Under the weather : stories about climate change

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the effects of rising sea levels to changes in animal behaviour and human lifestyles, these powerful stories portray the issues surrounding climate change in personal terms and so bring them vividly to life. Offering warnings and inspiration in equal measure, the stories cover a wide range of localities from Siberia and Canada to Australia, UK, Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Writers include award-winning Linda Newbery as well as exciting newcomers like Australia's George Ivanoff. Whether read from cover to cover or dipped into for one or two stories, this book will enlighten and inspire everyone to consider how climate change will affect us all.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-7-Eight stories by a variety of authors attempt to make the facts about climate change and its global ramifications relevant to today's children. The majority of the selections are about youngsters enacting change and working toward solutions in tangible ways. For example, "How to Build the Perfect Sandcastle" is about a Philippino boy who works to rebuild the coral reefs, which are dying due to the rise in ocean temperature. Particularly heart-wrenching is "Moonlight," in which Amanthi, a tea picker in Sri Lanka, dies of malaria, leaving her young brothers to fend for themselves. "Climate [Short] Change" is a highly nuanced tale describing the tenuous relationship between the European scientists researching climate change and the native Siberians struggling to survive in an ever-changing environment. A few stories veer toward the didactic and might not be as well received. Overall, though, this is a worthwhile effort that will appeal to children wanting to make a difference in their world as well as to teachers trying to make the scientific reality of climate change real to their students.-Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This anthology edited by British author Bradman takes a fittingly global view of climate change in short stories about concerned young people from Australia to Asia to Africa. In Candy Gourlay's How to Build the Perfect Sandcastle, a boy in the Philippines watches as a single-degree rise in ocean temperatures destroys the coral reefs protecting his beloved island. In Francis McCrickard's As Busy As . . . , three children in Britain, Zambia, and the U.S. raise awareness about diminishing bee populations ( They reckon that every third bite of food we eat depends on those little creatures ). And in Miriam Halahmy's Tommo and the Bike Train, a boy in flood-threatened Bangladesh mobilizes his classmates to reduce carbon emissions by pedaling to school. As in many theme anthologies, some stories have a made-to-order feel. The young characters are both believably flawed and heroic in their everyday activism, though, and the glimpses into their daily lives around the world as well as the urgent issues that link them are moving. Biographical notes about the authors close this timely collection.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2010 Booklist