Posts Tagged child activism

Daring to Make a Difference: Five Characters Fighting For Justice

By on January 30, 2026   /   Book Lists, Fiction  

As a ten year old, I spent half my time wanting to change the world and the other half wanting to hide from it. My grandmother marched for Civil Rights in the South. When my mother took me to a demonstration in New York City, I thought more about my sore feet than about fighting to fund the public library. Marching in a protest with thousands of others wasn’t for me. I wanted to do something that would make a tangible difference.

Today, young readers are faced with a broken world. The activist titles in this list are glimmers of light in the darkness, illuminating ways young characters can make a difference in their worlds.

 

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze

The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze by Derrick Barnes

The mostly white town of Great Mountain Mississippi, goes ga-ga over their prize Black football player, Henson Blayze. On his first day of eighth grade, this talented athlete, who is joining the high school team, is greeted with a parade of fans, a gourmet steak meal in the cafeteria, and special treatment from the strictest of teachers. Henson is considered to be a hero – until he walks off the field in the middle of a game in order to be with Menkah, his young friend who was unjustly beaten by the police. When the town turns against Henson, he remains steadfast in refusing to play and continues to stand up against racial injustice. This experience opened Blaze’s eyes as to how he, and other Black bodies, are seen only as entertainment. Historical background, fantastical elements, and a tender love story bring hope and perspective to a hard topic.

 

 

Unfadeable

Unfadeable by Maurice Broaddus

Bella, aka Unfadable, is accustomed to taking care of herself. She’s been unhoused ever since her father died and her schizophrenic mother was taken away. Bella spends her time tagging graffiti, sketching, and living under the radar. When she makes a pitch for a public art class at a town meeting, she discovers some shady goings on with the community’s finances. With support from an unlikely crew she fights the misuse of their resources. This personal story of how gentrification affects lives is an action-packed mystery which is relevant to young readers.

 

 

 

Noodle & Bao

Noodle & Bao by Shaina Lu

Inspired by real-life community organizing in American Chinatowns, this graphic novel tells the story of Momo, her best friend Bao, and their ah-ma, Noodle. These friends band together to save their neighborhood, Town 99, from changing. When Ms. Jujube transforms the neighborhood with her Fancé hotel, she evicts Noodle and her popular restaurant. After some struggles, Moma and Bao garner neighborhood support to fight gentrification. The descriptions of food, colorful illustrations and quirky characters make this an entertaining read.

 

 

 

BLUE STARS

Blue Stars: The Vice Principal Problem by Kekla Magoon and Cynthia Leitich Smith

When Maya learns that she and her cousin Riley will be sharing a room while they are staying at their grandmother’s house in Urbanopolis, she feels like her dream has come true. But it turns out that outgoing, robotics-loving Maya, who is Black, and her shy gymnast cousin Riley, who is from Muscagee Nation, rub each other the wrong way. It takes a villain to bring them together. The two girls are furious that Vice Principal Balderdash is siphoning funds from after-school programs to buy portable classrooms to increase detention space. The inventive tactics the cousins devise when they team up to fight injustices are clever. This satisfying graphic novel, first in a series, celebrates unlikely friendships and community activism.

 

Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution

Lotus Bloom and the Afro Revolution by Sherri Winston

Talented violinist Lotus is excited for her seventh-grade year at her new artsy magnet school. She’s been singled out to join the main orchestra and has a chance to join an international orchestra and visit her father in Paris. She rocks her own ’70’s fashion style and is especially proud of her impressive Afro. After some boys who are jealous of Lotus for being chosen as the concertmaster, throw spit balls and paper airplanes into her Afro, she is unfairly cited for violating the dress code. At first, Lotus agrees to compromise and change her hairstyle, but eventually her friend Rebel, an activist who is protesting the fact that the fancy magnet school gets all the resources while her regular public school is underfunded, persuades Lotus to fight back. This realistic story illustrates how dress codes discriminate against Black girls and the prevalence of inequitable funding of schools for Blacks and minorities.

 

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The Power of Empowered Kids (in middle grade lit)

By on June 28, 2017   /   Book Lists, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, Op-Ed  
The Power of Empowered Kids in Middle Grade Literature

The Power of Empowered Kids in Middle Grade Literature

Middle Grade Lit Empowers Kids

Can’t is a dangerous word. It’s one of those words that gets pulled out a lot by adults these days. You can’t say that. You can’t believe that. You can’t do that.

Can’t is a natural part of the language definitely has its role in our world, but it’s come to mean a lot of different things. Things it was likely never meant to be in the first place. More importantly, it’s an imprecise word that people use as a substitute for other, more meaningful words, like mustn’t. And in its imprecise form, can’t can be very dangerous when applied to kids.

Can’t is a limiting word. A word that takes something away from the person it’s used on. And in this world, we can’t afford to be taking things away from the coming generations.

Now, I’m not talking here about the word shouldn’t, another limiting word that’s sometimes used interchangeably with can’t. “You shouldn’t cross the street without looking both ways” is a far different sentence than “You can’t cross the street without looking both ways.” Because what the word shouldn’t takes away is an imperative to do something.

Can’t takes away ability. It steals the power to do a thing. And it’s that deprivation of power we’ve got to look out for when we’re talking to kids.

Disempowering Narratives Limit Everyone

I hear the word can’t a lot when people refer to kids in stories—especially middle grade adventure stories—and when I do it’s usually with a snicker, or a scoff, or a slightly curled lip.

  • “Kids can’t really think like that.”
  • “Kids can’t accomplish that much.”
  • “Kids can’t be depended on to make decisions like that.”

And worse, I’ve heard it applied to real world kids as well.

  • “Kids can’t lead their peers.”
  • “They can’t be trusted with that kind of responsibility.”
  • “Girls can’t…” and “Boys can’t…”

When those people say things like that, I believe that they mean it. They’ve bought into a fallacy that a thing is impossible, when really it’s just improbable, and what’s worse is that they’re convincing others, especially young people, that they really are that limited.

But I’m convinced that middle graders can do a lot more than society gives them credit for. I’ve seen kids in this age group accomplish some pretty amazing things. They’ve written stories and plays. They’ve organized campaigns to fight the global slave trade that still exists today.

Don’t believe me? Look up kids like Dylan Mahalingam, or Katie Stagliano, or Zach Hunter, or Ryan Hreljac.

There are countless others who’ve done things like these but never saw recognition for it, which to me sets them apart even more. I’ll never forget watching a young boy named Austen listening to and comforting a surly old guy after the man made a disparaging remark about him–responding to disdain with compassion. Just yesterday an 11-year-old girl named Becca bestowed on me the privilege of reading the book she’s started writing. I’ve watched middle grade kids challenge hate, raise beaucoup bucks for those in need of relief, lead bands, and survive hardships that would bring many adults I know to their knees.

If a kid feels empowered, they can do all sorts of amazing thingsKids who believe in themselves can shake the world.

At least, they can when we’re not telling them they can’t.

Figures like Anne Frank and Beethoven had a huge impact on culture, despite their youth.

We forget the fact that historically this was the age that kids started to be treated like adults. They learned trades. They stepped into responsibility. They made decisions to take care of their families. Some kids in this age group were queens and kings. Kids like these composed symphonies and led rebellions and kept diaries that reported on the horrors of war.

Middle grade literature gets this simple truth in a way that’s often all-but-forgotten in our culture today. When we read about the kids in well-drawn books we see a world full of wonder and possibilities, where kids battle injustice, or fight for the safety of their families, protect the hurting, even take over the world.

Stories like these are important, because they tell kids what can happen. I’m not talking about Harry Potter magic… I’m talking about making decisions. Taking responsibility. Stepping into the world to make it better, to make their mark, to show compassion. It’s not about whether you have a tiny dragon riding on your shoulder or whether you live in a town where words have a peculiar sort of power or have powers of your own—it’s about whether you will step into this world and take action.

The Difference between Natural Limitations and Imprinted Limitations

That’s not to say that these kids don’t have natural limitations. Their parents aren’t going to send them off into dangerous situations, nor should they. Their developmental state informs what they value. They’re unproven, untrusted, untested.

“When someone won’t let you in, eventually you stop knocking.”
– Ransom Riggs

And that’s okay. That they’re not allowed does not necessarily mean they are incapable. Just because they aren’t quite ready for something doesn’t mean they can’t do it. We humans can accomplish a great many amazing things when our options are limited.

That’s where we need to be careful. Kids this age are in a developmental stage where they’re finding their own limits, internally. They’re discovering just how far the world extends beyond the walls of their homes, and if that discovery is presented as only “for someone else,” they may never even attempt to take hold of it. We’ve imprinted our own thoughts about who they can be on them, and by doing so we’ve closed the door on what might have been, had they explored it on their own.

That’s the beauty of the world that middle grade literature provides. It shows kids what they could be, not just what they are. Through these exercises of imagination, a child can step into a universe of responsibilities, try them on for size, and learn what fits and what doesn’t.

In a world where everyone tells kids they can’t, it’s important to have a place where they can. Otherwise how will they learn what it means to take charge of who they’re going to be? How will they learn they can be responsible? That their care for others is valuable? That they’re smart, or that they really can stand up to the bully, or that they can survive whatever this world throws at them?

So believe in these kids, and give them starting points to believe in themselves. They won’t be this young for long, and if they can get it into their heads that they can bring good to the people around them, we will all be better off for it.

Books mentioned:

Jumping girl photo edited from 
Photo by Danka & Peter on Unsplash
Door photo with Ransom Riggs quote adapted from 
Photo by Viktor Mogilat on Unsplash

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