"A potent, empowering feminist novel-in-verse about rising up against misogyny and environmental abuses."
Raw and heart-rending, inspirational and hopeful, Louisa Reid's Activist is a beautiful, vital book with the power to help readers mend, make readers mad, and make readers rise. An empowering novel-in-verse about speaking up and refusing to be kept down by the individuals and institutions that perpetuate misogyny.
At the start of a new school year Cassie wishes her mum had let her move from prestigious Castle College. In its toxic environment male pupils send abusive messages and explicit photos to their female peers just as a girl makes an anonymous post about being sexually abused at a party. “Calm down, love,” Cassie is told by boys she went to nursery school with, “boys we loved/in the way you loved yourself/when you’re too young to understand/all the ways/the world will make you change.” This dagger of an excerpt cuts to the core of one of the book’s themes - the need to stop the structural misogyny that sees formerly sweet little boys turn into sexist young men.
When the school fails to take action about the abuse inflicted on “All the girls silently suffering/and blaming themselves/for something that is never their fault”, Cassie takes action - rallying pupils to strike, speaking out at debates – with her friend Lori reminding her that it’s “not just white women… I want to talk about how it is for girls of colour, /how race matters in this, /that white woman, that goddam white school, needs/reminding/that feminism isn’t all about them.”
Brilliantly capturing the elemental strength it takes to fight back, and the possibilities of positive change through persistent activism that harnesses rage (in addition to her actions against misogyny, Cassie also protests against the destruction of a local woodland), this is an exceptional story of courage and faith.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: |
When an anonymous student posts on a website about the sexual abuse she suffered, and the school fails to deal with the situation, Cassie and her friends know it is time to act.
A powerful verse novel about speaking and standing up for what's right.
Cassie goes to a prestigious academic school where girls have only just been admitted after decades of it being single-sex. When a female student from the school anonymously posts about the sexual abuse she has suffered and the school does not act properly, Cassie knows that she needs to take matters into her own hands. She and her friends prepare for battle - with a strike, an assembly, as well as outside school spending their weekends protesting to save the woodland from development. But will her activism only make things worse, or will she succeed in righting the wrongs that so many choose to ignore? And could there be a more personal reason for her behaviour?
A powerful, timely verse novel about the need to act and stand up for what's right.
Activist features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: General, modern and contemporary fiction, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Stories in verse, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Activist is available in Paperback
Activist was written by Louisa Reid and published by Guppy Publishing Ltd
Activist has 323 pages
£7.19
