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Get Genrefied: Climate Fiction (Cli-Fi)

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Every month, we’ve been highlighting a genre or subgenre within YA and offering up a definition, a discussion, and a thick reading list featuring titles that fit. All of the guides can be found here under the tag genre fiction.

This month, rather than tackle a traditional genre or subgenre, I thought it would be worthwhile to tackle an emerging theme in YA fiction that could easily become a category, if not a full-blown genre within itself: climate fiction. Climate fiction, or cli-fi for short, has been making waves throughout the adult literary world. What is cli-fi? It’s exactly what it sounds like — fiction that features climate change at the core of the story. The events within the story are caused by or impacted profoundly by the changing climate on Earth. It’s meant to be both a key component of the story, as well as offer a bigger message about the impact we’re leaving on the planet now. Over the last few years, it’s hard to ignore the number of YA titles that could be classified as cli-fi.  

The term cli-fi was coined by a climate activist in 2007 named Dan Bloom. You can read a bit about how the term arose and the history behind it here. It’s noted there that Bloom believes, at least at this point, it’s best a subgenre of science fiction. But because it’s an evolving idea and one that could easily play out beyond science fiction, there’s still growth and change to happen with it. He notes, too, that it’s up to those outside the science fiction sphere to see whether it’s got a lasting power or not. 

What makes cli-fi different from other genres, and why it may not even be a traditional genre at all, is that titles which fit the category — or may fit the category in the future — fall across a range of genres and subgenres. Climate fiction could easily include appropriate contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, and, as has been seen most frequently within YA, dystopia (which we know is a subgenre of science fiction but which seems to operate in YA as its own genre). I haven’t seen it, but I suspect there could be an argument that a historical novel could also be cli-fi, and perhaps there already is but it hasn’t popped up in my searching. No doubt horror is a ripe arena for cli-fi, too.

The discussion of cli-fi as a genre exploded in the last year and a half, but the bulk of writing about it so far has focused on adult fiction, rather than YA. Although Bloom noted in the article above he was disappointed that major outlets who talked about cli-fi didn’t credit him appropriately as the term’s creator, he thinks that the fact it’s out there and people are talking about what it is and what it could be really important. Here’s a look at some further reading on the topic: 

  • VOYA Magazine did a feature on cli-fi in February of this year, and though the magazine focuses on youth topics, the bulk of the piece featured adult titles with teen crossover appeal. You can access it as a .pdf here. 
Because this is such a new area of fiction — or at least the term we used to describe this kind of fiction is so new — there aren’t many dedicated sites to these books. But the one that does exist is constantly growing and expanding: Nature Fiction and Cli-Fi Books. Keep this one on your radar if this is a genre that interests you. I think that as we think more about how we label and discuss books, cli-fi is going to become a really worthwhile term and concept to have in mind. Less from the standpoint of organizing books but more from the standpoint of how to recommend and connect different books to one another. If cli-fi is a wider swath of books beyond science fiction — and I think it is — it’s a really valuable means of offering new books to readers hungry for books that explore the effect climate has on not just the globe, but the people living on it. 

Here’s a look at a pile of YA titles that could easily be categorized (or genrefied!) as cli-fi. The bulk have published in the last couple of years, though a few come before that. Any additional titles you can think of that would fit, I’d love to hear about, especially if it’s something outside of science fiction or dystopia. All descriptions are via WorldCat. 

Not A Drop To Drink by Mindy McGinnis: Sixteen-year-old Lynn will do anything to protect her valuable water source, but the arrival of new neighbors forces her to reconsider her attitudes.

H2O by Virginia Bergin (October 7): When a strange rain falls bearing a fatal, contagious disease, Ruby finds herself alone with the only drinkable water quickly running out. 

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block: After a devastating earthquake destroys the West Coast, causing seventeen-year-old Penelope to lose her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother, she navigates a dark world, holding hope and love in her hands and refusing to be defeated.

Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta: In the far north of the Scandinavian Union, now occupied by the power state of New Qian, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio studies to become a tea master like her father. It is a position that holds great responsibility and a dangerous secret. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that once provided water for her whole village. When Noria’s father dies, the secret of the spring reaches the new military commander. and the power of the army is vast indeed. But the precious water reserve is not the only forbidden knowledge Noria possesses, and resistance is a fine line. Threatened with imprisonment, and with her life at stake, Noria must make an excruciating, dangerous choice between knowledge and freedom.

The Carbon Diaries 2015 (and its sequel, The Carbon Diaries 2017) by Saci Lloyd: In 2015, when England becomes the first nation to introduce carbon dioxide rationing in a drastic bid to combat climate change, sixteen-year-old Laura documents the first year of rationing as her family spirals out of control.

Exodus by Julie Bertagna: In the year 2100, as the island of Wing is about to be covered by water, fifteen-year-old Mara discovers the existence of New World sky cities that are safe from the storms and rising waters, and convinces her people to travel to one of these cities in order to save themselves.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi: In a futuristic world, teenaged Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl.

The Water Wars by Cameron Stracher: In a world where water has become a precious resource, Vera and her brother befriend a boy who seems to have unlimited access to water and who suspiciously disappears, prompting a dangerous search challenged by pirates, a paramilitary group, and corporations.

Aquifer by Jonathan Friesen: In 2250, water is scarce and controlled by tyrants, but when sixteen-year-old Luca descends to the domain of the Water Rats, he meets one who captures his heart and leads him to secrets about a vast conspiracy, and about himself.

The White Horse Trick by Kate Thompson: In the late twenty-first century, dramatic climate change has made life in Ireland almost impossible, and soon Tir na n’Og is faced with a refugee problem, partly because of a warlord who is a member of the Liddy family.

 

Ashfall by Mike Mullin (series): After the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano destroys his city and its surroundings, fifteen-year-old Alex must journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Illinois to find his parents and sister, trying to survive in a transformed landscape and a new society in which all the old rules of living have vanished.

Survival Colony 9 by Joshua Bellin: In a future world of dust and ruin, fourteen-year-old Querry Genn struggles to recover the lost memory that might save the human race.Querry is a member of Survival Colony Nine, one of the small, roving groups of people who outlived the wars and environmental catastrophes that destroyed the old world. The commander of Survival Colony Nine is his father, Laman Genn, who runs the camp with an iron will. He has to–because heat, dust, and starvation aren’t the only threats in this ruined world. There are also the Skaldi. Monsters with the ability to infect and mimic human hosts, the Skaldi appeared on the planet shortly after the wars of destruction. No one knows where they came from or what they are. But if they’re not stopped, it might mean the end of humanity. Six months ago, Querry had an encounter with the Skaldi–and now he can’t remember anything that happened before then. If he can recall his past, he might be able to find the key to defeat the Skaldi. If he can’t, he’s their next victim. (Description via Goodreads) 

Orleans by Sherri L. Smith: Set in a futuristic, hostile Orleans landscape, Fen de la Guerre must deliver her tribe leader’s baby over the Wall into the Outer States before her blood becomes tainted with Delta Fever.

Some Fine Day by Kat Ross: Sixteen-year-old Jansin Nordqvist is on the verge of graduating from the black ops factory known as the Academy. She’s smart and deadly, and knows three things with absolute certainty: 1. When the world flooded and civilization retreated deep underground, there was no one left on the surface. 2. The only species to thrive there are the toads, a primate/amphibian hybrid with a serious mean streak. 3. There’s no place on Earth where you can hide from the hypercanes, continent-sized storms that have raged for decades. Jansin has been lied to. On all counts. (Description via Goodreads). 

After the Snow by S. D. Crockett: Fifteen-year-old Willo Blake, born after the 2059 snows that ushered in a new ice age, encounters outlaws, halfmen, and an abandoned girl as he journeys in search of his family, who mysteriously disappeared from the freezing mountain that was their home.

Wasteland by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan: In a post-apocalyptic world where everyone dies at age nineteen and rainwater contains a killer virus, loners Esther and Eli band together with a group of mutant, hermaphroditic outsiders to fight a corrupt ruler and save the town of Prin.

 

Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien (series): In a future world baked dry by the sun and divided into those who live inside the wall and those who live outside it, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone is forced into a difficult choice when her parents are arrested and taken into the city.

Breathe by Sarah Crossan (series)In a barren land, a shimmering glass dome houses the survivors of the Switch, the period when oxygen levels plunged and the green world withered. A state lottery meant a lucky few won safety, while the rest suffocated in the thin air. And now Alina, Quinn, and Bea–an unlikely trio, each with their own agendas, their own longings and fears–walk straight into the heart of danger. With two days’ worth of oxygen in their tanks, they leave the dome. What will happen on the third day?: 

Dark Life by Kat Falls: When fifteen-year-old Ty, who has always lived on the ocean floor, joins Topside girl Gemma in the frontier’s underworld to seek and stop outlaws who threaten his home, they learn that the government may pose an even greater threat.

Drowned by Nichola Reilly: Coe is one of the few remaining teenagers on the island of Tides. Deformed and weak, she is constantly reminded that in a world where dry land dwindles at every high tide, she is not welcome. The only bright spot in her harsh and difficult life is the strong, capable Tiam– but love has long ago been forgotten by her society. The only priority is survival. Until the day their King falls ill, leaving no male heir to take his place. Unrest grows, and for reasons Coe cannot comprehend, she is invited into the privileged circle of royal aides. She soon learns that the dying royal is keeping a secret that will change their world forever. Is there an escape from the horrific nightmare that their island home has become? Coe must race to find the answers and save the people she cares about, before their world and everything they know is lost to the waters.

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson: In a Brazil of the distant future, June Costa falls in love with Enki, a fellow artist and rebel against the strict limits of the legendary pyramid city of Palmares Três’ matriarchal government, knowing that, like all Summer Kings before him, Enki is destined to die. 

Hacking, Gaming & Virtual Reality

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I’ve noticed a bit of an uptick in YA books featuring virtual reality recently. The concept is certainly not new; ever since the idea of virtual reality has existed, writers have been speculating upon how it could go terribly, horribly wrong. In 1991, a year which pre-dates my own teenage years (also a time before most Americans had internet), Monica Hughes wrote Invitation to the Game, a dystopia about a group of teens who are coerced by the government into playing a supposedly innocuous virtual reality “game” that’s revealed to have nefarious purposes. Hughes’ book is certainly not the first to tackle this topic, nor are books the only medium. I remember an episode of Who’s Afraid of the Dark about a group of kids who got caught in a sort of virtual reality game, playing the same level over and over again, never able to escape. It also seems like most long-running science fiction tv shows will have a token virtual reality episode (I’m thinking specifically of a Stargate SG-1 episode called Gamekeeper, but I know I’ve seen similar episodes in other shows).

Virtual reality is tied up very closely with gaming in general. Both gaming and virtual reality deliberately blur the line between reality and fantasy, and books that focus on these topics force us to see how one can bleed into the other. Are we different people when we’re plugged in? How much control can we cede to a game – to a computer – before we cease to be ourselves? In some cases, can the game be preferable to our real lives – can the game be our real lives?

As technology becomes even more integrated into our daily tasks, this is a topic we return to over and over again. M. T. Anderson wrote his modern classic Feed in 2002, before smartphones had conquered teen communication. Recently, Lauren Miller’s Free to Fall explored how an app can consume our lives, dictating all of our decisions if we let it – and even when we try not to let it. These kinds of stories exist both as entertainment and as cautionary tales, a bit of irony in itself.

This booklist features titles that involve gaming or virtual reality in some way. I’ve also thrown in a few books about hacking, since there seems to be a lot of crossover, particularly in theme (think The Matrix movies, which depict a world where our brains are hacked by the machines we created, keeping us in a permanent virtual reality). All descriptions are from Worldcat (aside from the last one, which is Goodreads). Which recent titles have I missed?

Eye of Minds by James Dashner
Michael is a skilled internet gamer in a world of advanced technology.
When a cyber-terrorist begins to threaten players, Michael is called
upon to seek him and his secrets out. (The Worldcat synopsis doesn’t mention it, but the advanced technology referred to is a large-scale virtual reality world called the VirtNet that consumes most people’s lives.)

For the Win by Cory Doctorow
A group of teens from around the world find themselves drawn into an
online revolution arranged by a mysterious young woman known as Big
Sister Nor, who hopes to challenge the status quo and change the world
using her virtual connections.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
After being interrogated for days by the Department of Homeland Security
in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco,
California, seventeen-year-old Marcus, released into what is now a
police state, decides to use his expertise in computer hacking to set
things right. | Sequel: Homeland

Brain Jack by Brian Falkner
In a near-future New York City, fourteen-year-old computer genius Sam
Wilson manages to hack into the AT&T network and sets off a chain of
events that have a profound effect on human activity throughout the
world.

Elusion by Claudia Gabel & Cheryl Klam
Teens uncover the dangerous secrets of a virtual reality program that’s taking the country by storm. | Sequel: Etherworld

Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got
there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt
corporation with a deadly secret. | Sequels: Don’t Look Now, Don’t Let Go | Kimberly’s review

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Child prodigy Cadel Piggot, an antisocial computer hacker, discovers his
true identity when he enrolls as a first-year student at an advanced
crime academy. (This also fits in well with the teenage criminals booklist.) | Sequels: Genius Squad, The Genius Wars

Insignia by S. J. Kincaid
Tom, a fourteen-year-old genius at virtual reality games, is recruited
by the United States Military to begin training at the Pentagon Spire as
a Combatant in World War III, controlling the mechanized drones that do
the actual fighting off-planet. | Sequels: Vortex, Catalyst | Kimberly’s review

Epic by Conor Kostick
On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game,
fourteen-year-old Erik persuades his friends to aid him in some unusual
gambits in order to save Erik’s father from exile and safeguard the
futures of each of their families. | Sequels: Saga, Edda

Rush by Eve Silver
Rochester, New York, high schooler Miki Jones is pulled into a sort of a
game in which she and other teens battle real-life aliens and the
consequences of each battle could be deadly. | Sequels: Push, Crash

Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde (2002)
While playing a total immersion virtual reality game of kings and
intrigue, fourteen-year-old Giannine learns that demonstrators have
damaged the equipment to which she is connected, and she must win the
game quickly or be damaged herself.

Honorable Mention Adult Crossover: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like
most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending
his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that
lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play
and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

Censorship, Challenges, and Other Forms of Protest: A Reading List

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If you haven’t kept tabs on recent book challenges popping up around America, one that’s drawn a lot of discussion recently comes out of the Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware. In early July, the school board made the decision to remove Emily Danforth’s The Miseducation of Cameron Post from a reading list for incoming freshmen. The board cited language as the issue, stating it was inappropriate for the age group for which the list was intended. 

Of course, this drew a lot of criticism not only because of the attempt to pull a book but also because it happened to be a book featuring a lesbian main character. It would be hard not to see that there was more to this story than meets the eye. A couple of worthwhile reads come from Jill Guccini, one over at Book Riot and one over at After Ellen.  

Last week, the board went to make a final decision on the book, and after choosing to put the book back on the reading list, the list was then pulled all together. The board chose to reinstate an old summer reading system, in an exercise of power that undermined the hard work of librarian who created the book list and the educators who know how to work with students reading from it. Of course, the real losers here are the students.

There’s a lot more going on than meets the eye, though, and close readers of the article will note that the ACLU became involved in this situation. It’s hard not to wonder if the board’s decision wasn’t exactly what they said. Instead, their decision was a way around a potentially bigger, messier situation. If the board really cared about the profanity issue, as they claim to, then some of the classics that are being taught to students this same age would certainly raise the same sorts of “concerns” that Cameron Post and any of the other YA titles on the list do. So, no, it’s not about the language concerns. In this instance, it isn’t ignorant to see the potential lawsuits that could have spun from this and by removing the entire list, the board absolves itself a bit from looking like the close-minded, fearful body they’ve shown themselves to be at this point. 

Every year around this time, book challenges seem to dominate the book news world. Leila’s done a great job rounding up recent ones and highlighting where they’re at at this point in time. I talked a little bit about why the summer and beginning of the school year tend to be favorite times for challenges last fall over at Book Riot, too. This isn’t surprising and that might be why it’s so disheartening and aggravating as a reader, as a librarian, and as someone who cares about teens. 

I applaud those who can keep writing about this topic — it’s something I tackled before but I don’t think I can keep talking about. My feelings are exactly the same, and every time a board makes a decision to take books away from kids, I can’t help but get upset about how little faith those adults have not just in the teens, but in the educators and librarians who are trained, competent, and eager to talk about these stories with those students. It’s a vote made out of fear. 

I kept a particularly close eye on the outcome of the vote on Looking for Alaska in Waukesha, Wisconsin last week because it’s not far from where I live. The book will remain in the curriculum, but it got me thinking about how issues like this impact the children of parents who are bringing them up. What must it be like to be the teenager who has a mother trying to get a book pulled from the classroom? What are they thinking? What will their experiences be like in the classroom now? How will their peers treat them? There are a million questions there that I think are far more interesting and insightful than the ones about why adults choose to pursue these challenges.  

So rather than continue to talk about the issues, I thought it could be interesting to create a book list of YA books that talk about censorship in education or that explore what happens when parents or a school make an effort to keep information and experiences out of the hands of students. In some of these titles, it’s the central issue. In others, it’s a secondary thread in the story. Not all of these center around book challenges, and many of the titles are older. 

If you can think of other YA books where censorship — in schools or in the community — or where parents (or students!) are challenging some aspect of curriculum, I’d love to know. Most of these titles were suggested to me via Twitter, so thanks to everyone who threw an idea at me. 

All descriptions are from WorldCat. 

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book by Nat Hentoff: Students and faculty at a high school become embroiled in a censorship case over “Huckleberry Finn.”

Smile Like a Plastic Daisy by Sonia Levitin: A high school senior, concerned about the fight for women’s rights, finds herself suspended from school and the focus of community debate following a confrontation at a swim meet during which she removed her shirt.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith: Austin Szerba narrates the end of humanity as he and his best friend Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant, unstoppable bugs and uncover the secrets of a decades-old experiment gone terribly wrong. 
* In this one, The Chocolate War is brought up as a book that’s causing problems in the school.

Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker: High school junior Lacey finds herself questioning the evangelical Christian values she has been raised with when a new boy arrives in her small town.

Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande: Following her conscience leads high school freshman Mena to clash with her parents and former friends from their conservative Christian church, but might result in better things when she stands up for a teacher who refuses to include “Intelligent Design” in lessons on evolution.

Save Halloween! by Stephanie Tolan: Is Halloween really the devil’s holiday? Joanna’s family never celebrated Halloween – her father’s minister who doesn’t like kids dressing up as witches and devils. But nobody worries about Joanna’s deep involvement in a class Halloween pageant until Uncle T.T. comes to town with his fiery crusade to abolish Satan’s own holiday.

 
Americus by MK Reed and Jonathan Hill: Oklahoma teen Neal Barton stands up for his favorite fantasy series, The Chronicles of Apathea Ravenchilde, when conservative Christians try to bully the town of Americus into banning it from the public library.

Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler: Aaron Hartzler grew up in a home where he was taught that at any moment the Rapture could happen — that Jesus might come down in the twinkling of an eye and scoop Aaron and his whole family up to Heaven. As a kid, he was thrilled by the idea that every moment of every day might be his last one on Earth. But as Aaron turns sixteen, he finds himself more attached to his earthly life and curious about all the things his family forsakes for the Lord. He begins to realize he doesn’t want the Rapture to happen just yet — not before he sees his first movie, stars in the school play, or has his first kiss. Eventually Aaron makes the plunge from conflicted do-gooder to full-fledged teen rebel. Whether he’s sneaking out, making out, or playing hymns with a hangover, Aaron learns a few lessons that can’t be found in the Bible. He discovers that the best friends aren’t always the ones your mom and dad approve of, the girl of your dreams can just as easily be the boy of your dreams, and the tricky part about believing is that no one can do it for you. In this coming-of-age memoir, Hartzler recalls his teenage journey to become the person he wanted to be, without hurting the family that loved him. 

 
The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher: Billy, recently deceased, keeps an eye on his best friend, fourteen-year-old Eddie, who has added to his home and school problems by becoming mute, and helps him stand up to a conservative minister and English teacher who is orchestrating a censorship challenge.
Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone: Sixteen-year-old Kayla, a ballet dancer with very large breasts, and her sister Paterson, an artist, are both helped and hindered by classmates as they confront sexism, conformity, and censorship at their high school for the arts while still managing to maintain their sense of humor.

The Trouble With Mothers by Margery Facklam: What is a boy to do when his teacher-mother’s historical novel is given as an example of the kind of “pornography” that should be banned from schools and libraries?

Teenage Criminals

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Interested in reading stories about teens who routinely break the law and get away with it? There’s something really compelling about these kinds of books. The teens have to be pretty smart to keep up the criminal lifestyle; often the teens are a lot smarter than the adults in the book. What teen doesn’t love reading about stupid adults who get their comeuppance served to them from someone under 20? Not only that, the teens beat the system (usually an unjust one) with their shenanigans, which is even more major. I still find it pretty sweet to read about, even though I’m now on the adult end of it.

Today I have a list of books for you featuring teens who are criminals in some way or another (assassins, spies, mobsters, thieves, and the like). Some of the teens are coerced into the criminal lifestyle and would rather just be normal kids; others relish the opportunity and embrace the fact that they can do what a lot of others can’t. Descriptions are from Worldcat. Have any others to add? Please let me know in the comments.

First up are a group of books featuring law-breaking teens with superpowers. Let’s look at this realistically: if you had superpowers, would you only use them to save lives and other boring things like that? Or would you actually use them to rob banks? Be honest.

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones
After a vaccine accidentally creates superpowers in a small percentage
of the population, seventeen-year-old Ciere, an illusionist, teams up
with a group of fellow high-class, super-powered thieves to steal the
vaccine’s formula while staying one step ahead of mobsters and deadly
government agents. Kimberly’s review

White Cat by Holly Black
When Cassel Sharpe discovers that his older brothers have used him to
carry out their criminal schemes and then stolen his memories, he
figures out a way to turn their evil machinations against them. Kimberly’s review | Sequels: Red Glove, Black Heart

Sekret by Lindsay Smith
Follows a group of psychic teenagers in 1960s Soviet Russia who are forced to use their powers to spy for the KGB. Kimberly’s review

Mind Games by Kiersten White
Seventeen-year-old Fia and her sister, Annie, are trapped in a school
that uses young female psychics and mind readers as tools for corporate
espionage–and if Fia doesn’t play by the rules of their deadly game,
Annie will be killed. Kimberly’s review

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Brittany, seventeen-year-old Ismae
escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of
the convent of St. Mortain, where she learns that the god of Death has
blessed her with dangerous gifts–and a violent destiny. Kimberly’s review | Sequels: Dark Triumph, Mortal Heart

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared
skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own
horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young
fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Ostracized or incarcerated her whole life, seventeen-year-old Juliette
is freed on the condition that she use her horrific abilities in support
of The Reestablishment, a postapocalyptic dictatorship, but Adam, the
only person ever to show her affection, offers hope of a better future. Sequels: Unravel Me, Ignite Me

Burn Mark by Laura Powell
In an alternate London, England, the lives of a fifteen-year-old girl
eagerly awaiting the development of her “fae,” or witch abilities, and
the son of a man who sentences witches to death by burning, intersect
when the son makes a startling discovery. Sequel: Witch Fire

If books about people with regular abilities (smart, but not super-smart; intuitive, but not mind-readers) are more your speed, check these out.

All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
In a future where chocolate and caffeine are contraband, teenage
cellphone use is illegal, and water and paper are carefully rationed,
sixteen-year-old Anya Balanchine finds herself thrust unwillingly into
the spotlight as heir apparent to an important New York City crime
family. Kimberly’s review | Sequels: Because it is My Blood, In the Age of Love and Chocolate

Heist Society by Ally Carter
A group of teenagers uses their combined talents to re-steal several
priceless paintings and save fifteen-year-old Kat Bishop’s father,
himself an international art thief, from a vengeful collector. Sequels: Uncommon Criminals, Perfect Scoundrels

Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon
After waking up on an operating table with no memory of how she got
there, Noa must team up with computer hacker Peter to stop a corrupt
corporation with a deadly secret.

Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn
After a high-profile art heist of three van Gogh drawings in her home
town of Seattle, sixteen-year-old Violet Rossi finds herself in Japan
with her artist father, searching for the related van Gogh painting.

Money Run by Jack Heath
Fifteen-year-olds Ashley and Benjamin are planning the heist of a
lifetime, but they are not counting on a hit man who has plans of his
own.

Pretty Crooked by Elisa Ludwig
High school sophomore Willa and her artist mother move to Arizona where
Willa starts attending an elite prep school after her mother finally
sells some paintings, and Willa attempts to even things out by stealing
from the rich students and giving to the poor ones. Sequels: Pretty Sly, Pretty Wanted

I Am the Weapon (previously Boy Nobody) by Allen Zadoff
Sixteen-year-old Boy Nobody, an assassin controlled by a shadowy
government organization, The Program, considers sabotaging his latest
mission because his target reminds him of the normal life he craves. Sequel: I Am the Mission

Buzz-worthy Covers: Bees All Around Us

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Now that we’re deep into the throes of summer in these parts, I can’t help but see the bees we’ve got around our house. They’re especially fond of a bush we have near our front door — and near my outdoor reading area — so it’s a precarious dance around them each time we’re in or out of our house.

Bees on book covers are not necessarily a trend, per se, but after the recent reveal of the cover for Laura Ruby’s 2015 book Bone Gap, I started noticing more and more bee-themed covers on the backlist in both YA and adult books. It’s a unique image, and it’s one that sticks with me because it’s not one I see a whole lot. I think part of it might also be that these covers tend to use colors not always seen on books — yellows and browns that are bright and stand out a bit on the shelves. How great would putting these all on a display look? 

Rather than ignore this fun cover image, I thought I’d round-up a pile of them and share with our hive (that was really bad and I’m not sorry). 

All descriptions are from WorldCat, unless otherwise noted. These span from YA titles to adult titles, fiction and non-fiction (though I’ve avoided obvious reference texts about bees because that’s too easy). I’d love if you can think of other covers that feature bees or elements of the bee world. 

A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin: 1947 finds Holmes living in a Sussex farmhouse at 93 with a housekeeper and her son, Roger, who discovers evidence of a case never before reported, a case involving a Mrs. Keller, the long-ago object of Holmes’s affection.

The Bees by Laline Paull: A member of the lowest caste in her orchard hive, Flora 717, due to her courage and strength, finds her way into the Queen’s inner sanctum where she discovers secrets about the hive that cause her to challenge authority and perform unthinkable acts. (I am so, so interested in reading this one because it’s from the POV of a bee and I can’t wrap my mind around that). 

A Sting in the Tale: My Adventures with Bumblebees by Dave Goulson: One of the U.K.’s most respected conservationists and the founder of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, the author has always been obsessed with wildlife, from his childhood menagerie of exotic pets and dabbling in experimental taxidermy to his groundbreaking research into the mysterious ways of the bumblebee and his mission to protect our rarest bees. Once commonly found in the marshes of Kent, the short-hairedbumblebee now only exists in the wilds of New Zealand, the descendants of a few queen bees shipped over in the nineteenth century. Dave Goulson’s passionate drive to reintroduce it to its native land is one of the highlights of a book that includes exclusive research into these curious creatures, history’s relationship with the bumblebee and advice on how to protect it for all time. Here the author combines tales of a child’s growing passion for nature with a deep insight into the crucial importance of the bumblebee. He details the minutiae of life in their nests, sharing fascinating research into the effects intensive farming has had on our bee populations and on the potential dangers if we are to continue down this path.
The alternate cover for Goulson’s book is bee-rific, too. 
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd: Set in South Carolina in 1964, [this book] tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily’s fierce-hearted “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s fiercest racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina–a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love–a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King: In 1914, a young woman named Mary Russell meets a retired beekeeper on the Sussex Downs. His name is Sherlock Holmes. And although he may have all the Victorian “flaws” listed above, the Great Detective is no fool, and can spot a fellow intellect even in a fifteen-year-old woman. So, at first informally, then consciously, he takes Mary as his apprentice. They work on a few small local cases, then, on a larger and more urgent investigation, which ends successfully. All the time, Mary is developing as a detective in her own right, with the benefit of the knowledge and experience of her mentor and, increasingly, friend. And then the sky opens on them, and they find themselves the targets of a slippery, murderous, and apparently all-knowing adversary. Together they devise a plan to trap their enemy–a plan that may save their lives but may also kill off their relationship.
Bone Gap by Laura Ruby (due out March 2015): Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever. So when young, beautiful Roza went missing, the people of Bone Gap weren’t surprised. After all, it wasn’t the first time that someone had slipped away and left Finn and Sean O’Sullivan on their own. Just a few years before, their mother had high-tailed it to Oregon for a brand new guy, a brand new life. That’s just how things go, the people said. Who are you going to blame? Finn knows that’s not what happened with Roza. He knows she was kidnapped, ripped from the cornfields by a dangerous man whose face he cannot remember. But the searches turned up nothing, and no one believes him anymore. Not even Sean, who has more reason to find Roza than anyone, and every reason to blame Finn for letting her go. (Description via Goodreads). 

Honey Bees: Letters from the Hive by Stephen Buchmann: A fascinating look at the story of bees, the many extraordinary and often unexpected ways they’ve enriched our lives from prehistoric times to today, and their importance in keeping the food chain thriving.
The Honey Trail by Grace Pundyk: The Honey Trail is a global travel narrative that looks at different aspects of how honey and bees are being affected by globalization, terrorism, deforestation, the global food trade, and climate change.

Blind Huber: Poems by Nick Flynn: Meditations on the body, love, devotion, and about nature and the limits of knowledge.
Keeping The Bees by Laurence Packer: A world without bees would be much less colourful, with fewer plants and flowers. But that’s not all — food would be in much shorter supply, and available in much less variety. While the media focuses on colony-collapse disorder and the threats to honey bees specifically, the real danger is much greater: all bees are at risk. And because of the integral role these insects play in the ecology of our planet, we may be at risk as well. The life of Laurence Packer, a melittologist at Toronto’s York University, revolves around bees, whether he’s searching for them under leaves in a South American jungle or identifying new species in the desert heat of Arizona. Packer often finds himself in exotic and even dangerous locales, risking snake bites, sunstroke, and even the ire of other scientists. Everywhere he travels, he discovers the same unsettling trend: bees are disappearing. And since bees are responsible for up to one-third of our food supply, the consequences are frightening. (Description via Goodreads). 

At the Mouth of the River of Bees by Kij Johnson: These stories feature cats, bees, wolves, dogs– and even that most capricious of animals, humans.
Kissing the Bee by Kathe Koja: While working on a bee project for her advanced biology class, quiet high school senior Dana reflects on her relationship with gorgeous best friend Avra and Avra’s boyfriend Emil, whom Dana secretly loves.

Of course, I have to end with some Goosebumps and Why I’m Afraid of Bees.