Diana Rodriguez Wallach | Real Teens Are Saving The World, Just like in YA

Young adult authors are sometimes accused of writing unrealistic narratives—teens who save intergalactic worlds, start revolutions, or end The Hunger Games. Where are the parents? We're asked. Where is the trademark teenage apathy? Where are the cops? Wouldn't these characters wait for help?

Well, maybe they're tired of waiting.

In the first book of the Anastasia Phoenix series, PROOF OF LIES, Anastasia dives into the criminal espionage world that her late parents thrust upon her. She searches for her missing and presumed dead sister on her own, after all the adults in her life tell her she's wrong and she should give up. She doesn't.

It's an adventure story, with a lot of action and romance, and I admit the plot
can be viewed as unrealistic. A teen fighting spies? A teen who can speak four
languages? A teen going after a corrupt organization?

But as I look at the world today, as I watch the news, I think maybe us authors in the young adult community are getting it right. I'm not surprised one bit by the activism I'm seeing, by the articulation of a long-needed message, by the change that will undoubtedly be brought to our country by a group of tragic relentless teenagers. These kids are fighting lobbyists and politicians who failed to protect them. They are standing up to the adults who apathetically said over and over that nothing could be done, and that this is the way it's always been.

American teenagers are being the heroes we told them they could be.

Now, it's our job not to be the hapless adults who stand on the sidelines or stand in their way. Instead of telling these brave survivorsthat they're too young to change the world, that their ideas don't matter, we need to grab their hands and help them do it. We need to be better than the grown ups we write in our books. Book two of the Anastasia Phoenix series, LIES THAT BIND, will follow Anastasia as she tries to bring down an evil empire. Across this country, real teenagers are trying to dojust that. I hope we stop underestimating them. I hope no one calls their goals unrealistic. And I hope we finally joinin their revolution.