Breaking Down Climate Change Impacts for Young Readers
by
Neha Lal - 
As climate change impacts compound, with each passing year, a new normal awaits the younger generations who will have to live with its impacts and burdens. According to UNICEF, almost every child is exposed to one or more climate and environmental hazards, shocks or stress, from flash floods, extreme heat, cyclones and air pollution to acute water shortages. Many of these children will be simultaneously exposed to multiple climate impacts, losing out on productive and nurturing environments where they ought to live, play and thrive.
In 2021, the Children’s Climate Risk Index Report noted that 1 billion children across the world live in countries that face ‘extremely high risk’ from the impacts of climate change. Yet, a majority of them cannot concretely understand and attribute these extreme events to climate change. Even as children end up increasingly staying home from school due to deteriorating air quality and extreme heat, many might not be able to connect these events to the underlying factors that cause them. There is a visible gap in their comprehension of what climate change looks like. Accessible ways of educating and creating awareness can help address this gap. This blog looks at seven books that can help break down climate change impacts for young readers.
It’s all a little eerie; Fairyland is in a deep climate crisis. Retelling the classic fairytales with the looming shadow of climate change impacts is a surefire way to make young readers curious about this impending reality and its effects. With forests receding, corals dying and the atmosphere turning smoggy, the familiar and magical medium of fables is given the climatic twist of fate. The book evokes within the imagination of children and adolescents a path into questioning what tomorrow may hold and how their beloved characters can unite to fight against this demon.
Join Kadalamma and her fisherman grandfather as they walk along the seashore and discover the many joys and wonders of coastal biodiversity. Using a mix of photos, factoids and illustrations, this account of their evening walk turns into an eye-opening lesson about the lives, rituals and rhythms of the often-ignored species that make up the thriving Indian coastline. As we delve into the cracks and crevices of the sandbars to the depths of the wide sea, we encounter beaches and coastal marshes teeming with unique organisms and the threats they face due to human activity and unabated construction.
Through cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty’s popular book, we encounter the reality of a greying planet with generous helpings of wit and wisdom. In his world, caricatures and cartoons offer quips and hard truths about the deep impact of unchecked urbanization, man-animal conflict, dwindling biodiversity and the paradoxes that often surround nature conservation efforts. A book both grown-ups and children can appreciate, it compiles 200 of the author’s satirical yet educational comic strips from his wide-ranging work across online and print media. Highly relevant, the book does not shy away from the gravity of the message but delivers it with a chuckle.
Taking a spin on the classic biblical tale of the great flood and marrying it to contemporary climate narrative in the visual style of the Bengali Patua or Pathhachitra, this book will have you immersed in the ebbs and flows of the sea. With raging waters and impending doom, The Enduring Ark dredges up a story of hope, faith and collective destiny as we witness the passage into a tomorrow where all creatures find space and freedom to inhabit the world. The book’s ingenuity lies in the bookmaking and design that allows the story and its characters to unfurl one-fold at a time, much like the scrolls typical of Patua art.
The news is dire, and all the creatures are confused about what is going on - it's getting warmer, it's raining too much, the food cycle is going haywire, the sea is too acidic and the forest is on fire. The mosaic-tailed rat and the golden toad are missing altogether. Presented as an ongoing correspondence between the natural world, P.S. What’s up with the climate? paints a snapshot of lived experience from the polar caps to the oceans and drives home a crucial point – what does it mean to live in the world today?
A collaborative effort that brings together young voices and deftly crafted illustrations, this collection truly is of the children, for the children and by the children. From the delayed monsoons in the village of Agumbe and the extinction of ghariyal and turtles in Chambal to the changing migration patterns in Nagaland – with each page, children highlight the changes they are witnessing in their backyards, villages, beaches and towns. Thirteen artists interpret these feelings, stories and thoughts into a short collection that leaves us pondering over questions about our collective future.
What happens when a nasty brown cloud overtakes the skies of Mumbai and begins to suffocate and damage all living forms? Bhura Cloudus has everyone in a tizzy — Insurance companies are funding climate research; people are cooking eggs on the heated tarmac; and a minister is suspecting this to be a terrorist’s mischief. From politicians to scientists and technocrats to news channels, A Cloud Called Bhura presents the political gameplay of grown-ups through the eyes of children as they face this climatic phenomenon. Ultimately, it empowers the children to take things into their own hands and use trust, collaboration and friendship to fight a common goal – a lesson many grown-ups can use.
While these may be pegged as books for young readers, as a grown-up who has read most of them, I thoroughly enjoyed them and the punch they packed. So, add these to your reading list and suggest them to the children around you. Informing and engaging young readers through stories that highlight the value and fragility of ecosystems is the first step to preparing them for the world they deserve. Such books can not only help them understand what the planet stands to lose in the absence of urgent and collective action but can also spark their imagination to help them reimagine a better world – one that they can start demanding today.
