Thoughts on Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

Maybe it’s pie-in-the-sky, in today’s reactionary climate, but I loved not only that the young women in this book largely supported each other, but also that there were young men who stepped up as allies. This is the kind of story that gives me hope.

Teens who have access to stories in which characters have weighty conversations learn that it’s okay to think and talk about big things. It’s okay to wrestle with big things. It’s okay to not be sure of what to do. It’s okay to not trust that the system will be on your side—especially since it has proven with sickening regularity that it will not be.

Most importantly, it’s more than okay—it’s crucial—to take on big things and push change forward, because people resist change—on both individual and groupthink levels. People are too often afraid to do the hard thing, or think the scary thought. If they weren't afraid, we wouldn’t be where we are today—people wouldn’t be laughed at, ridiculed, called names, and attacked for simply existing as they are.