Practical Strategies for Helping Youth Develop Empathy
It can be difficult to navigate tough topics with youth, especially as library professionals balance building relationships with maintaining appropriate boundaries. These challenges are even more complex in today’s world, where we are often asked to help explain issues that can feel overwhelming or difficult to articulate.
The PLA 2026 session Speak Up! Using Middle Grade Books to Build Allyship Muscles, presented by Tanvi Rastogi (with Caitlin Quinn and Esmé Symes-Smith), offered practical strategies for starting these conversations with younger patrons and fostering empathy in meaningful ways.
At the center of the session was Good Books Young Troublemakers, a youth book club created by Rastogi. The program uses middle grade books as a foundation for helping youth develop empathy and practice allyship. It recognizes that while young people may understand when something is wrong, it can still be difficult to speak up in the moment. By giving them space to practice what they might say in response to bullying or bigotry, the program helps build confidence and real-world communication skills.
The club goes beyond simply providing diverse books. It creates opportunities for direct, thoughtful conversations about identity and the social issues raised in those stories. Rastogi shared specific book examples, practical exercises, and real-world outcomes from the program, along with a toolkit that librarians and educators can use to implement similar approaches in their own communities.
One idea that stood out was the emphasis on action. As Rastogi noted, “Empathy without action is pretty useless,” and by not speaking up, “we are complicit in the normalcy of bigotry.” These statements underscore the importance of helping youth move from understanding to action in ways that feel accessible and appropriate.
While these conversations can feel uncomfortable, they do not have to be overwhelming. Using examples from books that youth are already reading offers a natural entry point. Even small steps like incorporating discussion prompts or role-playing responses into an existing book club can make a meaningful difference for libraries that are not ready to launch a full-scale social justice program.
As library professionals, we are committed to providing access to information for all and respecting a wide range of perspectives. At the same time, this session raised an important question: are there opportunities to do more to foster empathy and understanding among young people? Thoughtful programming grounded in literature offers one way to begin that work.
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