Jax Wilkinson, an 11-year-old with a penchant for breaking the rules, struggles academically and clashes with teachers but harbors a fervent passion for combating climate change (“Jax was desperate to understand whyhumans were doing so much damage to our only home”). After landing in detention on the final day of school, Jax seizes an opportunity for mischief, hacking into an abusive teacher’s car’s computer and taking it for a rooftop joyride. Caught red-handed, he faces two options: juvenile detention or a summer camp dedicated to engineering climate-crisis solutions. Unsurprisingly, Jax pi ..read more

In the story “The Real Manhattan,” New York–based journalist Abbie Dial scores a chance to interview a famed “climate crusader.” But just a few minutes spent with subject Tillie McBivens may beget an entirely different piece than Abbie anticipates. Such world-threatening issues as global warming play a central part in each of this book’s 15 tautly written stories. “Cowabunga Sunset,” for example, unfolds inside a dome with a virtual, programmable beach setting—a resort for people to escape the outside world, where beaches are disappearing under rising sea levels. West aptly develops the chara ..read more

Painter Elly Sorenson returns to the island of Bonaire, a mecca for scuba divers and high-rolling gamblers, to complete a year-old commission; she needs the fee to pay off sizable debts. On arriving, she learns that her client, Trevor Martin, has lost everything on a backgammon bet. Rather than return his deposit, Elly stays to finish the portrait in exchange for free room, board, and scuba at the Flamingo Resort, where he runs the dive shop. There, she meets Steve Ryan, a high-stakes backgammon player from Australia, and his impetuous 16-year-old daughter, Rosie, an aspiring artist. Elly and ..read more

While activism that addresses social justice and climate change has helped define our current moment, the practice is hardly new; many people, including the author, have been agitating for policy changes in these areas for decades. With this volume, Wagner collects her writings from a half-century of fighting the good fight, from her high school graduation speech (given in 1970) to reflections written in the aftermath of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests. Over that time, the “revolution” she was espousing meant many things, including an end to the Vietnam War, equal rights for Black American ..read more

Jo is like other kids, but he’s also “unique in [his] own way.” He loves outer space and music, and sometimes shouts words he likes while reading or counting. He loves spinning objects, playing piano, and riding on his big, green bike. He knows he does some things differently from other kids, such as having trouble when a surprise changes his routine, but he’s also very observant: “My Mom says I have super-hearing— / and we both think that’s amazing! / I can spot a flying plane / from far away—the way I’m gazing!” Overall, Jo knows that he’s special and loved. Shapera’s rhyming verses emphasi ..read more

“So, being apart happens.” Despite a page design best described as utilitarian, this series entry offers clingy young readers and their concerned parents both a reassuring message and some helpful tools for getting past the angst. Huebner offers a lengthy catalog of animal parents who, much like human ones, “go to great lengths to keep their babies safe.” These examples are printed as “Fun Facts” on images of small loose-leaf pages taped in below the widely spaced text. The author also provides techniques for coping with panic responses through breath control and describes a method for breaki ..read more

A younger sibling has an older—and much cooler—sister. “I want her friends to be my friends. I want her things to be my things,” the child tells us. But “she wants her friends to be her friends. She wants her things to be her things.” When the two fight, the younger child retreats and writes “stories of terrible horses.” They say horses are the most difficult thing for an artist to draw, but if that’s the case, then no one told Wilson-Max. His horses careen across the page in magnificent colors, hooves blazing, hair whipping in the wind, always leaving one small pony behind. After another fig ..read more

When university professor Rebecca Walton happens to recognize former student Sonya’s image as it flashes across the screen during a nighttime news report, she recalls the events of the previous two years when she, Sonya, and three other students took part in an anti-fracking environmental movement. The four students were among the few who signed up for her new Eco-Literature class in 2012; the newly designed course was shaped by their interests, which eventually led them to take their research into the field and engage in activism. Walton was formerly known as activist “Elizabeth Stone, a res ..read more

Putting it bluntly, Sara Chae is exhausted. Though she’s overworked and undervalued at her job, she knows she can bring something new and exciting to the tech world. If only her sexist bosses would listen to her pitch for One Last Word, an app that will send out your final messages to the most important people in your life after you die. When Sara doesn’t get the support she’s hoping for, she decides to take her idea elsewhere, working on the finishing details for One Last Word from her cramped living space in her sister’s walk-in closet. One drunken night, she drafts her own messages to the ..read more

Dr. Who superfan Lo Simpson, 12, would rather be planning her next cosplay than shopping for bras or giggling over boys. Unfortunately, that’s all her longtime best friend, Jazz, seems to want to do—that and infiltrate the ultra-popular It Girls clique, even if it means leaving Lo behind. Unsure of who she is without Jazz, Lo has to find her own way through the maze of middle school. A mutual love of comics and Dr. Who connects Lo to a new crowd, where she feels like she can be her authentic self. With their support, Lo finds her voice and learns how to use it, whether that means breaking up ..read more