Tackling Big Issues with Humor: Lessons from Kid-Lit Author Ali Terese
One of the things I love most about writing—and about talking to writers—is how often the work of storytelling becomes a mirror for our lives.
The same lessons we learn in craft show up in our creative process, and the same challenges we face on the page often echo what we’re grappling with internally.
This week on the Write It Scared podcast, I had the joy of talking with middle-grade and YA author Ali Terese, whose books prove that stories can be both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply empowering.
Her debut Free Period (2024) and sophomore novel Vote for the G.O.A.T. (2025) tackle big issues like period equity, bodily autonomy, and health equity for kids. And they do it through comedy, friendship, and activism.
Ali calls them stories about “messy girls changing the world,” and I—as a mom to a nine-year old who insists she’s already a tween—couldn’t love that description more.
The Long Road to “Yes”
Ali’s journey to publication wasn’t a quick flash in the pan. She spent 15 years writing book after book, collecting hundreds of rejections along the way.
Like many of us, she had to wrestle with the voices that said, maybe you’re not good enough, maybe it’s not going to happen.
But what struck me most was her perspective: she came to see that the long wait wasn’t wasted time.
See! Proof that I’m RIGHT! No, words are wasted!
The book she finally debuted with—Free Period, about two tweens fighting to get period products into every school bathroom—was the book she was meant to start with. Everything else she wrote before that built the skills, resilience, and voice she needed to get there.
It’s a reminder for all of us: just because it takes longer than you want doesn’t mean you’re failing or you’re on the wrong track.
Sometimes the story you’re meant to write takes time to arrive.
Humor as a Way In
Ali’s books tackle tough, even taboo topics, but she does it with humor.
Vote for the G.O.A.T. follows two kids who rescue their kidnapped school mascot—a goat named Bebe—and, in the process, learn to stand up for themselves.
Beneath the heist comedy beats runs a deeper theme: bodily autonomy and the right kids have to make choices about their own lives.
Ali told me she writes comedies because kids deserve to laugh, even when they’re dealing with hard things. In fact, laughter can be the very thing that opens the door to honest conversations.
Whether it’s maxi-pad cupcakes in Free Period or a soccer star facing burnout in Vote for the G.O.A.T., humor lowers defenses, builds connection, and makes space for kids to talk about what really matters to them.
The Power of Community
Another throughline in Ali’s story is community. She found her people through SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) and has been meeting with the same critique group for more than a decade. They’ve grown together through every rejection, revision, and success.
You know I preach this. We can’t do this work alone and we’re not meant to.
Writing may look solitary, but staying in the work requires the steady presence of others who get it.
Community doesn’t just make you a better writer; it helps you survive and thrive in the process.
Staying True to Your Voice
Even after publishing, Ali admits she still wrestles with self-doubt.
Recently, she spent a year trying to force a book to sound different from her natural voice. The harder she tried, the worse it got—until she finally realized the problem wasn’t the story, it was that she wasn’t writing like herself.
That insight hit me hard. How often do we as writers fall into the trap of thinking our voice isn’t “enough”? That we need to sound more literary, more commercial, more like someone else to be successful?
But the truth is, our greatest strength as storytellers is the way only we can tell a story. Readers don’t want a watered-down imitation. They want the raw, authentic sound of us.
Advice for Writers
When I asked Ali what she wished for her fellow kid lit writers, she said: Don’t rush. Take your time to find your voice. It’s worth it.
That patience isn’t easy. The drive to get published fast and to measure our worth by word counts or contracts can be overwhelming.
But Ali’s journey proves that the time we spend finding our voice isn’t wasted—it’s what makes the work powerful.
Final Thoughts
Ali Terese’s books remind us that stories can be fun, messy, and world-changing all at once. They prove that humor and activism can go hand in hand, and that kids deserve stories that let them see themselves as powerful agents of change–which in my opinion, they are.
If you’ve been stuck in self-doubt, wrestling with your voice, or wondering if your story matters, take Ali’s words to heart: don’t give up, don’t rush, and trust that your voice is worth the wait.
