Parents' Guide to Young World

Parents need to know that in Soman Chainani's teen political thrillerYoung World, 17-year-old Benton Young decides to post a YouTube video putting himself forward as a write-in candidate for President of the United States. He's angry about school shootings, no one doing anything about climate change, and politicians who are old and corrupt. So he challenges young people to Revolt! Rise Up! But there's another and possibly most important reason for the video. He hopes it will finally grab the much longed for attention of "The Girl" he's in love with. When Benton is shockingly (thank you Supreme Court) elected President, he suddenly finds himself living in the White House and trying to prepare for a summit meeting with other teen leaders who've recently been swept into office. At the summit, the Prime Minister of Sweden is murdered, Benton becomes the only suspect, and he has to go on the run to save his life and prove his innocence. Benton's the target of several assassination attempts and even a polar bear attack, there's lots of gunfire, and a kidnapping, all of which occur too quickly to be overly graphic. Characters regularly use profanity ("f--k," "s--t," "hell," "Jesus," and "a--hole") and there's a good deal of sex trash talk. Someone's called a "self-serving, dick-sniffing lightweight" and Benton's told the press in one young leader's country "literally has a scorecard for the chicks he bangs." Two of the new leaders have a secret romantic relationship, Japan's leader has been dubbed "Japan's boyfriend," and the Canadian Prime Minister was voted the country's most eligible bachelor. A kiss between a teen student and adult teacher is remembered as fact by the student and vehemently denied by the teacher. Characters are diverse: biracial, gay, Latino, Asian and young leaders at the summit are Swedish, British/Indian, French, Italian, Japanese, German, and Canadian. Over 100 boldly illustrated pages (campaign posters, news articles, cartoons, an Interpol Red notice, even a Viking map in blacks, grays, and oranges) give a graphic novel feel to sections of the text.