July 15, 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Finn and his friend Rabbit love their California neighborhood of Redwood Hollows, and especially like following the local wildlife, even posting trail cameras to track animals. Finn's family has been in the area ever since his grandfather came to the country. Their area has been without rain for 151 days, and since his father works construction, he's not had any jobs. Finn's mother works as the local animal resue, so the family is hanging on, but when the father gets a construction job with the father of Jonah Oster, who gives Finn a hard time in school, they are relieved. Finn, however, is concerned about the environmental impact of the project, which will put housing very close to the forest. Since there have been a number of fires, he and Rabbit are opposed. When the Redwood Hollows community is devastated by fires, Finn and his friends are scattered. Finn's family goes to their Aunt Juliet's, Rabbit goes to Amarillo, Texas, and Mia goes to Crescent City. Rabbit's dog goes missing. It's a fraught time made only a bit better by the efforts of school counselor Mr. Finkel, who invites the students to virtual class meetings to process their feelings. He's been covering classes for Rabbit's Uncle Charlie, who is a climate scientist from the Philippines who is trying to convince people to improve the wildland-urban interface to prevent future fires. When Rabbit's trail cam shows that Oster's equipment might have started the fires, the community rallies against further development, and rebuilding tries to consider the environmental implications.
Strengths: This is based on the real life experience of the author, who lives in California, and who lost one of his favorite natural places to a devastating fire several years ago, so there are lots of hard hitting descriptions of the devastation. I loved that Finn and Rabbit are interested in the wildlife around them, and want to try to preserve their neighborhood and community. It's also realistic that Mr. Oster wants to build closer to the woods than he ought, since people seem to ignore most environmental advice! Luckily, the community rallies around Finn and Rabbit's initiative. The fact that Finn and his friends had safe places to go will be comforting to readers, and the description of the temporary housing that Mia and her mother, who is in a wheelchair, have after their house is completely destroyed was educational. There is a fair bit of Jewish culture, and Mr. Finkel is a great and supportive teacher. Fans of this author's work will look forward to this new title.
Weaknesses: The novel in verse format, while poetic and descriptive of sights and sounds, makes it a bit harder to understand some of the details about evacuation and rebuilding.
What I really think: There have been books about wildfires in California since at least Cooney's 1995 Flashfire, but most, like Philbrick's Wildfire , Rhode's Paradise on Fire, and Henry's Playing with Fire,
What I really think: There have been books about wildfires in California since at least Cooney's 1995 Flashfire, but most, like Philbrick's Wildfire , Rhode's Paradise on Fire, and Henry's Playing with Fire,
focus on escaping the fire. Spark, like Bard's Wildfire and (to some extent) Tashjian's My Life as a Meme, is more concerned with the aftermath. Faris' flood Finding Normal, and Bishop's 14 Hollow Road also discuss tweens who have to recuperate from devastating losses due to flooding and a tornado, respectively.
September 5, 2023 by Little, Brown Ink
Library copy
Julianna and her family live in rural Oregon. While out and about one day, she runs into boys from her school who are shooting off fireworks. She tells them that there is a burn ban, as fire conditions are hazardous, but they don't listen. Soon, Julianna's whole family is evacuated, including their goats. They have to leave their chickens behind, and they all die in the fire that consumes the family's entire home. They go to Portland to live with friends, and the parents find new jobs and a home to rent. It's hard to change to city living, but Julianna does okay in school. When she sees one of the boys responsible, she's angry, but the two both get involved in an environmental club to help change the world so that the conditions for wildfires to spread are not as prevalent.
A very good representation of what it would be like to lose a home in a wildfire and have to relocate. The illustration style is much different from other graphic novels.
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