Tag: middle grade

The Year Without a Summer by Arlene Mark
Expected publication: August 9, 2022!

Recommended: yes!
Middle school classrooms (and even young high school) would be EXCELLENT, for a look at accessible youth activism, for a lot of fascinating learning about the bad AND the good of natural disasters, for two other “serious” storylines for the MCs that handle really difficult situations, for a book that has really mature students which was a breath of fresh air (having been one of those and not the partiers, it was nice to see a book acknowledge I existed as more than a lame side character foil of boringness)

Summary

Explosive volcanic eruptions are cool, really, cool. They inject ash into the stratosphere and deflect the sun’s rays. When eighth grader Jamie Fulton learns that snow fell in June in his hometown because of an eruption on the other side of the world, he’s psyched! He could have snowboarded if he’d lived back in 1815 during the year without a summer.

Clara Montalvo, who recently arrived at Jamie’s school after surviving Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, has a different take all this. She is astounded–and disturbed–by Jamie’s frenzied enthusiasm for what she considers an obvious disaster. The teens’ battling arguments cause science class disruption and create academic trouble: Jamie’s headed for a failing grade in science, and may not even graduate from eighth grade; Clara’s scholarship hopes are dashed.

And school isn’t the only place where Jamie and Clara are facing hardship: as they quarrel whether natural disasters can be beneficial, their home lives are also unraveling. Uncertainty about Jamie’s wounded brother returning from Afghanistan and Clara’s unreachable father back in Puerto Rico forces the two vulnerable teens to share their worries and sadness. As their focus shifts from natural disasters to personal calamities to man-made climate changes, the teens take surprising steps that astonish them. Ultimately, through hard work and growing empathy for each other, as well as for their classmates’ distress over the climate change affecting their lives, Jamie and Clara empower themselves and the people they touch.

Thoughts

If you don’t already know about the year without a summer where the entire world’s climate was drastically changed after a volcanic eruption, you’re in for a treat because this dives into a lot of it in a really accessible way. I had coincidentally just learned and read about it a bit before starting this book, so it was fun to see what new and familiar details there were about it. There were scientific descriptions of what happened, but at a fairly high level rather than the detail I’d read in the adult nonfiction book on the topic (makes sense).

My teacher side was going NUTS at how excellent this book would be for students. I intended to put this at the end of the review, but I’m just too excited to mention it. It’s a wonderful book for many reasons that I’ll get into, but seriously: get this book in schools. Science class, history class, social studies, activism clubs, English class…. EVERYWHERE! And what makes it truly special is having characters and story and emotion amidst all the “info” and teaching / learning moments.