About This Book:
Twelve-year-old Haven Jacobs can’t stop thinking about the climate crisis. In fact, her anxiety about the state of the planet is starting to interfere with her schoolwork, her friendships, even her sleep. She can’t stop wondering why grownups aren’t even trying to solve the earth’s problem—and if there’s anything meaningful that she, as a seventh grader, can contribute.
When Haven’s social studies teacher urges her to find a specific, manageable way to make a difference to the planet, Haven focuses on the annual science class project at the local Belmont River, where her class will take samples of the water to analyze. Students have been doing the project for years, and her older brother tells her that his favorite part was studying and catching frogs.
But when Haven and her classmates get to the river, there’s no sign of frogs or other wildlife—but there is ample evidence of pollution. The only thing that’s changed by the river is the opening of Gemba, the new factory where Haven’s dad works. It doesn’t take much investigation before Haven is convinced Gemba is behind the slow pollution of the river.
She’s determined to expose Gemba and force them to clean up their act. But when it becomes clear taking action might put her dad’s job—and some friendships—in jeopardy, Haven must decide how far she’s willing to go.
*Review Contributed by Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
The world is too much with us
While I really like the way that Haven’t friendship with Archer was handled, there were so many other things going on in the story that it didn’t get quite the coverage that it could have had. It’s great to see a lot of environmentally themed books coming out, like Rosenberg’s One Small Hop, Baskin and Polisner’s Consider the Octopus, Dimopoulos’s Turn the Tide, Dilloway’s Where the Sky Lives and Rhodes’s Paradise on Fire.
I’ll definitely purchase this; my students love Dee’s titles, and I have been working on environmental issues for years and have always tried to share strategies with students. It’s good to see that Haven is shown worrying, but also doing things that are concrete. Walking to work, being vegetarian, not buying new clothes, and conserving energy are things that everyone can work on!