This week for #sweetsandsocialjustice I’m so excited to share this book, and these baked cinnamon sugar donuts! Never Too Young gives an upbeat and global look at young people who made history before the age of 18. I really liked how the individuals profiled were throughout history, and a lot that are still doing great work right now! The kids run the gambit of professions-scientists, philanthropists, activists, and musicians. Role models for young people can and should be other young people! And these past and present child activists like Marley Dias, Nkosi Johnson, and Nicholas Lowinger are at the forefront of a myriad of fantastic causes.

The book has a large drawing of the person profiled, and a one-page summary of their life and work. More well-known activists like Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, and Malala Yousafzai are featured with people new to me personally, like inventor Margaret Knight, Om Prakash Gurjar, and young reporter Rene Silva. I could have done without the line saying that Jazz Jennings was “born a boy”, and instead use phrasing about her being assigned male at birth, or being misidentified as a boy. The book also doesn’t mention Helen Keller’s affiliation with the eugenics movement, but that’s an incredibly complicated topic to cover in just a few paragraphs. Otherwise, I think the book is very well done. It’s so important that kids have books to empower them, and that readers know they can make a positive difference in the world at any age. This book gives a small taste of a huge number of causes and passions that individuals pursue, which is great for sparking a passion of one’s own.