The best children’s books about social justice

From our comfortable perch in North America, it’s almost impossible to imagine how children—girls, especially—survive in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. The Breadwinner made it real to me, with all the oppression that the main character, eleven-year-old Parvana, experiences and all the courage she demonstrates. This book showed me the common humanity we share with people whose lives are so different from our own. And it forced me to ask myself: Could I have been as brave and resourceful as Parvana?

I couldn’t put this book down—not just because of the beautiful free verse in which it’s written but also because of the gripping story. After Emaline suffers a serious injury in a farming accident, her father, feeling responsible, abandons her and her mother. That’s bad enough. But when Emaline’s mother hires a patient from the local mental hospital to help on the farm, their neighbours treat him with prejudice and suspicion. Emaline’s courage and compassion filled me with hope, showing what one person can do to fight stereotypes and hatred—responses our world can surely use more of these days. 

The moment when unarmed Khalil is shot by a police officer, I was devastated—and hooked. This is not only a book about racial profiling and the quest for justice; it’s also a personal journey for Starr, the main character. Will she find the courage to tell the truth, no matter the consequences? I was fascinated by the contrast between Starr’s two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she lives and the upscale world of her private school. No wonder she’s torn.

Before I read this book, in the 1990s, I had never heard of Canada’s residential school system for Indigenous children. I was horrified, and also ashamed to have been so ignorant. Over the years, I have heard many Indigenous authors speak and have read many books on the subject, and have come to realize that the residential school tragedy is parallel to the Holocaust for Jews—my family’s story. This is the book that opened my eyes.

As both a reader and a writer, I seem to be drawn to books about characters experiencing oppression and persecution, and drawing on inner reserves of courage and compassion to combat it. This book fits that description perfectly. I was on the edge of my seat following Hanneke as she works for the Dutch Resistance during World War II. I was left wondering: How do you find the bravery and determination to risk your own life in order to save someone else’s?