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“A refreshingly nuanced exploration of intersectionality and allyship. Sanchez effectively weaves the concept of the importance of caring for your fellow humans, both collectively and individually.”

—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“This upbeat cast of diverse characters who respect their varying abilities and common bonds as they learn how to achieve equity in the workplace will entertain and inform readers.”

—School Library Journal

“Entertaining, romantic, heart-wrenching, educational, and inspirational, Meet Me at the Picket Line reminds the reader that they are not alone.”

—Booklist

Meet Me at the Picket Line

Written by Jasper Sanchez
Published by HarperCollins

All’s fair in love and solidarity…

Eli Goldstein might be the only teenager looking forward to earning minimum wage at his objectively terrible summer job. Not only will he be working at the kitschy roadside museum he loves, he’ll finally have the down payment for his top surgery with a first-class surgeon.

But the museum really is a late-stage capitalist hellscape, and Eli’s co-workers—led by his irritatingly self-righteous and annoyingly attractive school rival, Efraín—plan to unionize. With his sanity and safety at risk on the job, Eli knows he has to join their campaign.

If he and Efraín can stop bickering long enough to keep their ragtag union together, they might actually have a shot. But when management begins to grow suspicious, Eli will have to make a choice: Is he willing to stand in solidarity with his friends and the boy he’s starting to fall for, even if it means risking his job and the key to his life-changing surgery?

Primary ISBN: 9780063025820
Publication Date: May 2026
Available As: Hardcover, Audiobook, eBook
Young Adult, Age 14 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: United States (California)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: 1st Generation

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