Reading Resources for Talking About Racism and Justice with Children

Books can be helpful for opening or framing conversations with children about complicated subjects such as racism, police brutality, activism, and social justice. Below is a growing list of reading recommendations and other resources from our local public libraries as well as national publications and organizations. If you know of other resources that should be added to this list, please comment on this post.

• Talking to Kids About Racism and Justice: A list for parents, caregivers & educators from Oakland Public Library. This live Google document was first created in 2017 and includes book recommendations for toddlers to teens, articles, videos, and websites.

• Raise Anti-Racist Kids: A list of children's books about racism and race from San Francisco Public Library.

• Social Justice: Fifteen Titles to Address Inequity, Equality, and Organizing for Young Readers from School Library Journal

• These Books Can Help Explain Racism and Protest to Kids from The New York Times

• Four Booklists About Race, Inequity, and Social Justice from Embrace Race

• Five Children's Books about Inclusion from We Need Diverse Books