I came of age in the Bush years, when politics felt like a discouraging, fixed game for adults. But long about my junior year in high school, I started to feel called to a kind of political awakening. I had a communist phase and helped found our high school’s branch of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), but there was a distinct lack of teen books about politics and social justice out there. My friends and I read The Communist Manifesto, but there was not guide on how to make change. We were passionate, but politics felt like an adult’s world. Fortunately, things have changed since then, and today, there are so many excellent YA books about politics that address every kind of issue kids are facing today. This list of the 10 Best YA Books about Politics and Social justice focuses on nonfiction, and I plan to follow it up with a list of novels about politics for teens in another post. Ready to be inspired? Itching to rebel? Read these books and find out how’s done.
Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi
In this hilarious and poignant YA biography, Sara Saedi shares her experiences growing up as an undocumented immigrant from Iran. Sara realizes her undocumented status when she’s just 13, having arrived in America with her family as refugees at age two. Americanized (2018) is her memoir about her rocky teen years, volatile as any teen’s but more so because of her family’s precarious status in America and her efforts to obtain a green card. Readers will appreciate learning about the undocumented experience, immigration, and refugee migration, as well as Sara’s dry wit and singular sense of humor.
Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution by Bernie Sanders
Written by Vermont’s democratic socialist senator and two-time presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, this guide is designed to help teens learn tactics for a social revolution. Sanders has a strong youth following, and with positions like free college and eliminating student loan debt, who wouldn’t want to have him bringing about social change? Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution (2017) is a solid guide on grassroots movements to inspire and educate today’s teens by one of America’s most influential progressive political leaders.
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Pénélope Bagieu
This unique graphic biography collects the stories of dozens of women who rebelled against oppression and changed the world. From artists to activists, the fierce ladies in Pénélope Bagieu’s Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World (2018) have often been relegated to footnotes in history books, until now. These biographical sketches honor their accomplishments and sing their legacy.
Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work by Victoria Ortiz
I’m only just now learning more about firebrand Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (a.k.a. “RBG”), and seeing On the Basis of Sex this year gave me even more appreciation for her formidable spirit and historic impact. Now younger readers will have an introduction to Ginsburg in Victoria Ortiz’s Dissenter on the Bench: Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Life and Work (Forthcoming: June 4, 2019). In this book, Ortiz focuses on highlighting some of Ginsburg’s most notable cases that helped advance human rights and dismantle sexism.
How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation edited by Maureen Johnson
Edited by powerhouse YA author Maureen Johnson, How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation (2018) compiles essays some of the best writers for young people on resistance. A mix of voices, including Malinda Lo, Sabaa Tahir, and Jason Reynolds, contribute stirring and inspiring essays on how we can go about making small changes that have a big impact on moving the needle towards progressivism and social justice. Finding hope is a big theme in How I Resist, and hope for change is perhaps the best weapon we have against complacency.
The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman
Fifty years ago, the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City shattered the world. Now, in The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets (Forthcoming: May 14, 2019) Gayle E. Pitman brings the demonstration by members of the LGBTQ+ community vividly to life. Pitman sets the scene for the lead up to this protests, immerses readers in key leaders and the enemies they opposed, and traces the impact of the Stonewall Riots in the fifty years since. Pick up this book to understand more about this moment of historic progress in LGBTQ+ rights, a movement that is still not over to this day.
Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump by Martha Brockebrough
Martha Brockenbrough is a total badass and a faculty member in my MFA program, and her book Unpresidented (2018) is a must-read critical biography of the 45th president, Donald J. Trump. In Unpresidented, Brockenbrough weaves together facts upon facts upon facts that, when stacked together, speak for themselves as a portrait of a corrupt, cowardly man. In January, one of our faculty interviewed Brockenbrough about Unpresidented, and I really loved the way she approached writing this biography for young readers, as a factual, truthful answer to the existential confusion and “How did this happen?” shock in November 2016.
We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson
Carol Anderson is the author of the powerful book White Rage (2017) about the anger underlying racism in America. In We Are Not Yet Equal: Understanding Our Racial Divide (2018), Anderson adapts her book for teen readers, starting the conversation and arming students with facts. We Are Not Yet Equal helps explain the history of racism and racial injustice in America for young adults, an essential read and certainly a better textbook than what American Civ class assigns.
We Say #NeverAgain: Reporting by the Parkland Student Journalists edited by Melissa Falkowski
The February 2018 fatal mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, tipped the needle in the stalled conversation about gun rights in America. Almost immediately after, student activists in the Parkland community began to rise up and demand change, organizing a national walkout, participating in town halls with politicians, and leading rallies to give voice and power to our students on the front line by adults who’ve failed them. We Say #NeverAgain (2018) comprises original reporting and essays by the influential Parkland student journalists, an insight into raw grief, focused anger, and, ultimately, hope.
Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope and Change edited by Molly Dillon
I was lucky enough to volunteer on President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign, and the experience was an eye-opener… I had thought politics was for men, but I met so many inspiring female politicians, party leaders, and grassroots community organizers. In Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope and Change (Forthcoming: April 23, 2019), read essays by 10 young, diverse female staffers who joined President Obama’s campaign or administration in their twenties. Yes She Can identifies the many accomplishments, ones that often go overlooked or unacknowledged, by women in government. This entertaining and inspiring book is for any girl who has always wondered if she can make a difference in politics.
