8 Awesome Nonfiction Anthologies for Teens
by Laura Lambert
There’s nothing like hearing a story straight from the source itself — especially from young people, who are so often misunderstood. In these highly engaging nonfiction anthologies, young people, and authors speaking from a place in their own youth, convey the complexity of modern life in the face of racism, violence, love, and plain old adolescence.
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Nevertheless, We Persisted: 48 Voices of Defiance, Strength and Courage
Available from:In 2017, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was trying to explain why he had to silence Senator Elizabeth Warren in the middle of a speech. He said, “She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.” And with that, a movement was born.
Now, for just about anyone who was warned about the status quo, by the status quo, and went ahead anyway, there’s a great new hashtag: #shepersisted. And there’s also this book — a collection of essays from a wide range of actors, athletes, activists, and more, male and female, writing about a time they were held back by some kind of prejudice, and how they persisted. “Readers encountering injustice in their own lives may be compelled to take heart — and even action,” says Publishers Weekly.
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Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories
Available from:It’s hard to believe it’s barely been a year since the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida — and the historic March for Our Lives against gun violence that followed shortly after. This collection of poems, drawings, journal entries, photos, and other first-person accounts helps make sure we’ll never forget. Kirkus calls it a “valuable primary source document that will be of interest to students and activists today and historians tomorrow.”
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We Say #NeverAgain: Reporting
Similarly, We Say #NeverAgain is the collected writings of high school students in the journalism class taught at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by Melissa Falkowski and Eric Garner, the editors.
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Hope Nation: YA Authors Share Personal Moments of Inspiration
Available from:Hope Nation is a collection of 23 true personal stories from some of our favorite YA writers, including Nicola Yoon and Jason Reynolds, meant to uplift and inspire when adolescence has got you down, as it so often does. Kirkus describes it as a “salve when days are bleak.”
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Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope & Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House
Remember the Obama White House? Sigh. This anthology is self-described as ten “inspiring, never-before-told stories from diverse young women who got. Stuff. Done.” Amen! While you may not recognize their names — yet — these are young women who turned their belief in the power of hope and change into careers in public service.
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We Are Here to Stay: Voices of Undocumented Young Adults
Available from:Kirkus calls Susan Kuklin’s latest book a must-read — and for anyone who cares at all about the plight of undocumented youth in this age of DACA, “the wall,” and immigration “reform,” it is. This book is less an anthology, more the personal stories of nine undocumented youth in America, from countries as diverse as Mexico, Ghana, and Korea.
Kuklin is also the woman behind Beyond Magenta, a collection of stories about six transgender or gender-neutral young adults — a 2015 Stonewall Honor Book.
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Rookie on Love
R.I.P. Rookie. To be fair, I was — am — probably too old for the site, but I loved the spirit and the aesthetic nonetheless. In this book, editrix Tavi Gevinson, who founded Rookie mag when she was just 11, has curated a pitch perfect mix of essays, poems, comics, and interviews from Rookie contributors, all on the ever-ripe topic of love.
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The Book That Made Me: A Collection of 32 Personal Stories
Available from:If your child is a reader, they already understand how one book can make all the difference. While the YA authors in The Book That Made Me may not be household names — most are from Australia and New Zealand — their relationships to the books they read before they became authors ring true universally.
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