“Life is hard. Good people forget who they are, and so we remind them.”

I was very much engulfed. It’s difficult to make educational, environmental content engaging, but that’s what happens here ( )

Global: One Fragile World is told from two alternating perspectives. One is a child living in the Arctic and one living in the Bay of Bengal. Both kids are dealing with the destruction of their homes and lifestyles from weather related events. Sami and his grandfather live in a village along the Indian Ocean. They earn their living by fishing. But the ocean is rising and each day they work harder but bring back fewer fish. Yuki lives in the Canadian North where warming temperatures are melting the ice. Polar bears have less food to hunt and are wandering into town looking for something to eat. Yuki is determined to do something to help the bears.

Both climate change subplots are suspenseful and are told with alot of emotion. The reader doesn't know how these two kids will survive. Sami and Yuki have terrifying experiences that they must endure but they are able to get through them with the aplomb only a child can exhibit. We also get a short account of Myanmar immigrants to the Bay of Bengal.

The reason I picked up this middle grade book was due to the richly saturated colors that illustrator Giovanni Rigano used. The drawings have been done in the traditional comic strip format and show detailed expressions on the characters faces. At the end of the story the author gives information about global warming. ( )

This is intense. I wasn’t sure until the end if the endings would be happy or tragic, even though it’s published as a book for children. It’s very well done. My fault entirely but even though the illustrations are glorious I struggled for a long time to “see”/read the book. The colors are deep and dark in Bay of Bengal chapters and the pictures were hard for me to see at times. They weren't as hard for me to see but the lightness of the Arctic Circle pictures also sometimes made the book hard for me to read. The pictures are wonderful but so dense & detailed that for me it took work to read most of the book. I got invested in the stories of these two children but my favorite part of the book are the last several pages. They are also told in graphic format but are nonfiction and educate about the climate crisis. The entire book is amazing and well done. It’s a special book. I now want to read Illegal by the same writers/illustrator team.
4-1/2 stars ( )

Global is a YA graphic novel about two young children as they face the effects of climate change in what could possibly be the near future.

Sami and his grandfather live in a village along the Indian Ocean. They earn their living by fishing but they’re having to go further and further out to sea - something dangerous while in their tiny boat.

Yuki lives in the far north of Canada where rising temperatures are melting the snow and ice around her. Polar bears have less food they’re able to hunt and therefore are wandering into town to look for something to eat. There may even be a new species of bear - the grolar, a crossbreed between brown bears and polars bears. Yuki, alongside her dog, Lockjaw are determined to save them.

The novel alternates between the two children as we follow their struggle with climate change.

I’m a sucker for animal companions, so I was immediately drawn to Locky and Yuki’s story (Lockjaw).

I loved the art in this. It was bright and colorful - even in the middle of rain storms.

The adventures the kids have are a bit unrealistic, but it is a Middle Grade story that has important information in it; both within the story and information at the back of the novel. The younger generation are unfortunately the ones who have to really live with and deal with the impacts of global warming the most and this book really hits on the fact that younger kids can still be impactful.

Overall, I’d recommend this to middle grade, YA, and adult readers alike. This is an action packed, beautifully drawn graphic novel about the effects of climate change that I feel all could benefit from. ( )

Like "Illegal" this graphic novel looks at difficult topics but presents the story in such a way that anyone can comprehend. It takes a large issue and makes it personal, giving names and faces to these global events. The story follows Sami, 12, and Yuki, 14, as they go about their lives. One a fisherman in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean and one in Northern Canada. The changing climate and it's affect on food availability, animals, and the environment directly and drastically affect these two and the people around them.
While the story is straightforward, it is also compelling and engaging. The art is well done as well.
I definitely would recommend this book to anyone and everyone! ( )