Global
Climate change impacts the lives of two young people in the remarkable graphic novel Global.
Twelve-year-old Sami lives with his grandfather, Solomon, in a village near the Bay of Bengal. Each day they are forced to travel farther to catch fish and to seek higher ground for housing, away from rising water levels. With no relief in sight, Sami embarks on a dangerous quest to change their luck by finding a family knife, lost somewhere on the seafloor.
Meanwhile, fourteen-year-old Yuki lives with her mother and her dog Lockjaw in northern Canada. Yuki is determined to get a photograph of a “grolar bear,” the offspring of a polar bear and a grizzly, in order to prevent local authorities from killing the creatures. She heads into the wilderness with Lockjaw and finds herself in her own struggle for survival.
The book moves between the teenagers’ story lines in alternating chapters, tying the two together in a novel way at its end. Sami and Yuki are brave and compassionate heroes who face surprising hazards with ingenuity.
The writing and art include convincing, immersive details to flesh out the characters’ lives and the dangers they face, from the hazardous tactics of ocean fishing to the hunting habits of bears. Cliffhangers appear at the ends of the chapters, resulting in constant forward momentum.
Full of information, emotion, excitement, and entertainment, the graphic novel Global puts a human face to the problem of climate change.
Reviewed by
Peter Dabbene
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
