Global: One Fragile World. An Epic Fight for Survival

Gr 3-8–Sami is a 12-year-old boy with light brown skin and brown hair who lives in a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal. Yuki is a 14-year-old girl, cued as Inuit, living in a small village inside the Arctic circle. Though they live on opposite ends of the globe, both kids’ lives have been directly and negatively impacted by climate change, and both refuse to sit idly by. They each set out on a dangerous journey, braving the elements and risking their lives to enact change. The story adeptly switches perspective back and forth between Sami and Yuki, while subtly showing connections between their very different lives. Beautiful full-color illustrations immerse readers in their precarious and dynamic world, while the fast-paced text keeps the tension high. Though Sami and Yuki’s story is fiction, Colfer, Donkin, and Rigano remind readers in an end note that all the impacts of climate change that the characters experience are real and currently happening across the globe. A “What is Global Warming?” chapter at the end provides a brief overview of climate change and how it will directly impact children around the world.