Wildfire (A Graphic Novel)

A Booklist Best Book of the Year • A Selection of the Washington Evergreen Graphic Novel Award Reading List

★“Climate anxiety is a real concern for many kids, especially those who have experienced wildfires firsthand, and this thoughtful comic will surely ring powerfully true.”―Booklist, starred review

In the wake of a fire that’s destroyed her home, a middle-schooler is eager to turn her grief into action in this sensitive graphic-novel resource about what makes wildfires happen and how to inspire change.

Julianna loved her life in rural Oregon.

She loved taking care of her farm animals and being part of her local 4H club. But then the unthinkable happened...a wildfire destroyed her family’s home.

In the aftermath, her family relocated to Portland, Oregon, where Julianna hopes to put everything behind her. Believing the fire to be the result of kids playing with fireworks, she certainly isn’t interested when her parents and younger sister start getting involved in the growing climate change protests.

All she wants to do is move on, but that becomes near impossible when Carson, an old friend from her hometown who may have had a hand in starting the wildfire, is suddenly back in her life. Julianna can’t seem to catch a break, but when two new friends invite her to join their school’s conservation club, she learns that maybe she can turn her anger into something powerful. 

Emotional and inspiring, Wildfire shows readers that healing from tragedy can take many forms and demonstrates what it means to take action in the face of climate change—and how that action can be different for each of us.