Make Trouble Young Readers Edition: Standing Up, Speaking Out, and Finding the Courage to Lead

From former Planned Parenthood president and activist Cecile Richards comes the young readers edition of her New York Times bestselling memoir, which Hillary Rodham Clinton called an “inspiration for aspiring leaders everywhere.”

To make change, you have to make trouble.

Cecile Richards has been fighting for what she believes in ever since she was taken to the principal’s office in seventh grade for wearing an armband in protest of the Vietnam War. She had an extraordinary childhood in ultra-conservative Texas, where her father, a civil rights attorney, and her mother, an avid activist and the first female governor of Texas, taught their kids to be troublemakers.

From the time Richards was a girl, she had a front row seat to observe the rise of women in American politics. And by sharing her story with young readers, she shines a light on the people and lessons that have gotten her though good times and bad, and encourages her audience to take risks, make mistakes, and make trouble along the way.

Cecile Richards was a national leader for women’s rights and social and economic justice. She began her career fighting for better wages and working conditions in the labor movement, then moved back home to Texas to help elect the state’s first Democratic woman governor: her mother, Ann Richards. She went on to start her own grassroots organizations, and later served as deputy chief of staff to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. In 2011 and 2012, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. As president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund for more than a decade, Richards worked to increase affordable access to reproduction health care and strengthen the movement for sexual and reproductive rights. She was a frequent speaker and commentator on issues related to women’s rights and activism. She and her husband, Kirk Adams, have three children and resided in New York City and Maine. 

Ruby Shamir is an award-winning author, a collaborator on bestsellers, an adaptor of adult nonfiction for children, and a literary researcher based in New York City. She has performed writing, editorial planning, editing, adaptations, and research for many high-profile nonfiction bestsellers. Her work has been reviewed as “lyrical,” “eloquent,” “beautifully written,” and “brilliant.” Her professional experience includes working for three and a half years in the Clinton White House and later leading Hillary Rodham Clinton’s New York Senate office. She got her MBA from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College and her BA from Bates College.