Stubborn Roots: Poems to Grow a Better World

By Shout Mouse Press Young Writers

This powerful anthology illuminates today's activist experience through the poetry and essays of our most vital and essential youth.

Through compelling poetry, 18 young writers of color plant their resistance in the soil of our uncertain future. They tackle disparities across lines of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, ableism and fatphobia, immigration and the environment, and more. Their poems are accompanied by portraits of each poet (by cover artist Sobia Ahmad) along with first-person essays on what liberation means to them.

Diverse voices and styles shine throughout Stubborn Roots, providing personal and cultural context to ongoing conversations about change in the United States. Tender and green, vulnerable and wondrous, this singular book of poems serves as an urgent call to the transformative power of art and is a must-have for young readers looking to develop their connection to social justice.

Foreword by Camonghne Felix, author of Let the Poets Govern.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1950807908
• ISBN13: 9781950807901
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Shout Mouse Press, Inc.
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 13 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary