1 of 2 | Soman Chainani wrote “Young World,” available Tuesday. Headshot by Katie Grammes courtesy of Random House
LOS ANGELES, May 5 (UPI) — Author Soman Chainani said he hopes his latest book, Young World, available Tuesday, encourages teenagers to vote and run for office if they’re over 18. The book is about a teenager who becomes President of the United States.
In a recent Zoom interview with UPI, Chainani said he will be visiting high schools on his book tour. The book’s website will have links to register or pre-register to vote, and link to RunforSomething.net which supports candidates.
“There are a lot of problems that are out there in the world and no one’s coming to save you from them,” Chainani said, addressing young readers. “So you guys have to control your political future if you want the world to be better.”
In his book, 17-year-old Benton Young makes a YouTube video encouraging voters to write in a candidate who will actually make positive change. It goes viral and Benton wins the election via write-in.
The U.S. Constitution mandates that the President be at least 35 years old. However, other offices allow younger candidates.
“I just tell them when I go into schools, kick the old people off the school board,” Chainani said. “Why are you letting them decide how you go to school? Get rid of people who’ve been on city council forever and are corrupt and messing things up for you.”
To explain how Benton actually takes office, Chainani researched how the Supreme Court could overturn the age limit. Benton’s election inspires a young party called Revolting Youth, who threaten future elections should Benton’s victory not be honored.
Chainani reasoned that with that pressure, the Supreme Court could overturn the age limit under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In the book, the Republican leaning Court chooses to inaugurate Benton rather than their opposing party’s candidate.
“The No. 1 thing I had to create was the environment and the pressure to allow that reading of the 14th Amendment to make the Supreme Court take action,” Chainani said. “There’s been a lot of legal briefs from scholars about how it violates equal protection.”
Once inaugurated, Benton has to choose a Vice President and cabinet. His election inspires other countries to elect teen leaders so he must meet them at the G8 Summit, all while established adult politicians plot against him.
“I just treated it for real, almost House of Cards-style, like what it would be like with a teenager in the White House,” Chainani said. “These adults want him out. They want the teenagers gone from power. So they are going to wield every tool possible to dump this kid out.”
Some of the other countries used the Revolting Youth movement to obtain power for nefarious reasons. Not all young leaders are benevolent.
“I wanted some young people to just be downright evil,” he said. “I wanted them to mirror what you saw in adults. To me, the young people earning power also came with it some element of corruption.”
The political thriller required more contemporary research than Chainani’s School for Good and Evil series, which were set in the milieu of fairy tales. Chainani ran his research by Obama advisor Eric Schultz, who was the book’s political consultant.
“Just giving him the book for the first time and be, ‘Like did I get it right? Is this what it feels like?’ was a key moment,” Chainani said. “So to get his green light and approval, I think, was really important.”
Still, Young World reflects the same spirit of Chainani’s long-running fantasy series.
“School for Good and Evil was a revolt against Disney stereotypes,” Chainani said. “This is obviously a revolt against business as usual in politics.”
Since the first School book was published in 2013, many of Chainani’s readers have grown up with his books.
“Twenty-five, 26-year-olds are reading it and starting to think about one day giving it to their kids,” he said.
Netflix produced a movie adaptation of The School for Good and Evil in 2022. Chainani said the rights for visual adaptations revert back to him within two years, and he does not expect Netflix to produce another big-budget sequel before then.
Chainani is grateful the film brought new readers to the books, and thinks there is still room for a faithful adaptation.
“Fantasy is tough unless it’s a TV series,” he said. “Part of me thinks it’s due for a true visual adaptation, whether that’s animated or live-action, that really takes you through what the original story was.”
Chainani hopes for a film or television adaptation of Young World, too. He also has ideas for a sequel.
“The audience will have to show up for this one first,” he said. “I already have the idea. I know what it would look like.”
About the Author
