Two Degrees by Alan Gratz – Book Review
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Title: Two Degrees Author: Alan Gratz Publisher: Scholastic Press Release Date: October 4, 2022  |
Amidst the beauty of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, Akira and her father witness the unforgiving destruction of an intense wildfire that threatens to overcome them on a leisure horseback ride. In Miami, Florida, Hurricane Reuben barrels down a city ill-prepared to cope with a storm of a lifetime, and Natalie is trapped in Rueben’s path. In Churchill, Manitoba, Owen and his friend get stranded on the tundra and must survive a polar bear attack, struggling to fend off more starving bears as they trek back to their home. Throughout Two Degrees, like on our planet today, everyone feels the effects of climate change. Yet, with so many different experiences across so many parts of the globe, what can one person do? The challenge can seem overwhelming, but as Gratz illustrates through the stories centered on these young people, there is, in fact, one thing we all can do.
Two Degrees is the latest heart pounding, page-turning novel by Alan Gratz. Three different storylines span the North American continent to bring into focus the very real and immediate danger climate change poses to us all. While the breadth and depth of climate change is difficult to comprehend, Gratz’s focus on three natural disasters helps bring the issue into sharper and relatable focus. Still, three stories confine the novel to action-based storytelling and limits the novel’s ability to explore climate change’s complexity while struggling to bring the narrative to a natural end. The central characters’ climate activism is inspiring, but it also can be interpreted as too preachy. Again, climate change is a complex topic, and Gratz’s treatment, while important as a focus, can be too-rushed and simplistic at times. Still, Two Degrees is a start – a start of a conversation on how to do better by our planet and do better for the future generations that must make the best of what older ones leave behind. For that reason alone, it is a worthwhile book to put in the hands of young people. It can introduce them to the realities of climate change and help them understand the positive steps they can make to counter it.
Educators looking for novels focused on climate change will be pleased to discover more and more authors willing to tackle this topic. Gratz, always at the forefront of pressing issues, does just that. Two Degrees offers plenty of suspense for students and a number of ways to study climate change via a cross-curricular study. It can be a win-win for the classroom, especially as younger students are increasingly concerned with the immediate problem of climate change. While we all can do one thing to help, educators can help them by exploring climate change and our opportunities to care for the planet, each small steps towards progress.
Thank you to Edelweiss+ and publisher, Scholastic Press, for an eARC of this book.
Classroom Applications
- Cross-Curricular Study – Teach the novel in conjunction with a nonfiction study of climate change and its effects.
- Literature Circles – Use novel for small groups or choice reading with a variety of novels centered around the theme of climate change and climate activism.
- Book Club or Book Exchange – Share the novel with students that enjoy reading realistic fiction.
Nonfiction Connections
The list below outlines topics that will enrich your students’ understanding of the novel.
- Climate Change
- Climate Activism
Book Companions
The following are great books to pair with Two Degrees. In parenthesis are the specific aspects students could explore when synthesizing across the texts.
- Turn the Tide by Elaine Dimopoulos (Character Connections, Themes, Nonfiction Connections)
- Willodeen by Katherine Applegate (Character Connections, Nonfiction Connections, Themes)
- Thirst by Varsha Bajaj (Character Connections, Nonfiction Connections, Themes)
- Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (Character Connections, Nonfiction Connections, Themes)
- Everywhere Blue by Joanne Rossmassler Fritz (Character Connections, Nonfiction Connections, Themes)
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