Wildfire by Breena Bard (2023)

Who doesn’t love an excellent graphic novel? I highly, highly recommend Wildfire by Breena Bard to all middle schoolers. The protagonist, Juliana, loves her life in rural Oregon. One day, on her way home from middle school, she sees classmates playing with fireworks in the dry forest. By the time she has returned to her house, a massive wildfire is raging. Juliana and her family quickly grab their most valuable items, including most of their farm animals, and drive to safety. Her life is completely uprooted and changed. They take refuge with relatives in urban Portland. Juliana doesn’t feel comfortable with city life, but when a classmate invites her to the school’s Conservation Club, things shift. Juliana starts to make friends and realizes that taking action is the best way to channel her anger. 

Heart: This past summer the wildfires in Canada impacted us here in Illinois. The smoke kept my kids from going outside during camp. They were in Nature Camp! The irony is not lost on me that my kids couldn’t enjoy nature because we are impacted by the effects of us degrading the natural world. The author/illustrator of this amazing graphic novel, Wildfire, was motivated to write and illustrate this book for the same reasons. In the summer of 2020, she and her family were stuck indoors due to the extreme smoke caused by Oregon’s devastating wildfires. 

Head: My favorite element in this book is that Bard highlights the many ways one can take action on the climate crisis: cleaning up local parks and waterways; writing elected officials; attending climate protests; replanting trees. Use this book in the classroom to show the many ways one can take climate action. I also highly recommend to teachers and adults, One Green Thing by Heather White. It is inspiring and filled with great ideas for taking climate action!