for length.
A Good Kind of Trouble
by Lisa Moore Ramée (2020)
“I like it because it represents Black Lives Matter and it shows that racial injustice is a problem to be fixed and faced.”
– Emma, age 10
From HarperCollins Publishers: Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)
But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she’s not black enough. Wait, what?
Shay’s sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn’t think that’s for her. After experiencing a powerful protest, though, Shay decides some rules are worth breaking. She starts wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives movement. Soon everyone is taking sides. And she is given an ultimatum.
Shay is scared to do the wrong thing (and even more scared to do the right thing), but if she doesn’t face her fear, she’ll be forever tripping over the next hurdle. Now that’s trouble, for real.
Class Act
by Jerry Craft (2020)
“I like this book because it has a lot of diversity and it is about things that go on in school, and I like Drew who is the main character.”
– Miles, age 8
From Quill Tree Books: Eighth grader Drew Ellis is no stranger to the saying “You have to work twice as hard to be just as good.” His grandmother has reminded him his entire life. But what if he works ten times as hard and still isn’t afforded the same opportunities that his privileged classmates at the Riverdale Academy Day School take for granted?
To make matters worse, Drew begins to feel as if his good friend Liam might be one of those privileged kids. He wants to pretend like everything is fine, but it’s hard not to withdraw, and even their mutual friend Jordan doesn’t know how to keep the group together.
As the pressures mount, will Drew find a way to bridge the divide so he and his friends can truly accept each other? And most importantly, will he finally be able to accept himself?
Take Back the Block
by Chrystal D. Giles (2021)
“My favorite character is Wes. Why? Because he stood up for his community no matter how many people left! I would like to give this book a 5 star rating. It was a book that I could not put down. Chrystal D. Giles gave important messages; fight for your rights and Black lives matter!
“A little bit about the book, Wes, a sixth grader who is Black and lives in a Black neighborhood, tries to fight for Kensington Oaks, his neighborhood, when Simmons Development Group tries to convince people to move out of their homes to build condos and stuff like that. Read the book to learn more.”
– Olivia Kwasnik, age 9
From Penguin Random House: Wes Henderson has the best style in sixth grade. That–and hanging out with his crew (his best friends since little-kid days) and playing video games–is what he wants to be thinking about at the start of the school year, not the protests his parents are always dragging him to.
But when a real estate developer makes an offer to buy Kensington Oaks, the neighborhood Wes has lived his whole life, everything changes. The grownups are supposed to have all the answers, but all they’re doing is arguing. Even Wes’s best friends are fighting. And some of them may be moving. Wes isn’t about to give up the only home he’s ever known. Wes has always been good at puzzles, and he knows there has to be a missing piece that will solve this puzzle and save the Oaks. But can he find it … before it’s too late?
Exploring community, gentrification, justice, and friendship, Take Back the Block introduces an irresistible 6th grader and asks what it means to belong — to a place and a movement — and to fight for what you believe in.
Superman Smashes the Klan
by Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Gurihiru (2020)
“This trade paperback, which won the 2020 Harvey Award for Best Children or Young Adult Book, is based on a 1946 story from The Adventures of Superman radio series. Folklorist and human rights activist Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the Klan in the early ’40s and collaborated on the radio story to use the secrets he learned to trivialize and mock Klan rituals and culture. The show had a negative impact on Klan recruiting and membership numbers. Yang and Gurihiru use the story to give young readers a superhero parable on the evils of racism in general and anti-Asian hatred in particular. In a world of big-budget superhero movies, the creative duo take Superman back to his roots as a crusader for social justice and basic human decency.”
– Tom Henderson, Street Roots correspondent
From DC Comics: The year is 1946, and the Lee family has moved from Metropolis’ Chinatown to the center of the bustling city. While Dr. Lee is greeted warmly in his new position at the Metropolis Health Department, his two kids, Roberta and Tommy, are more excited about being closer to their famous hero, Superman! Inspired by the 1940s Superman radio serial Clan of
the Fiery Cross and drawn by Gurihiru, Gene Luen Yang (American Born Chinese, Boxers and Saints, The Terrifics, New Super-Man) brings us his personal retelling of the adventures of the Lee family as they team up with Superman to smash the Klan!
MORE PICKS FOR KIDS: 13 books for climate-conscious children and teens (from 2018)
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