A Nonbinary Teen Stands Up For Their Rights in ‘Can’t Take That Away’

Steven Salvatore clearly remembers the moment they first envisioned the nonbinary teen at the center of their debut novel. A college writing instructor, Salvatore was teaching a class in 2018 when they decided to write a response to that day’s prompt alongside the class.

“I just started writing, and this red-haired freckled beautiful teen just emerged on the page,” Salvatore recalled to the FBomb. As they wrote further, the character’s story began to fully form. “Their voice just came to life for me. It was a way for me to channel my feelings and my experiences and to just write the teenager that I wish that I were back when I was in high school.”

Salvatore’s novel Can't Take That Away was released in March by Bloomsbury Kids. The book tells the story of Carey Parker, a nonbinary teen who loves pop culture, musicals, and singing. While Carey is one of the most talented singers at their school, their struggles related to coming out and their encounters with homophobia and bullying have led them to avoid performing in public. But when it becomes time to audition for the school production of Wicked, Carey decides to go for it — and to try out for the lead part. Carey’s audition leads to an uproar in the school district, as a vicious class bully and a homophobic teacher attempt to shut them out of the play because of their gender identity.

The FBomb had the chance to talk to Salvatore about their debut novel, confronting bullies, and why this generation of teens is so inspiring when it comes to activism.

Carey is genderqueer and early on in the book, they receive a bracelet from a mentor that allows them to choose between three colors to indicate the pronouns (he/his, she/hers, or they/theirs) that they identified with that day. Carey’s pronouns are also included at the beginning of each chapter as the story proceeds. How did you come up with this storytelling device?

Someone had actually suggested that I get one of those bracelets for myself a while ago, so I got this macrame bracelet with the colors of the genderqueer flag (which are purple, white, and green). So I just wore the bracelet for myself, and it made me feel more comfortable and confident.

Then when I started writing “Can’t Take That Away,” I was trying to think of a way to signal Carey’s pronouns without actually having to say them every chapter or scene. The bracelet just sort of emerged as an idea I could use. I thought, ‘Oh, I can take this thing I do for myself and put it in the book. That way they don’t have to explain anything.’ The bracelet is bold enough where you can see it and remember it and really set the tone for the rest of the story.

One of the strongest adult characters in this book is Carey’s therapist Dr. Potter, who is incredibly supportive as they navigate coming out. Was she the type of adult you wish you would have been able to talk to as a teen?

Oh, absolutely. I wish that I had gone to therapy when I was in high school — it probably would have saved me a lot of grief and anguish. I grew up in a household and a family that was not necessarily anti-therapy, but it was more along the lines of "What do you need therapy for? You're not 'crazy.'" I think that we know now that language like that is really beyond problematic; it's harmful. Plus, it's not even correct.

I do wish I had the types of role models that would have encouraged therapy at the time. But I definitely had adult role models the way Carey did. I was the student who ate lunch in my English teachers’ classrooms, so that’s something I definitely share with Carey. I was always looking for adults who could be that kind of shepherd and provide that comfort and guidance.

Pop culture is a big part of Carey’s journey in this book. What drew you to Wicked in particular for the school play?

The scene that I wrote in the creative writing class that I mentioned earlier actually had Carey in their therapist's office holding a pair of ruby red slippers. Afterward, I was trying to figure out how the ruby red slippers fit into the story because I originally did not set out to do something that was Wizard of Oz or Wicked related. But when I was growing up I used to steal my best friend's ruby red slippers and wear them all the time and so that was a big piece of iconography for me and that’s where that came from.

When I started thinking about what I wanted the book to be about, I knew that Carey wanted to be a diva. That’s their goal, but I didn’t want the story to be about Carey recording music or being a pop star. I love theater and I love Broadway. Wicked is my favorite show. So I realized that I could incorporate the music from Wicked into Carey’s story. It just fit. Elphaba in Wicked is this activist martyr character who’s just trying to do what she thinks is right. She has this gift that people see, but at the same time, they judge her based on the color of her skin. That was something that I thought paralleled nicely with what I was trying to accomplish with Carey’s story.

Carey also deals with a lot of bullying from both kids and adults simply because they wanted to express themselves freely. Were those scenes difficult to write?

Those scenes were definitely difficult to write. But I hope that when readers read the book they don't spend too much time dwelling on the bullying themes. What I was trying to really accomplish there is to show that Carey is surrounded by amazing, supportive, wonderful people, who include family, friends, and teachers. I wanted to highlight that because it shows the progress we’ve made. Perhaps 20 years ago it would have been the reverse, where it was like one or two people are supportive and then the rest are not. So it’s not the whole school that’s against Carey, it’s really just two people and there is one teacher in particular who is a problem.

Carey and their friends also demonstrate how organizing and standing up for the rights of trans and gender-nonconforming students can be really effective at a time when we are seeing so many real-life teens speak out about these issues.

This generation of teens is so mobilized and vocal, it’s just so incredible. I’m so inspired by the Parkland teens and the student activists who really ignited the movement last summer during the Black Lives Matter protests. When I was a teenager 15 or 20 years ago, I wasn't thinking about activism like that at all.

But it's sad that teens even have to do all of this. We should have done better. Our parents should have done better. Our grandparents should have done better. Maybe they didn't know better at the time or maybe they did and they just didn't care — I don't know. But we need to keep making the world better so that teens and young people don't have to do all of this. It shouldn’t be on the backs of teens, it should be on the backs of adults.