Civic and Civil Rights, Engagement, and Activism for Teens

Fiction and nonfiction about teens exercising their civic rights or engaging in social and political activism.

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Adia, Jade

In order to stop the destructive forces of gentrification, three best friends use social media to create a fake gang and get justice for their South L.A. community.

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Ahmed, Samira

While still coping with her parents' sudden divorce and having to start at a new school midway through her senior year, Noor and two new friends take a stand against book bans at their small-town Illinois high school.

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Atkins, Marcie Flinchum

Told in powerful verse, Matilda's story vividly highlights the extreme mental, physical, and emotional battles faced by the protestors leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. It also reveals the bravery, hard work, and spirit of the women who paved the way for future generations to use their voices and votes.

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McGhee, Heather

McGhee examines how damaging racism is not only to people of color but also to white people. She offers hope and real solutions so that we can all prosper. An expert in economic policy, Heath McGhee draws lessons from her work running a think tank and her travels around the country talking to everyday Americans who are coming together to fight for a more just and inclusive society. The people she meets prove how much the stories we tell ourselves about race and belonging influence the policies that determine our shared economic future.

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Chee, Traci

For fourteen-year-old budding artist Minoru Ito, her two brothers, her friends, and the other members of the Japanese-American community in southern California, the three months since Pearl Harbor was attacked have become a waking nightmare: attacked, spat on, and abused with no way to retaliate--and now things are about to get worse, their lives forever changed by the mass incarcerations in the relocation camps.

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Dionne, Evette

For African American women, the fight for the right to vote was only one battle. An eye-opening book that tells the important, overlooked story of black women as a force in the suffrage movement--when fellow suffragists did not accept them as equal partners in the struggle.

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Fleischer, Jeff

Featuring compelling, well-researched text and accompanying sidebars, this handy guidebook offers an accessible overview of big US civics topics, including federal programs, international relations, and more.

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Forrest, Claire

Effie Galanos' goals for her senior year include her navigating her way through her high school that is not really wheelchair-friendly, getting into the perfect college, and getting her crush Wilder to accompany her to the prom--but by spring she is beginning to see herself entirely differently.

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Garza Villa, Jonny

Nonbinary teen Ander is ready to leave their family's taquería and focus on their art, but when Santi, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, begins to work at the restaurant, the two teens spark a romance made complicated by immigration police.

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Jennings, Jazz, author.

Teen activist and trailblazer Jazz Jennings shares her very public transgender journey, as she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths.

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Joseph, Frederick

From the devastations of climate change to the horrors of gun violence, from rampant transphobia to the widening wealth gap, from the lack of health care to the lack of housing, the challenges facing the next generation can feel insurmountable. But change, even revolution, is possible; you just have to know where to start. Covering sixteen topics and featuring more than two dozen interviews with prominent activists, authors, actors, and politicians, this is the essential resource for those who want to make the world better than we found it. 

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Kohli, Sonali

Follows the stories of three young women activists of color fighting for some of today's most pressing movements of defunding the police, environmental justice, and arts education.

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Morris, Brittney

The stress of an oil refinery being built in their backyard, threatening their families' livelihood, prompts four working-class teens to join a dangerous scavenger hunt where the reward of power could change their families' fates and save the city they love so much.

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Morrow, Bethany C.

A captivating modern fantasy about black mermaids, friendship, and self-discovery set against the challenges of today's racism and sexism.

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Perkins, Mitali

Twelve-year-old Indian-American Pandita Paul deals with change, grief, friendship, and growing up in a community facing a housing crisis.

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Rusch, Elizabeth

America is the greatest democracy in the world...isn't it? Author Elizabeth Rusch examines some of the more problematic aspects of our government but, more importantly, offers ways for young people to fix them.

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Sanchez, Jasper

Optics can make or break an election. Everything Mark knows about politics, he learned from his father, the Congressman who still pretends he has a daughter and not a son. Mark has promised to keep his past hidden and pretend to be the cis guy everyone assumes he is. But when he sees a manipulatively charming candidate for student body president inflame dangerous rhetoric, Mark risks his low profile to become a political challenger.

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Sylvester, Natalia

When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Mariana Ruiz's father runs for president, Mari starts to see him with new eyes. A novel about waking up and standing up, and what happens when you stop seeing your dad as your hero-while the whole country is watching.

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Terese, Ali

Helen and Gracie are pranking their way through middle school when a stinky stunt lands them in the front office--again. Because nothing else has curbed their chaos, the principal orders the best friends to do the unthinkable: care about something. So they join the school's Community Action Club with plans to do as little as humanly possible. But when Helen is caught unprepared by an early period and bleeds through her pants, the girls take over the club's campaign for maxi pads in bathrooms for all students who menstruate. In the name of period equity, the two friends use everything from over-the-top baked goods to glitter gluing for change. 

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Thomas, Angie, author.

After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died.

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Vitkus, Jessica

An energetic, informative, and inspiring exploration of craftivism (the intersection of art and activism) throughout American history, with particular focus on the present day.

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Watson, Renée

Frustrated by the way women are treated--even at their progressive New York City high school--two best friends start a Women's Rights Club, post their essays and poems online, and watch it go viral, attracting positive support as well as trolls.

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White, Andrew Joseph

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him--the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world's population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can't get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC's leader, Nick, offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick's terms...until he discovers the ALC's mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

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Whitley, Jeremy

When new students Neesha Sparks and Gabby Graciana discover they like the same obscure manga series, they become friends and set out on a mission to find the remaining books in the series.

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Wilson, Jamia

Inspired by civil rights activist and congressman John Lewis's call to challenge injustice, [this book explores] famous moments of global activism throughout history with more than 70 narrative stories. Featured stories include the Newsboys' strike of 1899, the Freedom Summer Project of 1964, Greta Thunberg's first School Strike for Climate, and students against book banning. Alongside retellings of historical moments, kids can find information about how they can be activists in a safe way, alongside a glossary and key dates for annual activism moments from across the globe.

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Zaldívar, Bessie Flores

Set during the controversial 2017 Honduran presidential election, seventeen-year-old Libertad finds purpose writing political poetry as she navigates her sexuality and concerns for her activist brother's safety.

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.