We the Future

by Cliff Lewis

Overview

I’m from the future. We need you.

Ever since he learned about climate change, twelve-year-old Jonah has dreaded a weather-beaten future where not even his asthma medication can save him. Luckily, a girl from that future arrives just in time to throw Jonah a lifeline.

Sunny traveled back to the 2020s with a mission: help Jonah launch a climate strike big enough to rewrite history. To do it, he’ll have to recruit his entire school before Halloween. Why so soon? Sunny won’t say. But how can Jonah win over 600 classmates when the only thing he dreads more than the end of the world is talking to other kids?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631636967
Publisher:	North Star Editions
Publication date:	04/18/2023
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,133,901
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 13 Years

About the Author

Cliff Lewis is a time-traveler from the 1990s, presently parked in the 2020s. He’s a professional writer, a hometown story-slam winner, and a keynote speaker living in Pennsylvania with his wife, their two kids, and a little dog named Pippin. In his spare time, Cliff volunteers for local progressive organizations, which once led to a crew of young climate activists devouring all of his family’s traditional election-day chili.

Editorial Reviews

02/27/2023

Environmental justice themes buoyed by friendship and community care infuse Lewis’s impassioned, lightly speculative debut, which follows white 12-year-old Jonah Kaminski’s quest to take down a local coal plant. Determined to educate his YouTube following about the apocalyptic consequences of climate change, Jonah climbs a mountain trail and starts a live broadcast. When he experiences a life-threatening asthma attack during his livestream, he doesn’t expect to be saved by a girl wearing a pink astronaut suit, who hands him an inhaler and says she’s from the year 2100. Believing Jonah’s environmental activism has the potential to catalyze others’ engagement, Sunday “Sunny” Turner, who is Black, has stolen a time machine and traveled back to save him. With Jonah’s help, Sunny plans to confront a Pennsylvania senator on what she mysteriously terms “Zero Hour,” an event that takes place in a month. Caricature-like antagonists, such as the coal plant’s cigarette-huffing owner and bumbling future scientists pursuing Sunny for the time machine, dampen the novel’s important messaging regarding contemporary climate emergencies. Still, the protagonists’ tenacity, paired with Lewis’s dynamic text, delivers a thought-provoking read. Ages 8–13. Agent: Jen Nadol, Unter Agency. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Directs kids to ignore small distractions, like eliminating plastic straws, and instead become part of the worldwide climate activism movement pushing for significant changes. The relevant message shines.” —Kirkus Reviews

"Environmental justice themes buoyed by friendship and community care infuse Lewis’s impassioned, lightly speculative debut. . . . [T]he protagonists’ tenacity, paired with Lewis’s dynamic text, delivers a thought-provoking read." —Publishers Weekly

"The message about environmental care and justice is an important one and Sunny shows us just what the world will look like if we don’t act immediately. With talking of greenwashing, slacktivism, and performative changes, Sunny, Jonah, and crew get deep into what it means to actually seek out environmental changes. Their superpower is collective action and together they can change the world." —Teen Librarian Toolbox (SLJ Blog Network)

“Poignant and timely, this is a book that will resonate with readers of all ages, and it may inspire action in the important challenge of combating climate change. This is a fantastic addition to library collections for middle grade readers.” —Children's Literature

From the Publisher

2023-01-25
Can the power of friendship and political organizing change the course of the climate crisis?

Following a near-fatal asthma attack, Jonah Kaminski learns about the horrific impacts of climate change. After he rashly posts a YouTube video about the dangers of fossil fuels, calling out the polluting power plant in his Pennsylvania town, he passes out. Jonah thinks he’s dying, but a pink-clad astronaut with an inhaler rescues him. Her name is Sunny, and she claims she’s from the future and has a plan to save the world. With just 31 days to accomplish this task, Jonah, Sunny, and their newly formed crew race to combine their various skills to canvass their peers and hold corporations and politicians accountable. The first-person narrative aims for a humorous tone; however, the writing style undermines this by telling rather than showing. Time travel is used to deliver deus ex machina solutions that conveniently eliminate barriers. Character development is sketchy; characters seem to serve primarily to drive the plot. Most of the cast members, including Jonah, are assumed White; Sunny reads Black. There is some disability and racial diversity in the supporting cast. The strongest element of this story is the empowering message that directs kids to ignore small distractions, like eliminating plastic straws, and instead become part of the worldwide climate activism movement pushing for significant changes.

The relevant message shines despite uneven execution. (Science fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews