Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher’s Solis asks, how imminent a future can dystopian fiction imagine for young readers? In the year 2033 (yikes!), the President refuses to leave office after a second term and declares that all immigrants must be forcibly deported. Immigrants across the country, legal or not, are hunted down by the Deportation Force (DF) and brought to a desert labor camp to mine a substance believed to be an unstoppable force against a global climate crisis. Harnessing the power of the weather could give the government the power to squash California, a newly succeeded nation state offering sanctuary to immigrants, and determine a new global order in the process.
Linked to their first novel, Sanctuary (2021), Mendoza and Sher continue to build a storyworld that feels at once like it is just out of reach, and at the same time already here. Amid the high-stakes upcoming election, a novel that tackles xenophobia and climate warfare is what we all need to be reading.
What is most compelling about Solis is its refusal to shy away from controversial topics in a young adult context. Young adult literature is a battleground, with a million eyes on what we consider appropriate for young readers. There is often a desire to shield young eyes from the horrors that flood the screens they access every day, as unspeakable atrocities are committed every day and teenagers (like the rest of us) are expected to continue as usual. Solis offers an alternative that elevates young female protagonists who demonstrate grit, strength, and courage in a near-future that feels just a hair away from our current reality.
What is most compelling about Solis is its refusal to shy away from controversial topics in a young adult context.
Mendoza and Sher refuse to shy away from atrocity in Solis, presenting readers with images of women and children subjected to torture in labor camps and nationwide violence against immigrants. When news of war and climate disaster is suffocating and risks numbing one’s reaction to genocide, Solis brings the conversation to young people and forefronts strong, queer, and female heroes.
Solis is narrated by four protagonists: Rania, Liliana, Vali, and Jess. Rania (the character who touched my heart the most) has endured deep loss yet demonstrates the strength of the human condition as she loves others and is loved deeply in the labor camp. Liliana is a mother who has given up everything for her children to reach safety, and Vali is her daughter, a key player in the rebel cause for California. Jess, a disgraced DF soldier who finds herself thrown in a cage of her own design, is a fascinating addition to the group. Unlike the others, Jess’ perspective is that of the oppressor, and she is blunt in explaining the narratives of white supremacy she was raised with. Jess’ characterization gives an insight into the mind of xenophobic white America, challenging readers not to see the enemy as monolithic evil. As Jess unlearns the truths she understood before, she plays a unique role in the resistance against the systematic oppression she helped uphold.
Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher’s Solis desperately needs to find its way into the hands of young readers today, not just because of its compelling story and characters, but because of the way it addresses difficult and controversial topics head-on. Mendoza and Sher take their audience seriously, telling a powerful story about love, sacrifice, and resistance with candor about the injustices that adolescents already face in their own realities.
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