The Anti-Defamation League's reading list for children

November 28, 2018 7:02 AM

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has compiled a list of books more than 750 books, filterable by topic, that address a wide range of social justice issues, including ableism, bullying, LGBTQ issues, anti-semitism, race and religion. On its website, the organization says: "Books have the potential to create lasting impressions. They have the power to instill empathy, affirm children’s sense of self, teach about others, transport to new places and inspire actions on behalf of social justice." Here are few highlights picked by Lifehacker's Offspring sub-site.
posted by filthy light thief (7 comments total)

I guess they are going more for newer works, but disappointing they left out probably the most powerful anti-bullying (and anti-discrimination against immigrants) book I read as a kid, Eleanor Estes's The Hundred Dresses.
posted by praemunire at 8:13 AM on November 28, 2018 [6 favorites]

Oh man, I wish there were a way to filter by age group.
posted by joyceanmachine at 9:29 AM on November 28, 2018

Oh man, I wish there were a way to filter by age group.

You can use "search for keyword" and enter in the age range. For example, here is the search for 4-8. Not perfect, but not useless.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:35 AM on November 28, 2018 [2 favorites]

You might also like Everyday Diversity which highlights books "that predominantly feature People of Color and Native Americans as main characters in contemporary everyday life." Just having a character in a regular story time book that's like yourself is a pretty big deal for a kid-- and they shouldn't always be a Very Special Episode, though we need those too.
posted by blnkfrnk at 9:49 AM on November 28, 2018 [5 favorites]

Thanks for posting the list! I'm getting some for my children right now.

Also thanks for the tip, praemunire, I love EE and hadn't ever read that one. But I also found it in the ADL recommendations!
posted by Emmy Noether at 11:50 AM on November 28, 2018

Weird, I did a ctrl-f and it didn't pop up! Thanks!
posted by praemunire at 12:20 PM on November 28, 2018

Some of those look amazing, thanks for this.

I wish my local library website could pull directly from lists like this. (I'm also sometimes disappointed by how some of these aren't available at my library.)
posted by lab.beetle at 7:04 PM on November 28, 2018