Young people these days are frequently exhorted to go out and change the world—and certainly there are remarkable teens doing just that. It’s also common for adults to talk about their faith in the future thanks to the incredible youths they meet. However, these remarks—intended to be encouraging and supportive—can inadvertently add to the huge pressures young adults already feel just from daily life. Changing the world is easier when your family has a certain amount of financial and intellectual capital, and even with these advantages, mental health and other struggles strike indiscriminately and leave less energy for contemplating world-altering action.
There is a lot to be said for recognizing changemakers who start off on a smaller scale: Changing just your own self is incredibly hard (as anyone who has set New Year’s resolutions can attest), but what could be more inspiring than seeing someone you know personally achieve genuine change? Being a positive influence in one’s community, however small, is similarly powerful. There are a lot of books rightfully lauding those who have changed the world. Here are some great reads highlighting young adults who serve as role models for change in ways that start closer to home but are no less worthy of celebration.
Girl on the Line by Faith Gardner (HarperTeen, Jan. 19): This intense, insightful book about a young woman appropriately named Journey, whose mental health struggles will feel piercingly relatable to many, begins by offering perspective. Journey opens her story by observing that she is about to “go work a volunteer shift at a crisis hotline,” adding, “last year, I should have been the girl on the other end of the line.” Her ability to not just face and overcome incredible personal challenges, but to find a way to help others offers critical reassurance and hope.
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado (Holiday House, Feb. 2): It’s hard to face the world with confidence when the messages you hear—even from your own skinny White mother—is that you’re not all right just the way you are. Charlie is smart, kind, funny, and a good friend. But to some people all that matters is that she is a fat, brown-skinned girl. Although she tries to embrace body positivity, self-doubt is insidious. Charlie’s path to genuinely loving both herself and the boy who is smitten by her is textured and real, offering no pat resolutions.
The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel and Friends, March 16): When Ciela Cristales and Lock Thomas first cross paths it’s at a high school party where they are both victims of sexual assault—although only she remembers exactly what happened. Bearing the heavy burden of deciding whether to speak up takes a toll on Ciela and extinguishes the magic she inherited from her bisabuela. This searing novel deals with a subject that, tragically, touches far too many young people’s lives. As Ciela and Lock wrestle with the emotional fallout, they must also reckon with the price of silence.
Can’t Take That Away by Steven Salvatore (Bloomsbury, March 9): Genderqueer high school student Carey has a passion for the theater and dreams of being on stage like the icons they admire. A school production of the musical Wicked offers an opportunity to try out for the role of Elphaba, but Carey’s joy at landing the part is short-lived when a hostile, intolerant teacher and some parents protest. Carey is both strong and vulnerable, and they have friends who rally to their side in this book about striving to make school a more inclusive community.
Laura Simeon is a young readers’ editor.
