Portrayals of Adolescent Activism Against Unjust Schooling in Young Adult Literature

As U.S. educational systems reel from ideological battles and oppressive policies, adolescents are not passive bystanders; they’re fighting back. This study investigates how adolescent protagonists resist school-based injustices in 58 young adult literature (YAL) texts published between 2007 and 2024. Using Critical Content Analysis (CCA) and grounded in the Critical Youth Lens and the Bioecological Systems Model, we explore how youth navigate and challenge systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, and other oppressive forces across ecological realms, from their classrooms to broader sociocultural structures. The adolescent protagonists don’t just endure injustice, they expose it, name it, and resist it, often within the very schools meant to support them. Through agentic acts across micro-, exo-, and macro-systems, adolescent characters reclaim power and forge solidarity in the pursuit of justice. Our findings highlight how YAL can serve as both a mirror and a map (Sealey-Ruiz, 2019), reflecting adolescent realities while modeling resistance. We end with implications for how educators might harness YAL as a powerful entrypoint for fostering critical consciousness and supporting student-led activism in and despite schools and schooling in the U.S.