Booksology Without further ado, let me introduce you to Carolina.
Combating apathy with action and hope in YA literature and beyond
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How can young people feel hopeful when ICE agents are unjustly deporting thousands of immigrants, innocent protesters are being murdered in Minnesota, Palestinians still face persecution, and AI is poisoning the environment of black and brown communities? It’s easy to fall into a state of apathy when the world is, in some ways, literally on fire. The antidote seems simple. Dopamine spikes, full scrolling, shopping, and distraction. Each can be more comfortable than facing the reality of the world around us. But James Baldwin reminds us that we can’t change what we don’t face.
The true antidote to apathy is action, and young people have been at the forefront of movements demanding political action for decades. Carmelita Torres was just 17 years old when she refused to take the kerosene bath required of Mexican immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Claudette Colvin was only 15 years old when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person. Autumn Pelletier was just 9 years old when she advocated for clean drinking water on Indian reservations.
Despite being burdened with a world that often feels irredeemable, young people have shown us where the silver lining can be found through bleak landscapes. Leonard Cohen wrote, “Everything has a fissure, a fissure, and that’s how light shines through.” The following books help young people find light in a broken world.
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (published in 1963)
Although not YA, this book was written with young people in mind. Baldwin wrote the first essay in the book as a letter to his 14-year-old nephew, detailing the racial tensions that existed during this time, many of which unfortunately continue to this day.
“Ain’t Burned All the Bright” by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin, published in 2022
This young adult picture book/verse novel tells the story of a young Black man navigating the harsh realities of the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest following the killing of George Floyd. This rich story, breathtakingly divided, reminds young people around the world of resilience in times of danger.
“Esperanza Rising” by Pam Muñoz Ryan, published in 2000
This classic middle grade novel tells the penniless-to-riches story of Esperanza, a girl who loses everything in her home in Mexico and has to immigrate to the United States to become a farm worker. Caught between strikes, the Great Depression, the Mexican Revolution, and the tensions of the Dust Bowl, Esperanza tries to find hope and herself.
Everything We Never Had by Randy Rivey (published in 2024)
The novel tells the story of four generations of Filipino men, from the 1930s to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The novel delicately balances masculinity, intergenerational trauma, and immigration while charting the history of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (published in 2017)
This YA novel needs no introduction, but it was inspired by the unjust murder of Oscar Grant. It tells the story of a star who divides his time between his home and a wealthy private school. As if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, Starr is a key witness in the murder of his friend Khalil, who was killed at the hands of a white police officer.
“Few Blue Skies” by Carolina Ixta (me!), published in 2026
The story follows Paloma Vistamontes, a high school senior whose town is being taken over by warehouses because the air pollution is so bad that some residents are dying. After reuniting with her ex-boyfriend Julio, the two work on a research project that delves into the harm that warehouses cause to communities. Environmental racism, romance, and the fight for justice are central themes in this novel.
Carolina Ixta is a writer from Oakland, California. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she earned a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and Spanish language and literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a master’s degree in education from the University of California, Berkeley. Her debut novel, Shut Up, This Is Serious, was a finalist for the Morris Prize, a finalist for the LA Times Book Award, and won the Pula Belpré Award. Few Blue Skies is her second novel.
