As a person who has lived with chronic illness and disability for over a decade, I've often found it difficult to advocate for myself because I was afraid and because I just didn’t know that I had a right to speak up. Not just in medical settings but also with family and friends. So often, others with “authority” think they know what’s best for us, but in the end, we know our bodies best. I’ve learned to set boundaries, say no, and advocate for myself as a means of survival. These five books are wonderful examples of strong girls and young women using their voices to protect their bodily agency and build their body confidence.
Aniana del Mar belongs in the water like a dolphin belongs to the sea. But she and Papi keep her swim practices and meets hidden from Mami, who has never recovered from losing someone she loves to the water years ago. That is, until the day Ani’s stiffness and swollen joints mean she can no longer get out of bed, and Ani is forced to reveal just how important swimming is to her. Mami forbids her from returning to the water but Ani and her doctor believe that swimming along with medication will help Ani manage her disease. What follows is the journey of a girl who must grieve who she once was in order to rise like the tide and become the young woman she is meant to be.
I loved Natalia Sylvester’s tender and gripping YA novel about a young woman living with hip dysplasia yearning to be a mermaid because it reminded me of the big dreams I had as a young teenage girl.
Verónica will do just about anything to get a job as a real-life mermaid at Mermaid Cove, however her parents are not having it. They want Verónica to be a “serious” young woman and pursue jobs and opportunities that will benefit her future and they think they know what’s best for her body and her disability.
I resonated with this deeply because I too pursued goals and dreams that my parents were often not in favor of and have had to advocate for myself and what my body needs.
In this gorgeously written and authentic novel, Veronica, a Peruvian-American teen with hip dysplasia, auditions to become a mermaid at a Central Florida theme park in the summer before her senior year, all while figuring out her first real boyfriend and how to feel safe in her own body.
Veronica has had many surgeries to manage her disability. The best form of rehabilitation is swimming, so she spends hours in the pool, but not just to strengthen her body.
Her Florida town is home to Mermaid Cove, a kitschy underwater attraction where professional mermaids perform in giant tanks . .…
Charlie’s mom is anything but accepting of her weight. And that’s unfortunate because Charile really does want to love her body and wants to be accepted for who she is no matter what.
In a world where thin social media influencers, models, and actors perpetuate harmful ideals about weight and size, Charlie shows us someone who is capable of loving their whole curvy and quirky self. I was rooting for Charlie to find romantic love and self-love no matter what, throughout this entire funny, fast-paced, and heart-warming YA novel.
Coming of age as a Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard. Harder when your whole life is on fire, though.
A NEW ENGLAND BOOK AWARD WINNER!
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be…
Iveliz is angry and depressed, about a lot of things, including the death of her father. In an attempt to help Iveliz manage her anger and depression she sees a therapist and takes medication.
Iveliz knows taking her medications will help her, but what if the meds aren’t helping anymore? And what if seeing a therapist and talking about her problems isn’t what Iveliz wants to do? Why does no one want to listen to what she wants?
Iveliz struggles to say no and to advocate for herself and she pours all her thoughts and feelings into her journal, until she realizes that maybe using her voice is a better way to be heard. I loved the way Iveliz’s emotional journey and mental health are chronicled and treated with respect and care in this award-winning middle-grade novel in verse.
NEWBERY HONOR AWARD WINNER • In this timely and moving novel in verse, a preteen girl navigates seventh grade while facing mental health challenges. A hopeful, poetic story about learning to advocate for the help and understanding you deserve.
"Powerful." —Lisa Fipps, Printz Honor-winning author of Starfish
How do you speak up when it feels like no one is listening?
The end of elementary school? Worst time of my life. And the start of middle school? I just wasn’t quite right. But this year? YO VOY A MI.
Seventh grade is going to be Iveliz’s year. She’s going to make…
There is nothing more confusing, exciting, or scary than a young girl’s first period.
As an adolescent I couldn’t wait for my first period to arrive and “make me a woman.” But Celi Rivera is not looking forward to it because getting her first period means participating in a moon ceremony (a Mexica ritual done after a girl’s first period arrives).
While Celi’s mother is insistent and excited about it, Celi struggles to find the words to tell her mother that she doesn’t want a moon ceremony or at least that having one should be her choice.
Told in verse with wit, humor, and sensitivity, Salazar weaves us a story that brings us back to the tumultuous and vulnerable times of our youth while offering us hope and light.
The dazzling story of a girl navigating friendship, family, and growing up, an Are You There God, It's Me Margaret? for the modern day, from debut author Aida Salazar.
****Four starred reviews!****
* "A worthy successor to Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret set in present-day Oakland." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Celi Rivera's life swirls with questions. About her changing body. Her first attraction to a boy. And her best friend's exploration of what it means to be genderfluid.
But most of all, her mother's insistence she have a moon ceremony when her first period arrives. It's an…
Ellie has been bullied about her weight for some time and her mom insists on dragging her to doctors who can help her “manage her weight.”
Ellie wants to stand up to her bullies and her mom but sometimes she just doesn’t know how. While Ellie struggles to find the words she needs to advocate for herself, she finds solace in swimming. Because under water is where she feels the most weightless and free and it’s when she loves herself and her body the most.
With therapy and the help of her new best friend, Ellie shows us how true body confidence and bodily agency can be achieved even when it feels like it’s impossible.
Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she's been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules - like "no making waves," "avoid eating in public," and "don't move so fast that your body jiggles." And she's found her safe space - her swimming pool - where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It's also where she can get away from her pushy…
I’m an avid reader of queer literary fiction not only because I write it but because I’m looking to see my life experience captured on the page. As a gay man, a father of two young boys, and one-half of an interracial married couple, I know the complexity of modern queer living firsthand. In recent years, I’ve been astounded by the breadth of great LGBTQ+ books that examine queerness fully and empathetically. I seek out these books, I read them feverishly, and I become a champion for the best ones. In an era of intense book banning, it’s so important to me to elevate these books and their authors.
The Birthright of Sons is a collection of stories centered around the experiences of marginalized people, namely Black and LGBTQ+ men. Although the stories borrow elements from various genres (horror, suspense, romance, magical realism, etc.), they are linked by an exploration of identity and the ways personhood is shaped through interactions with the people, places, and belief systems around us.
In each of these stories, the protagonists grapple with their understanding of who they are, who and how they love, and what is ultimately most important to them. In almost every case, however, the quest to know or protect oneself is challenged by an external force, resulting in violence, crisis, or confusion, among other outcomes.
The Birthright of Sons is a collection of stories centered around the experiences of marginalized people, namely Black and LGBTQ+ men. Though the stories borrow elements from various genres (horror, suspense, romance, magical realism, etc.), they're linked by an exploration of identity and the ways personhood is shaped through interactions with the people, places, and belief systems around us.
Underpinning the project is a core belief - self-definition is fluid, but conflict arises because society often fails to keep pace with personal evolution. In each of these stories, the protagonists grapple with their understanding of who they are, who and…
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