Climate fiction is more and more relevant with each passing day. One month into the new year, the world has already seen devastating wildfires, storms, and other “natural” disasters that are, in fact, a result of human-made climate change. People in the Global South have been wrestling with the impact of climate change for many years, and now the devastation is starting to seriously impact countries in the Global North, whose citizens may have previously believed they were exempt from the disasters. With the world heating up and the weather getting increasingly dangerous and unpredictable, it’s no surprise that many authors have incorporated climate themes into their work, including in climate fiction books for kids.
It’s also not surprising that climate fiction has become particularly popular for younger readers. Children are the demographic who, unless we take drastic steps to reverse climate change and build a more sustainable world, will be living through the most frightening consequences of climate change. There are many young activists who are already engaged with environmentalism and the fight to save our planet, and many other child readers who are anxious about the future of our world. Luckily, climate fiction books for kids often take a hopeful look at the future, without shying away from the hard work it will take to combat climate change. The following stories are set in near-future versions of our world, drawing on different aspects of climate change and telling frank but ultimately optimistic stories for children who are interested in climate fiction.
Climate Fiction Books for Kids
 Where the River Runs Gold by Sita BrahmachariSet in a terrifying near-future, Where the River Runs Gold follows Shifa and Themba, siblings who work for a huge corporation, pollinating plants by hand because bees and other insects have gone extinct. Shifa and Themba decide to escape the compound where they have spent most of their lives and follow directions from a stranger to try to find a better place, away from the clutches of the company, Freedom Fields. |
 FloodWorld by Tom HuddlestonFloodWorld tells the story of Kara and Joe, two teens living in a post-climate change, flooded version of London. The pair spend their days scavenging and avoiding the many dangers of their watery world, but everything changes when they get caught up in power struggles between factions, a rising rebellion, and the possibility of even greater climate disaster. |
 Bloom by Nicola Skinner, illustrated by Flavia SorrentinoA funny and surreal story about environmentalism and growing up, Bloom is the tale of Sorrel, a girl who always follows the rules—until she finds a packet of Surprising Seeds, which change her life forever. Sorrel is drawn to plant the seeds in increasingly strange places, breaks more and more rules, and, most surprisingly of all, starts growing plants out of her head. Bloom is a story about the importance of engaging with nature and finding out who you are. |
 The Infinite by Patience AgbabiFirst in The Leap Cycle series, The Infinite is a sparky sci-fi about time-travellers setting out to save the world. Elle is a 12-year-old girl and a Leapling: a child born on the 29th of February. Elle also has the ability to time-travel, but when other time-travellers start going missing, she realises that the Time Squad Centre may be compromised, and that the conspiracy may threaten the environment and the world at large. |
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 Terra Electrica: The Guardians of the North by Antonia MaxwellTerra Electrica is set in the Arctic after the ice caps have melted, and a strange infection, the titular terra electrica, has decimated the population. Mani, a young girl whose family have all been killed by terra electrica, sets out to try to survive and find other people in the wilderness. As she travels through her homeland, now harmed beyond recognition by climate change, Mani develops a magical connection that may help her save the world. |
 Augmented by Kenechi UdoguIn this near-future sci-fi, Akaego is one of a number of teens who are augmented: given superhuman abilities that will help them, and humanity, survive in a world where climate change has led to the death of most plant life. Akaego is particularly excited about her own augmented ability, a talent for singing at a frequency that helps plants to grow. As she gets deeper into the Augmented world, though, she realises that the process of augmentation, and the people who control it, might not have her or the planet’s best interests at heart. |
Things I Learned While I Was Dead by Kathryn ClarkCalico goes into a cryogenic sleep with her terminally ill younger sister Asha, hoping that they will both wake in a future where there is a cure for Asha’s condition. However, when Calico does wake up, she finds herself in a future shattered by climate change, where technology has regressed and teens like Calico are being kept as test subjects. Asha has vanished, and Calico has to take on this terrifying new world, find her sister, and challenge the lies being spread by the facility. |
 Orleans by Sherri L. SmithSet after storms and viruses have ravaged the Gulf Coast, Orleans follows Fen, a girl living in a quarantined area as one of a group of tribes divided by blood type. When Fen is left in charge of a newborn, she decides that she has to get the baby across the wall and into the Outer States so she can have a better chance at life. |
iNSiDE by S. A. GalesiNSiDE is set in a world where humans have been completely cut off from nature, never venturing outdoors. Naya is used to her completely indoor life and plans to join the NSDE, her city’s police force, when she’s older. To be considered, she has to venture outside for the first time, sent on a secret mission to spy on a community still living outdoors—but as she gets to know her targets, Naya realises that the outside world is not as sinister as she was previously told. |
Looking for more climate fiction? Check out our guide What Is Cli-Fi? A Beginner’s Guide to Climate Fiction. For climate books that can change the world, look at Stories That Save Us: The Power of Climate Fiction in Today’s World.
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English (US) ·