Book Nook: The Year Without a Summer

 

Author Arlene Mark shines light on a myriad of hot topics from global warming, immigration, and the impact of war at home, to unlikely friendships and parent-teen relationships in THE YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER (August 16, SparkPress, 12-16 years, grade 7-9). Perfect for fans of The Ice House by Monica Sherwood and The Queen Bee and Me by Gillian McDunn as well as students inspired by Greta Thunberg, this contemporary MG/YA novel explores the disasters—natural, man-made, and emotional-home ones—that erupt for two students in Albany, NY and how the seed for climate change advocacy in the younger generation can bloom. 

Eighth graders Jamie and Clara are opposites in almost every way: Jamie is a snowboarder threatened by failing grades, secretly consumed with worry about his brother fighting a war in Afghanistan, while Clara is a high achieving newcomer having survived Hurricane Katrina, helping her mother and younger brother adjust while feverishly trying to reach her father who returned to a devastated Puerto Rico with no phone service. Yet despite their differences, they remain good friends….that is until their differing opinions and perspectives on life erupt into an argument about the impacts of an 1815 volcanic explosion that led to deep snow in June, disrupting their science class and jeopardizing their academic futures. Result—debate the facts in front of the class or have their grades altered. Neither can afford this. 

 

Working competitively on the science debate project, both teens come to see that today’s current man-made disasters are one of the greatest threats to their future. As their turbulent home lives exacerbate their tumultuous teen lives, concern and empathy for each other grow as they work together in surprising ways to empower their generation against global warming.

Arlene Mark was born and grew up in steel country in western Pennsylvania before making her way to New York City to begin her career. After working in fashion, marrying, and committing herself to family, she lived in London, Caracas, and Toronto with her husband and three children before settling in Greenwich, CT. She holds an MA in special education and, a certification in school psychology, and interned at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her work has appeared in Highlights for Children, Spider, the Magazine for Children, Skipping Stones, Adolescence, Their World and Greenwich Magazine. She is also the author of To the Tower, A Greenwich Adventure and co-authored Paraverbal Communication with Children: Not Through Words Alone and has been served as a contributing editor for The Greenwich Time, offering articles about children’s emotional lives. Her eight grandchildren are enthusiastic fans. When not writing, Arlene can be found lobstering with her husband, Reuben, traveling to third world countries in the Global South and visiting schools there, reading (mostly books for kids), or and screening current films.