Act: 11/12/20

Act by Kayla Miller is the third book in the Click series. Olive Branche decides to run for school council when she realizes not every student can go on field trips because not all families can afford the fees.

Olive actually goes through a bunch of steps before the council run. She tries various forms of protest and organizing. It's only the council run where she gains any traction. Along the way, though, friendships are threatened and self esteem tested.

Olive is ultimately successful but the ending sends the wrong message. More precisely, the ending is too cynical. Rather than earning her place on the council, she's given it when one of the winners, a boy, decides to be his friend's advisor, rather than co-council member.

The message here is clear to young readers: women in politics can never succeed unless a man takes pity on her. After all the misogyny in politics in recent years I was looking forward to a more hopeful message. She ran a good campaign. Why not just let her win fair and square one of the spots?

The next book is Clash which releases in July 2021.

Three stars

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