“If we care about kids, then we must destroy the bars and walls and chains that forcibly separate people who love each other. And we must also dedicate ourselves to abolition’s central commitment, which dovetails profoundly with caregiving: the creation and growth of practices, resources, and ways of being that are life-affirming and generative instead of death-dealing and violent.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Haymarket Books for the eARC! This collection was released in the US in November 2024.

We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition, edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson, is a luminous and crucial collection of essays interrogating the intersections of parenting and abolition. This anthology does not simply advocate for a world without prisons—it insists on the creative, imaginative, constructive, and generative potential of abolition, showing how parenting itself can be a radical act of world-building.

What makes this collection so compelling is its commitment to interdependence as a guiding principle. Many of the contributors are directly impacted by incarceration, whether they are currently or formerly incarcerated or have loved ones trapped in the carceral system. Their essays expose the cruelty of state-imposed family separation, raising essential questions: Who benefits from the destruction of families? What does it mean to parent from behind bars? How do we extend our care beyond our own children and into the wider world?

One of the strongest throughlines in this collection is the assertion that children naturally embody abolitionist conflict resolution strategies. Several essays reflect on the ways children instinctively seek repair, how they model care, and how they offer blueprints for futures rooted in justice rather than punishment. The authors explore how to respect and honor children's autonomy, suggesting that learning to defer to children can be a crucial exercise in dismantling power imbalances. This challenges deeply ingrained hierarchies within families, positioning parenting not as an authoritarian role but as a practice of solidarity, reciprocity, and communal care.

The book is unflinching in its critique of the family policing system—what is often referred to as the “child welfare system”—and its entanglement with carceral logic. Many essays explicitly confront the racism inherent in these institutions, exposing how they disproportionately harm Black and brown families. Parenting toward abolition, these writers argue, is not just about raising individual children with abolitionist values; it is about resisting the state’s relentless attempts to surveil, control, and destroy marginalized families.

Perhaps one of the most moving aspects of this collection is its insistence that abolition is fundamentally about love. Several authors explore parental love as an act of resistance, a force that refuses disposability and insists on the dignity of all children. Others highlight the role of solidarity in parenting—solidarity with incarcerated parents, with Palestinian mothers, with all caregivers resisting state violence. This expansive definition of love is not sentimental; it is rigorous, urgent, and revolutionary.

Ultimately, We Grow the World Together is a testament to the transformative potential of caregiving as a political practice. It calls on us to reject carcerality in all its forms—not just in the prisons we recognize but in the punitive, hierarchical relationships we enact daily. It reminds us that abolition is not only about dismantling the systems that harm—it is about growing new ways of being, loving, and caring. It is about making mistakes, learning, and trying again. For our children, and for ourselves.

📖 Recommended For: Readers invested in abolitionist thought, caregivers and parents reimagining justice, those drawn to lyrical and urgent prose, anyone seeking radical visions of care and interdependence, fans of Mariame Kaba and Adrienne Maree Brown.

🔑 Key Themes: Abolitionist Parenting, Interdependence and Mutual Aid, Anti-Carceral Justice, Family Policing and State Violence, Child Autonomy and Power, Love as Resistance.

Content / Trigger Warnings: Police Brutality (minor), Drug Abuse (minor), Death (minor), Animal Death (minor), Cancer (minor), Racism (minor).

We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition, edited by Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson, is an anthology of abolitionist thinkers exploring the critical intersection of abolition and parenting. This collection could not have arrived into the world at a more vital moment. As Maya states in her essay on learning from her toddler: ‘We must imagine outside the bounds of the "possible" because the current reality is, quite literally, lethal’.

Having previously attended a virtual panel discussion featuring Maya, Kim, and two other contributors, I anticipated a thought-provoking read, and my expectations were not only met but exceeded. The range of voices and perspectives contained within this collection is astounding. I learned from, felt moved by, and took something meaningful away from every essay. I frequently found myself pausing in my feelings of appreciation and gratitude for the opportunity to glimpse into the minds and lives of abolitionist thinkers I might never have encountered otherwise. I am deeply thankful to Maya and Kim for imagining this project into existence in a world so desperately in need of it.

Some essays deeply influenced me, such as hearing from a six-year-old with an incarcerated parent, learning from Maya's toddler about the importance of imagination in transforming society, and gaining insights from Mariame Kaba on using children's books in abolition. As a collection this book offers countless practical examples and compelling calls to action.

As someone with a lot of love for ‘new beginners’ (as Sarah Tyson aptly puts it), who is not currently, and may never be, a ‘parent’ in the traditional sense, I often reflect on my role as a collective ‘co-parent’. Parenting, and specifically abolitionist parenting, is a shared duty. It is a call to action for all adults striving for a better, safer future for everyone. I am confident that this book is, and will continue to be, an essential resource for anyone committed to working collectively toward a freer future, with future adults in the lead.

I was incredibly fortunate to share this paradigm-shifting read with my favourite comrade, in reading, in thinking, in life and in the pursuit of collective freedom. I highly recommend experiencing this essay collection alongside a friend or two. Let’s continue engaging in critical conversations and collective action toward an abolitionist future. Let’s strive to grow the world together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Haymarket for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.