Submitted by chathaway on Mon, 03/22/2021 - 14:46
YA Books About Girls Leading Revolutions

List curated by Ari
Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson & Ellen Hagan
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.
Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
In a small Texas town where high school football reigns supreme, Viv, sixteen, starts a feminist revolution using anonymously-written zines.
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
Three misfit girls come together to avenge the rape of a girl none of them knew and in the process start a movement that transforms the lives of everyone around them.
Rebel Girls by Elizabeth Keenan
When a rumor starts in her Catholic high school that her pro-life sister Helen had an abortion over the summer, pro-choice Athena and her friends must try to convince the student body and the administration that it doesn't matter what Helen did or didn't do.
The Feminist Agenda of Jemima Kincaid by Kate Hattemer
In her last few weeks at Northern Virginia's elite Chawton School, eighteen-year-old Jemima Kincaid works to up-end its patriarchal traditions and, in the process, finds the freedom she has always sought.
Slay by Brittney Morris
An honors student at Jefferson Academy, seventeen-year-old Keira enjoys developing and playing Slay, a secret, multiplayer online role-playing game celebrating black culture, until the two worlds collide.
Running by Natalia Sylvester
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.
This is My America by Kim Johnson
While writing letters to Innocence X, a justice-seeking project, asking them to help her father, an innocent black man on death row, teenaged Tracy takes on another case when her brother is accused of killing his white girlfriend.
Most Likely by Sarah Watson
Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha have been friends since kindergarten. In senior year they're facing their biggest fears about growing up and growing apart. They have one another's backs through every new love, breakup, stumble, and success. Fast forward to 2049, as the first woman president of the United States waits to be sworn in-- and reflects back on that senior year in which they vie for the attention of the same guy.
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron
Queer black girls team up to overthrow the patriarchy in the former kingdom of Cinderella.
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Dani must question everything she's worked for as she learns about the corruption of the Median government.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
When Lei, seventeen, is stolen from her home to become one of nine Paper Girls, the Demon King's concubines, she proves to be more fire than paper.
The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh
Seventeen-year-old Lacey Burke responds to the failure of her school's abstinence-only sexual education curriculum by handing out advice and contraceptives in the girls' bathroom, even as her own life gets complicated.
Internment by Samira Ahmed
A terrifying, futuristic United Sates where Muslim-Americans are forced into internment camps, and seventeen-year-old Layla Amin must lead a revolution against complicit silence.
10 Things I Hate About Pinky by Sandhya Menon
Told in two voices, Ashish's friends Pinky and Samir pretend to date during a summer at Cape Cod to achieve their individual goals--especially to get their respective mothers off their backs.
The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly by Jamie Pacton
Working as a Wench—i.e. waitress—at a cheesy medieval-themed restaurant in the Chicago suburbs, Kit Sweetly dreams of being a Knight like her brother. She has the moves, is capable on a horse, and desperately needs the raise that comes with knighthood so she can help her mom pay the mortgage and hold a spot at her dream college.Company policy allows only guys to be Knights. So when Kit takes her brother's place, clobbers the Green Knight, and reveals her identity at the end of the show, she rockets into internet fame and a whole lot of trouble with the management. But this Girl Knight won't go down without a fight. As other Wenches and cast members join her quest, a protest forms. In a joust before Castle executives, they'll prove that gender restrictions should stay medieval—if they don't get fired first.
Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera
Sixteen year old Nalah leads the fiercest all-girl crew in Mega City, but when she sets her sights on giving this life up for a prestigious home in Mega Towers, she must decide if she's willing to do the unspeakable to get what she wants.
Rules for Being a Girl by Katie Cotugno & Candace Bushnell
It starts before you can even remember: You learn the rules for being a girl. . . .
Marin has always been good at navigating these unspoken guidelines. A star student and editor of the school paper, she dreams of getting into Brown University. Marin's future seems bright—and her young, charismatic English teacher, Mr. Beckett, is always quick to admire her writing and talk books with her. But when "Bex" takes things too far and comes on to Marin, she's shocked and horrified. Had she somehow led him on? Was it her fault? When Marin works up the courage to tell the administration what happened, no one believes her. She's forced to face Bex in class every day. Except now, he has an ax to grind. But Marin isn't about to back down. She uses the school newspaper to fight back and she starts a feminist book club at school. She finds allies—and even romance—in the most unexpected people, like Gray Kendall, who she'd always dismissed as just another lacrosse bro. As things heat up at school and in her personal life, Marin must figure out how to take back the power and write her own rules.
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