08 Jul / The Story of More (Adapted for Young Adults): How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here by Hope Jahren [in School Library Journal]
*STARRED REVIEW
Award-winning scientist Hope Jahren continues her auspicious author/narrator streak, especially ideal for the adaptation of her lauded 2020 original: her chatty, friendly presentation is an immediate invitation to listen to “what happened to my world, to your world – to our world.” Even more compelling is her summons to figure out “where to go from here.”
Waste is our ultimate challenge: “Every day, almost one billion people go hungry, while a different billion people intentionally discard enough food to feed them.” Waste pointlessly destroys “our forests, fresh water and fuel,” as well as the “plants and animals that spent the entirety of their short time on this planet in service to our appetites.”
Throwing away food = throwing away one another’s lives! That smack-in-the-head awareness should be the necessary impetus for the newest generations – convincingly guided by Jahren – to engender life-saving change.
Verdict: Libraries should arm activists early with empowering tools such as this.
From the introduction: All the titles here are nonfiction; most feature difficult subjects including history, climate change, systemic racism. Some might ask, why expose younger readers to challenging, unpleasant, haunting truths? One of the featured writers, Hilary Beard, provides the consummate answer back in her introduction to The Burning:
“…the fact that something is upsetting to us doesn’t mean that we should not engage it. Facing the truth empowers us to understand our self, our neighbors, and our world more accurately; to make appropriate choices and decisions; to heal the past and present and build a more promising future. Together.”
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2021