Alice Piper Speaks Up -- New Middle Grade Book About the Fight for Equal Education

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in order to provide an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Just about everyone knows about Brown vs. the Board of Education, but there were people who fought for equal education before this case. They just didn't make it to the Supreme Court. Today we are sharing a new book, released today June 2, 2026. It is the story about a Native American, Alice Piper, and her fight for equal education. The book is Alice Piper Speaks Up by Sage Andrew Romero and Loralee Sepsey and illustrated by Morgan Thompson. June 2nd is Alice Piper Day! This book is recommended for ages 8 to 12. 

About the Book:

Volume 3 in the acclaimed Fighting for Justice Series for young readers: the story of a Native teenager’s history-making fight for equal education.

Alice Piper just wanted to go to public school. The year was 1923, and Alice, a Native Paiute (Nuwuvi) teenager in California, dreamed about learning from teachers, making new friends, and being respected for who she was. So when the school board refused to let her and six other Native students attend, she decided to speak up, and she sued for her right to an equal education. Alice Piper Speaks Up, the first book dedicated to this major champion of civil rights, features new research into Alice’s life and court case. Each chapter begins with lyrical verse and full-color illustrations that invite readers into Alice’s story. Paired with the poems are visually engaging sections filled with keyword definitions, historical context, timelines, primary sources, and questions that help readers relate Alice’s experience to their own lives. The text connects Alice’s case to larger themes about education, Native rights, and movements for school desegregation across the United States. The third book in Heyday’s widely acclaimed Fighting for Justice series, Alice Piper Speaks Up shows how one teen’s action resonates throughout America’s history, even now.

From Me:

I love how this book shares a bit about the history and culture of the Numu people. From traditions to the Native names of places and people. It describes the ways the white people tried to erase the Native cultures and truly asks questions to get the reader to think about how it might feel. There are eleven chapters in the book. Each one starts with a story written in verse about Alice and the happenings. Then it goes into more of a textbook style about the places, events, history and so much more. There are photographs, vocabulary words with definitions on the page and questions to get the reader to think about the feelings of the people in the event. 

The book begins with Alice helping her family prepare a traditional snack called tuba. The family is passing down the tradition of making this snack to Alice and her siblings. They each have parts so they will know how to make it on their own and pass it down to the next generation. There is information about the area where Alice lived as well as about the snack and the Numu people. The second chapter is about how the white people renamed the Native people with white sounding names. They were given the last name of the people they worked for. Alice's parents worked on the Piper's farm, so their family was given Piper as a last name. After the verse in this chapter there is the explanation of how the names changed and why. It also talks about the Numu traditional names and a bit about the language. The third chapter shares a bit about the prejudices the Numu people experienced especially when they went to town. In the fourth chapter Alice is going to school. There is information about the Indian schools both day and boarding in this chapter including how they were started and why. From here the reader learns about a new school and Alice's desire to go to it. Her parents try to register her with other parents and children. They are denied access. They join forces with a lawyer hired by a sympathetic reverend and take the matter to court. It is a fight like so many others were going through or had gone through. This story is in California like Mamie Tape. The book actually shares the names and stories of some of the previous people who fought for equal education in California. There are also timelines in these later chapters to help the reader understand the order of what was happening. The case was settled on June 2, 1924. In 2014, June 2nd became Alice Piper Day in Big Pine. The book shares about this as well and how it happened.

I love reading about true stories of strong people who fought for civil rights. This book shares a story about someone almost forgotten in history, but who was brave and strong. It took courage to fight the school as well as courage to continue to attend the school once she was admitted with the discrimination she faced. She used her education to give back to Native communities by teaching at one of the boarding Indian schools. She made sure the students there were treated with kindness unlike many of the schools. She also did pass on the traditions to the next generation after she retired and moved back to Big Pine. The book shares the history, the culture, and the reasons as well as a bit of the emotions of the time. It is the perfect book for a unit on civil rights or on equal education. It defines words like segregation, institution, and more. It is also a great book for a Native American unit. It shares so much of the culture of the Numu People as well as the history of how white people treated Natives. It is an interesting read but also serves as a research book. I am glad they took the time to record Alice's story so we can all learn from it! The details are wonderful.