TURN THE TIDE

Can middle schoolers save the environment and the world?

When 12-year-old Mimi Laskaris moves to a small island in Florida with her family, she is immediately taken with the beach and shells. But she quickly notices problems: plastic bags caught in trees and litter washed up on the beach. After learning about Melati and Isabel Wijsen, sisters who started a movement to ban single-use plastic bags in their home of Bali, Mimi decides to try to do the same in her new community. She becomes absorbed in organizing and gathering signatures for a petition, though she also worries about what her classmates might think. As Mimi’s continued activism causes strain in her new friendships and affects her grades, her parents notice that her piano practice has been neglected. Mimi does want to focus on school and piano, but how can she when she can’t get enough signatures for her petition? This novel in verse explores environmental concerns many young people today have and shows how change can be made close to home. Mimi is Greek American, and other students from her new and old schools are cued as ethnically diverse. Dimopoulos gives some examples of the international nature of the youth climate justice movement in the text and supplementary notes; a foreword by Melati Wijsen adds a special touch.

A heartfelt story highlighting activism and showing how change does not come easily.