Three cheers for the youth of America who are insisting that the U.S. engage in real conversations about gun violence. I hear and admire you!

Part of what inspired me to write A Girl Called Problem–a novel about courageous young people standing up to adults—was watching students in Tanzania challenge corruption at the university where I taught. These students wrote letters, petitions, and newspaper editorials. At first the university threatened to take away their scholarships or even to kick them out, but these young people could not be deterred. Eventually the administration was forced to own up to its own corruption and to change.

This week my kids and I made drawings to put on posters advertising our town’s Youth March for Our Lives event happening on the 24th of March as part of the larger national gun-control movement (find your local march). Here are a few of our drawings:

Liam, age 10, challenges us to consider whether the Founding Fathers would approve of common citizens carrying automatic weapons.

Reid, age 8, believes no child should risk death by a gun, and though he’s young, he’s not naive. Many countries have greatly reduced gun deaths by introducing strict gun laws.

Young activists, keep up the good fight! Facts are on your side–higher rates of gun ownership lead to higher rates of homicide and suicide–but right now gun-lobby money and politics are getting in the way of legal reform. This isn’t the first time cynical adults have claimed change isn’t possible, but it is another opportunity for youth to stand on the side of justice and to prove us wrong. Thanks for all you are doing!