 | This Is The Year Author: Munoz, Gloria | |
| Price: $14.24 | ||
Summary:
In a near-future Florida ravaged by climate catastrophe, seventeen-year-old Julieta Villarreal is recruited by a space exploration program for immigrant teens after her twin sister is killed in a car crash.
Reviews:
Booklist (+) (12/01/25)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 11/01/2024 *Starred Review* Julieta “Juli” Villarreal wants nothing more than to leave Earth. She’s grieving the death of her twin sister, Ofelia, who was killed in a hit-and-run, and life in Florida has been miserable in the face of climate disaster. As an immigrant—who are called New Americans in her world—she is recruited by the Cometa Initiative, a private space mission recruiting New American teenagers to start a sanctuary on the moon. Suddenly, Juli has the option to leave this planet and the disasters facing it, and she has to reckon with her place in the universe. Against all odds, Juli begins to find joy and hope as she forms new friendships, interspersed with layers of grief and anger. Told in interspersing prose and lyrical poetry, this sf work asks the question, what do we owe to the planet and to one another as a society in the face of climate crisis? Juli is a brilliantly layered protagonist; her anger and disgust with the darker sides of human nature are easy to empathize with. She never falls into dystopian YA stereotypes, and her poetry shines, adding depth, grief, and hope to the story’s message. Side characters feel complex, and Juli’s relationship with her late twin is robustly written; you feel Ofelia’s absence as a through line. Muñoz’s debut teaches us what it means to be a human on Earth and how we keep surviving—together. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
