I chose to read the young adult novel Dark Life by Kat Falls. The
story is set in a dystopian society, where people have been forced
to live underwater due to extreme climate change. The novel was surprisingly
very captivating for me, even though it was originally written for middle
school and lower level high school students. Like many young adult novels there
is lots of adventure, romance, and social unrest or conflict. I was able to
make many connections to novels like the Hunger Games or Divergent, which all
take place in the future. However, Dark Life focuses mostly on how climate
change can affect the human race, and forever change the way we live.
The story line revolves around a young teen named Ty, who
was one the first children to be born underwater, meaning he has never seen
land. Ty meets a girl named Gemma who is from the land above, and is on a quest
to find her lost brother. This was slightly confusing, because initially I
thought all of the land was underwater due to the sea levels rising, which is
being caused by global warming. However, it turns out that only most of the
land was engulfed by the sea levels, and that there were in fact many humans
who still lived “normally” (well to a certain degree. Most of the novel does
not focus on the real climate change problem, but the whole reason for there to
be these two different societies is from the results of climate change.
Overall, I found the novel to be very enjoyable and I think
it is a great way to keep sliding in climate change issues into children’s
reading. The action scenes are described perfectly and allow for a child’s
imagination to run wild. Also, when a young teen is reading this, they may
realize that the sea levels really are rising, and being forced to live
underwater isn’t exactly plausible. There is an element of fantasy and magic in
the novel that eliminate the reality of it, however it is still a great way to
get children thinking about their own future. The more people we can educate
about this major issue the better off our current and future society will be.
This sounds very similar to my novel in the way that climate change is the cause of this alternative future, but is not reference much through out the book. These seems to be a common thread among many YA novels
ReplyDeleteI think it might be hard to write a novel where climate change is the main focus, while still keeping it relevant and interesting to young adults. Maybe it's because "climate change" isn't really a plot, and the effects of, or how people deal with climate change make for many more literary possibilities.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you! The results of climate change are a lot more captivating to read about than the initial process that started it all. Also, these are fiction novels, for young adults, and they should be interesting to read and not like a textbook.
DeleteThis book sounds very similar to the one that I read. However, in Exodus people started living in floating sky cities once most of the land was flooded.
ReplyDeleteI think it was great that the author catered towards what her children and their friends wanted to read. This element coupled with environmental touches in the book allows for a child's mind to grow up loving reading about these types of subjects!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the author wrote specifically to her own kids, as well as their friends I found quite interesting. The whole purpose of this novel was to entertain children, yet it was filled with life lessons, and tangents on climate change.
DeleteIt's interesting that there isn't really a mainstream book or series that focuses on the topic of climate change. I wonder if that reflects the public's perception of the issue or if it just isn't a "sexy" enough storyline to write about.
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