Turning the Tide: The Youngest Generation
Spotlight Series
Children’s bookshelf | YA/teen bookshelf | Book reviews | Spotlights | Resources and teacher links | Games | Films
News:
- In May 2025, we spotlight Tracy Blom, who is writing a middle-grade chapter book series. The first book, The Wonder Lens Friends: Lissa Loves Bugs, illustrated by Cathy Morrison, is out June 4 by Paw Prints Publishing.
- In March 2025, we highlight Aneesa Jamal and her work with Cogitation Club in India, which teaches kids about climate change and, in turn, has kids writing Earth- and climate-based picture books.
- I’m absolutely thrilled to see this huge children’s climate literacy project from the University of Minnesota. This is a growing project that provides educational resources and training for children’s climate-related fiction in the form of books, films, and other media.
- Check out our own children’s library shelves.
Turing the Tide: The Youngest Generation highlights children’s, teen, and YA eco-fiction and reflects my belief that youth today are completely charged up and are speaking a language of do, not just say. In this series, I capture the literary versions of heroes like Vanessa Nakate, Greta Thunberg, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Bana Alabed, Emma Gonzales, David Hogg, Mari Copeney, Payla Jangid, and hundreds of thousands more, who are shook up and amazing in their actions against social injustice and climate change.
“The Youngest Generation” is a nod to my talk with Edan Lepucki about her short story “There’s No Place Like Home”. In the story, the youth were in a stuck generation, where environmental catastrophe made it impossible to really live much longer. They would remain children until they died. This idea haunted me tremendously. In the story, they were also called the youngest generation.
I’ve been considering this new section of the website for years and have built it up slowly, beginning with the YA/teen bookshelf and a children’s bookshelf. I’ve always incorporated youthful novels and short stories into the site, but a few years ago I began a months-long focus on such literature, which highlighted literary heroes like Lauren in Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, John KixMiller and team’s Phoebe in Protectors of the Wood, Leaf in Jo Marshall’s children’s Twig Stories, and–one of my all-time favorites–Hushpuppy in Beasts of a Southern Wild.
I wish to say a personal thanks to reviewer Kimberly Christensen, who voluntarily contributes children and YA/teen reviews to Dragonfly. Her reviews will be featured here as well.
Disclaimer: Parents should always review books ahead of time that their children read. The stories highlighted here range from children’s to young adult, and some stories geared toward young adults may not be okay for younger children.
Resources and Teacher Links
- Climate Lit: A resource hub for building young people’s climate literacy with literature, film, and stories in other media. Their mission is to promote universal climate literacy and climate literacy education as a means to transition to an ecological civilization. This is also associated with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Climate Literacy.
- We spotlight Tracy Blom‘s The Wonder Lens Friends: Lissa Loves Bugs, illustrated by Cathy Morrison. The middle-grade book is out June 4 by Paw Prints Publishing.
- Aneesa Jamal founded Cogitation Club in India, which teaches kids about climate change and, in turn, has kids writing Earth- and climate-based picture books.
- Check out Jane Calame’s Our Earth, a children’s picture book and a Turning the Tide spotlight for October 2024.
- July/August’s (2024) Indie Corner feature explores Diana Renn’s Backyard Rangers books (middle-grade).
- June/July’s (2024) Indie Corner spotlight shines on Adrian So, young author of the children’s novel The Groundworld Heroes.
- Teen Library Toolbox: From Page to Planet: Inspiring Young Environmental Champions through Fiction, by Dana Klisanin.
- Teen Librarian Toolbox takes five on Environmental Issues in Middle Grade Novels
- Black Women in STEM Pen New Children’s Science and Nature Book for HBCU Green Fund’s Publishing Arm Launch (Benzinga)
- NPR: 8 Ways to Teach Climate Change in Almost Any Classroom: This article surprised us by linking to our site in the “Assign a Novel” section.
- GreenBiz offers 10 Children’s Books about Climate Change
- BookRiot has a selection of books for the budding young naturalist in your life
- Check out our own children’s library shelves.
- The Guardian’s obituary for Marcus Sedgwick, prolific children’s and YA author.
- Orange Country Register: Booker-prize winner Ben Okri talks about his new environmentally-conscious children’s book
- The Telegraph has a new article: Children’s literature delving into environmental concerns
- Book Riot lists environmental kids literature awards (nonfiction and fiction).
- Book Riot’s 8 Inspiring Middle Grade Books about Activism
- Suffolk Library recommends and loans out some climate change books for children.
- Lauren James writes about eco-fiction for kids at Climate Fiction Writers League; she talks with authors Vashti Hardy and Tom Huddleston.
- New York Public Library’s Eco-fiction for Kids and Teens.
- Love My Books’ September newsletter spotlights several children’s books that take action on climate change.
- Writers Online: By Piers Torday: How to write eco-fiction for children.
- Towne Book Center: Middle Grade Eco-Fiction for the Eco Warrior. A list of great books!
- Climate Fiction Writers League: I talk about my own experiences and inspirations when writing children and YA ecological stories, and I interview Fiona Barker about her new children’s picture book, Setsuko and the Song of the Sea.
- TeenVogue: Dystopian Novel Authors Talk About the Current State of the World
- TeenVogue: The Mainstream Climate Change Movement Needs to Get More Creative
- Waterstones: Hannah Gold on Her Favourite Climate Change Novels for Children
- Ectofictology video by Lovis Geier: Ecofiction in Films for Kids
- The Straits Times: Book Note: Author Teo Xue Shen wrote four books on his phone, and he recommends four children’s ecofictions.
- New Zealand’s School News: Graphic novels help teens learn about racism, climate change and social justice – here’s a reading list.
- Sanctuary Nature Foundation: Five Inspiring Wildlife and Nature Books for Children by Indian Authors
- The Guardian: Children’s and Teen’s Roundup–the best new picture books and novels: playful visions of a vulnerable Earth, a scheme to save a mosque, adventures on a train – and more
- The Guardian: Tears at bedtime: Are children’s books on environment causing climate anxiety?
- The Guardian: The “Greta Effect” Leads to a Boom in Children’s Environmental Books
- The Guardian: Children’s and teens roundup: the best new picture books and novels
- The Guardian: From Greta Thunberg to Sally Morgan: 10 books to help kids come to grips with climate crisis
- School Library Journal: Read Wild: Crossover Eco-fiction, When There Isn’t Enough YA Lit About Nature
- ASLE: Environmental Fiction and Criticism (seminar)
- Penguin Books: 7 Books to Help Teach Children About the Environment
- Canadian Teacher Magazine: Bringing Oral Storytelling into the Elementary School Classroom
- Todd Mitchell Books: Teaching links, including a teaching kit for Todd’s children’s novel The Last Panther
The featured image of the girl reading on this page is licensed for use and © Can Stock Photo/hjalmeidah.
The thumbnail outside image is created in Canva.
Thank you so much for this great new section!!!
A book you might want to include is “Into the Forest”, by Jean Hegland. The unfolding catastrophes therein aren’t linked to climate change in so many words, but her powerful and lyrical writing takes us down that same difficult path. In a sad footnote years later, the latest wildfires have destroyed Jean’s house of 30 years.
Coraggio to all ~
I love Hegland’s book and wrote a review of it at the site (just search!).
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