Few Blue Skies

Ixta’s contemporary, realistic work explores themes of environmental disaster, coupled with a strategic silencing of the people affected by it. In Paloma’s Mexican American community of San Fermín, corporate and political greed creates institutional systems and policies that maintain a stranglehold on land ownership, completely disregarding the environmental impact on the surrounding brown and Black communities. The almost overnight development of e-commerce manufacturing warehouses results in toxic occupational exposures, grief, trauma, broken relationships, reduced public lands, and general poor health. This is set against a tightly controlled public that is stifled from meaningful organizing. Yet Paloma embodies courage and love as she matures over the course of the novel, learning that sacrifices must be made to move forward with her life to a future where she may eventually be able to make a difference for her beloved community and its lands. Ixta weaves visuals that aptly capture the colors and feelings sensed by Paloma, and the delicious vocabulary elevates the reading to an aesthetic experience. This book viscerally encourages teens to recognize that despite ongoing political and environmental challenges, healing from trauma is essential for empowerment.