Whether it be dragons, disease, or climate change, there are several ways that authors have imagined the world coming to a disastrous end. But in many of the stories of how the world can fall apart, there are people who fight to put it back together again. Many of these stories deal with how young people stand up to oppressive regimes to confront misinformation and discover conspiracies to create a better world. If you enjoy adventuresome stories of hope amidst catastrophe, you'll enjoy these five books set in a post-apocalyptic world.
By Donna Barba Higuera
Montclair, NJ: Levine Querido, 2023. Fiction. 404 pages.
When Leandro's sister, Gabi, is caught stealing, his first instinct is to take her place to prevent her from suffering the harsh consequences of the oppressive Pocatel regime. Because Leandro is still a minor, he isn't banished from the city to await certain death, instead, his consciousness is transferred to a small hummingbird drone, called an alebrije. He's given the chance to escape captivity if he finds a missing person, but he'll also discover what information about the outside world the Pocatel regime is hiding.
By Jonathan Case
New York: Margaret Ferguson Books/Holiday House, 2022. Comic. 255 pages.
The year is 2101, 50 years after a sun-shift forced humanity to live underground to avoid sun sickness. Elvie and her caretaker, Flora, are able to make excursions outside thanks to Flora making a temporary antidote to sun sickness from the scales of monarch butterflies. They’re trying to research their patterns in hopes of making a vaccine and reuniting Elvie with her parents in Mexico.
Madelyn Rosenberg
New York: Scholastic Press, 2021. Fiction. 241 pages.
Ahab is your average seventh-grader living in a futuristic costal Maine. He goes on class field trips using a VR headset, he lives close to the "New Dead Sea" (previously known as the Atlantic Ocean), and the corrupt Environmental Police Force keeps track of his water usage. Ahab and his friends find what they believe is the last bullfrog living in Maine, they journey to Canada to find it a mate before it can be taken to a "refuge" run by the Environmental Police Force.
By Pablo Cartaya
New York: Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, 2022. Fiction. 300 pages.
Yolanda lives in a world almost destroyed by climate change. She dreams of working in Silo, the most technically advanced city, but her family doesn’t have the money for her to study. When the corrupt mayor offers a scholarship at a deadly price, When Yolanda and her family discover a honeybee colony, they find a way to reduce the people’s dependence on Silo and bring down the corrupt system.
By Mari Mancusi
New York: Little, Brown & Company, 2022. Fiction. 346 pages.
Noah lives with a group of other survivors five years after dragons destroyed the world. Time is running out before the beasts come out of hibernation, but Noah refuses to go underground until he finds his mother. However, when a baby dragon saves his life, Noah is faced with confronting if what he's been told about dragons is true.
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