Mohandas Gandhi used the word “satyagraha” to describe intentional, firm, truthful, and forceful nonviolent action or resistance.

And just a few years ago, a small braid-wearing teenager stepped to a microphone to address world leaders about climate change and the urgency for doing something solid about it.

Indeed, through stories and a few period photographs, author Todd Hasak-Lowy shows young readers something important about making change: that when an individual becomes part of a well-thought-out, peaceful collective, things can happen without warfare.

For the teen who’s a bit on the pessimistic side, or is eagerly ambivalent about involvement, that can be inspirational, even exciting – and yet, Hasak-Lowy doesn’t get cuddly about the realities: activism is hard work and sometimes literal pain, and it might take years to see the fruits of one’s labor.

History shows that activists like those in this book have braved danger, but it also shows that steady, insistent confrontation works.