Tag Archives: climate change

Review: When the World Runs Dry by Nancy F. Castaldo

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When the World Runs Dry by Nancy F. Castaldo

When the World Runs Dry
Nancy F. Castaldo
Algonquin Young Readers
Published January 18, 2022

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About When the World Runs Dry

What would you do if you turned on the faucet one day and nothing happened? What if you learned the water in your home was harmful to drink? Water is essential for life on this planet, but not every community has the safe, clean water it needs. In WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY, award-winning science writer Nancy Castaldo takes readers from Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey, to Iran and Cape Town, South Africa, to explore the various ways in which water around the world is in danger, why we must act now, and why you’re never too young to make a difference.

Topics include: Lead and water infrastructure problems, pollution, fracking contamination, harmful algal blooms, water supply issues, rising sea levels, and potential solutions.

My Review

If you’ve been following my blog awhile, you have probably seen some other climate-slash-water-slash-pollution books come through my review listings. Hopefully I’ll be doing a whole list post featuring those kinds of books in early April to get ready for Earth Day, so they’ll all be listed in one place then.

This book, WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY had a lot of great information exploring various causes of water crisis– too little water, too much water, contaminated water, border issues, etc. So it took a slightly different approach than the other books that I’ve read. Each chapter is devoted to a specific kind of water crisis, which made the book really easy to follow. Each chapter explores case studies of communities faced with the type of water crisis talked about in the chapter, so there are real examples of communities dealing with these issues. Some of them I recognized from news headlines, while others were completely new to me.

I thought the case studies were well-presented. They included a lot of facts and information without being overwhelming or too data-heavy. Though I’d read books on similar topics in the past, there was a lot of new information in this book that I hadn’t come across before, so that was really helpful, too. I liked that the chapters often talked about activists or new legislation that was making a difference in the issue. The last chapter focuses on what can be done to help. So, the book definitely works to include positivity and hope, which I appreciated as well.

WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY had some overlap with a couple of the other books on water or the environment that I’ve read recently, namely THE STORY OF MORE by Hope Jahren and TRASHING THE PLANET by Stuart A. Kallen. There’s also a section in the book that covers the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which I also read about in POISONED WATER by Candy J. Cooper and Marc Aronson. Those books were also really worth checking out if this is a topic that interests you.

I also recommend WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY. I think it’s a great look across the board at a lot of different types of water crises, examples of them in different communities, and what we can do to help.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
The book includes case studies and personal stories from BIPOC.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Brief mentions of spiritual ceremonies.

Violent Content
Brief mention of a protest in which someone chained himself to a bulldozer and was arrested.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of WHEN THE WORLD RUNS DRY in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Making Waves by Albert Bates

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Making Waves: Saving Our Oceans
Albert Bates
Groundswell
Published August 5, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Making Waves

This book provides an educational and engaging look at the interdependent relationship between the oceans and ourselves, and what is needed to protect the oceans’ ecosystems. Young adults learn about a variety of human activities that affect water temperature, oxygen levels, acidity, ice density, sea levels and sea-life populations.

Bates explains how measures such as blue carbon initiatives to prohibit deep-sea mining, replanting mangroves, protecting salt marshes and seagrasses and restoring coral reefs have benefits that have a multiplier effect–and that it is more cost-effective and financially rewarding to do these now rather than later.

My Review

I’ve read a couple of other books on the ocean, climate change, and the growing amount of trash and pollution in the world’s oceans. It’s always interesting to me to compare the books, because those are such huge topics. There are always places the information overlaps and places it builds on or adds to my current understanding. That definitely happened here.

MAKING WAVES focuses on the ocean (as opposed to books that talk about climate change or pollution and how those impact forests or rivers). There were lots of things I either didn’t know or things that the book broadened my perspective on or put in a more complete context. I had never heard or thought about, for instance, the way that the noise of ships or mining or even sonar can harm marine animals. Certainly I’d thought about how oil spills from mining could cause harm. I had never thought about the impact of the noise, though. So that way an interesting thing to think about.

I liked that the book included some information about microplastics and perspective on cleanup efforts and the futility of focusing strictly on cleaning up plastic if we ignore the problem of plastics being produced so broadly and ending up in the ocean in the first place.

For a short book, MAKING WAVES packs a big punch. It breaks down complex information in a way that’s easy for young readers to read and digest. The pages feature gorgeous, compelling photographs as well as diagrams that illustrate the points Bates makes in the narrative.

On the whole, I think this is a great book for middle school science classrooms or libraries. I think it would make an excellent resource for homeschool students as well, or any young reader interested in knowing more about the environment, specifically the oceans.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Representation
The book is about the oceans and marine life.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of MAKING WAVES in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Sea is Salt and So Am I by Cassandra Hartt

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The Sea Is Salt and So Am I
Cassandra Hartt
Roaring Brook Press
Published June 8, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Sea Is Salt and So Am I

West Finch is one hurricane away from falling into the sea.

Yet sixteen-year-old Harlow Prout is determined to save her small Maine hometown. If only she could stop getting in her own way and find someone, anyone, willing to help. But her best friend Ellis MacQueen “fixes” problems by running away from them―including his broken relationship with his twin brother, Tommy. And Tommy’s depression has hit a new low, so he’s not up for fixing anything.

In the wake of the town’s latest devastating storm, Tommy goes out for a swim that he doesn’t intend to survive. It’s his unexpected return that sets into motion a sea change between these three teens. One that tests old loyalties, sparks new romance, and uncovers painful secrets. And nothing stays secret in West Finch for long.

My Review

This book wrecked me so badly. In a good way, I think? Haha.

It’s got big emotions. Secrets. People who desperately care about each other but somehow go to great lengths to do anything besides deal with the ways they’ve hurt each other. I couldn’t stop reading it. I thought about it for days after I finished reading it.

The writing is so steeped in feeling. It’s got an amazing small town setting, where everyone is waiting for storms to hit and knowing they might destroy the places they love. The story is complex. It’s deep. It’s unforgettable.

And then the ending. I… don’t even know what to say.

The ending is great, just…. abrupt? I love the book, and I’m not unhappy with the ending, I think it just left something unclear that I wanted more completely spelled out for me. But even that doesn’t dim the incredible journey that reading this story was for me. I loved it.

I think readers who enjoy books with big emotions and small towns packed with secrets will love this one. Fans of John Green or Kyrie McCauley should absolutely check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Tommy has depression. Ellis is bisexual.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing betwen boy and girl. Kissing between two boys. A couple scenes show people kissing without shirts and reference sex.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content – Trigger warning for suicide attempt.
One character tries to die by suicide by swimming away from shore.

Drug Content
Tommy is on medication for depression but isn’t happy with how it makes him feel. He stops taking the medication at one point. He drinks beer with Ellis at one point, which he isn’t supposed to do on his medication, either.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE SEA IS SALT AND SO AM I in exchange for my honest review.

Review: The Story of More by Hope Jahren

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The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here (Adapted for Young Adults)
Hope Jahren
Delacorte Press
Published November 2, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About The Story of More

Hope Jahren, acclaimed geochemist and geobiologist, details the science behind key inventions, clarifying how electricity, large-scale farming, and automobiles have both helped and harmed our world.

Jahren explains the current and projected consequences of unchecked global warming, from superstorms to rising sea levels, resulting from the unprecedented amounts of greenhouse gases being released into our atmosphere. The links between human consumption habits and our endangered existence are very real, with consequences leading to a crossroads of survival and extinction.

Still, Jahren maintains that our ever-broadening science-based knowledge can help us counter this dilemma. The eye-opening information provided in THE STORY OF MORE will help readers understand the path we must take. If we collectively make informed choices now, Jahren reassures us, our future can be as bright as we imagine it can be.

This young adult adaptation of acclaimed geochemist and geobiologist Hope Jahren’s highly respected nonfiction work is the perfect book for those interested in learning about climate change and how they can contribute to creating a more sustainable future.

My Review

One of the cool things about this book is that it doesn’t strictly talk about climate change in terms of the effects we see today and the industrial causes. I like that the author kind of zooms out and gives a chapter by chapter overview of things. She discusses things like the way human population has changed over thousands of years or the ways in which farming has evolved. Each topic is discussed in only a few pages but paints a much more complete picture of how we got to where we are with carbon levels, food waste, and pollution.

I also like that the book takes time to focus on what individuals can do to make a difference. The issue of Climate Change can be really overwhelming because it feels like the most significant changes have to be made at an industry or government level in order to make a real impact. This doesn’t address how to make those changes specifically. It does look at what meaningful things individuals can do and how making those changes can cause ripple effects across our lives and the lives of others.

One of the most shocking things that the book discussed that I hadn’t heard before actually had to do with the Winter Olympics. The games need a specific environment to be played– snow slopes for instance. The number of places which have the ability to host the games has shrunk considerably since the games began. That was something I hadn’t really specifically thought about before.

I think readers who enjoy books about environmental issues will definitely want to check this one out. If you liked TRASHING THE PLANET or GIRL WARRIORS, then be sure add THE STORY OF MORE to your reading list!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
The author is a white woman in her 50s.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of THE STORY OF MORE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Everywhere Blue by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz

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Everywhere Blue
Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
Holiday House
Published June 1, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Everywhere Blue

After twelve-year-old Maddie’s older brother vanishes from his college campus, her carefully ordered world falls apart. Nothing will fill the void of her beloved oldest sibling. When her parents fly out to Strum’s college to search for answers, Maddie is left in the care of her sixteen-year-old sister, who seeks solace in rebellion and ignores Maddie. Drowning in grief and confusion, the family’s musical household falls silent.

Though Maddie is the youngest, she knows Strum better than anyone. He used to confide in her, sharing his fears about the climate crisis and their planet’s future. So, Maddie starts looking for clues: Was Strum unhappy? Were the arguments with their dad getting worse? Or could his disappearance have something to do with those endangered butterflies he loved . . .

Scared and on her own, Maddie picks up the pieces of her family’s fractured lives. Maybe her parents aren’t who she thought they were. Maybe her nervous thoughts and compulsive counting mean she needs help. And maybe finding Strum won’t solve everything–but she knows he’s out there, and she has to try.

A brother’s disappearance turns one family upside down, revealing painful secrets that threaten the life they’ve always known.

My Review

When I started reading this book, I was super excited to learn that Maddie plays the oboe! You might remember from my review of AS FAR AS YOU’LL TAKE ME (another book featuring an oboist) that I’m pretty much surrounded by oboe players. I feel like it’s an unusual instrument to play, so I’m really excited that I’ve found two books that include the oboe.

EVERYWHERE BLUE is a novel in verse from Maddie’s point of view. She’s a hard working, super anxious girl who doubts her musical ability but also sees her life in musical terms. I loved her from the first page. Her family relationships are complicated. The person she’s closest to, Strum, her brother, has gone off to college. Her sister is angry and isolates herself from the family. Her father is angry and uses rules to control the household. Maddie often looks to her mother to comfort her and bring the family together.

I think I imagined from the cover summary that the story would be focused on Maddie finding the trail of breadcrumbs to learn what happened to her brother. And she does look for clues and wonder. But the bulk of the story focuses on Maddie and her processing what has happened to her family and her attempts to keep them together. I still enjoyed that a lot– this is a really rich emotional story. Maddie also processes a lot through her music, so I loved all the scenes that showed her practicing or listening to a piece of music that moved her. It made me want to find recordings of the music from the story to listen to.

I think readers who enjoy novels in verse, like ALONE by Megan E. Freeman, or stories about an emotional journey within a fractured family, like GLITTER GETS EVERYWHERE by Yvette Clark will want to add this one to their shelves.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Representation
Maddie has a counting ritual that she uses to cope with anxiety. She’s not labeled/diagnosed in the story. Maddie’s best friend is Asian-American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
In one scene, Maddie sees a girl sitting on a boy’s lap.

Spiritual Content
At one point Maddie says something like, if there’s a god, she hopes he’ll keep her brother safe.

Violent Content
None.

Drug Content
Maddie’s older sister comes home smelling like pot. (Maddie doesn’t specifically identify the smell.) Later, Maddie sees her sister and her sister’s friends drinking beer.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of EVERYWHERE BLUE in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Girl Warriors by Rachel Sarah

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Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists are Saving the Earth
Rachel Sarah
Chicago Review Press
Published April 6, 2021

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Girl Warriors

GIRL WARRIORS: How 25 Young Activists Are Saving the Earth tells the stories of 25 climate leaders under age 25. They’ve led hundreds of thousands of people in climate strikes, founded non-profits, given TED talks, and sued their governments. These fearless girls and young women from all over the world are standing up to demand change when no one else is.

The girls are featured in individual articles that share information about what inspired them to take action as well as where they live, unique issues facing their homeland and details about organizations they started or participate in.

My Review

I learned so much from this book! Not only was I completely blown away by the stories of these incredible young leaders, I also learned a lot about nonprofit groups, small sustainable businesses, and other conservation opportunities, all founded by people under 25! It is seriously blowing my mind, still.

The book is broken down into short biographies about each person. Each biography highlights the things the girls have done to make a significant impact on climate change. The stories can’t help but inspire and motivate readers to join in the efforts, either by looking up some of the volunteer organizations to see if there’s already a local chapter, or to check out the businesses these girls operate. The book also does a great job raising awareness of some of the issues surrounding climate change– businesses that invest in fossil fuel industries or groups that help to protect their interests.

These are people who’ve affected real change in their communities and countries. It has made me want to take stock of my own life and commit to doing things that help raise awareness and press for changes that protect the environment and the future.

I think this book would make an excellent addition to a classroom library or a great gift for a young activist.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 up.

Representation
The girls represent many different cultures and races. One nonbinary activist is interviewed. Several activists identify as queer. At least one activist uses a wheelchair. Another has depression.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
One activist mentions facing bullying.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support running this blog. I received a free copy of GIRL WARRIORS in exchange for my honest review.