elections on my mind...

November 3, 2020 is election day, here in the United States of America. In the coming days, the votes will be tallied and counted (and possibly recounted) until the officials declare the new, or returning, winners of various political offices (most notably President of the United States).

Until a winner is declared, why not explore the idea of politics and elections from some YA characters in these books:

Running by Natalia Sylvester 

• Genres: Politics, Coming of Age, Realistic Fiction
• Senator Anthony Ruiz has decided to run for president, throwing his whole Cuban American family, including his 15-year-old daughter into public scrutiny. As Mariana is suddenly forced to be front and center in her father's political career, and she begins to learn more about her father's platform she realizes that she may not agree with his positions. How can Mariana separate her own beliefs from her fathers? And, how can she speak out against him during the most important campaign of his life? 
  
  

Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli & Aisha Saeed

• Genre: Romance, Contemporary
• Jamie Goldberg is happy to volunteer for the local state senate candidate, as long as he can stay behind the scenes and doesn't have to talk to strangers. Maya Rehman was supposed to go on a big summer trip, but when it's canceled her mother volunteers her to go political canvassing with Jamie. Despite their differences, and the impending reality of the political campaign, Jamie and Maya begin to form "the cross-cultural romance of the century" (Goodreads).

You Say It First by Katie Cotugno

• Genres: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Romance
• ​Meg is working at a voter registration call center in Philadelphia during her senior year of high school. One night her call connects her to Colby, a small-town Ohio boy who doesn't have time to deal with a "privileged rich girl preaching the sanctity of the political process, so he says the worst thing he can think of and hangs up" (Goodreads). Over the course of several phone calls, a long-distance friendship (and maybe something more) begins to develop between Meg and Colby. Can these teenagers from opposite walks of life make it work in the end?
  
  

Red, White, Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

• Genre: Romance, LGBTQ+, Contemporary
• Alex Claremont-Diaz is the First Son of the United States. When a picture of a confrontation with Prince Henry go viral, threatening American/British relations, his mother's marketing team decide the best move is to stage a fake friendship between the boys. As the teens pretend to be friends, they start getting to know each other and soon find themselves in a romantic relationship that must stay secret unless they want to completely ruin President Ellen Claremont's reelection campaign.

All the the above titles are available to check out from the CHS library through Destiny or as eBooks from the SCV Public Library on Sora. 


​A few other election-y titles:

• The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
  • This has a 4-star rating on Goodreads, but is only available to checkout from the public library on Sora.
• Most Likely by Sarah Watson
  • This has a 4-star rating on Goodreads, but is only available to checkout from the public library on Sora.
• The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson
  • This book is available from both Destiny and Sora. It is rated quite low by reviewers on Goodreads due to sensitivity issues related to the LGBTQIA+ community and a potential disregard for racial issues.